1906 white fang jack london - pinkmonke - Pink Monkey

PART FIVE
CHAPTER ONE.
The Long Trail.
142
IT WAS IN THE AIR. White Fang sensed the coming calamity,
even before there was tangible evidence of it. In vague ways it was
borne in upon him that a change was impending. He knew not
how nor why, yet he got his feel of the oncoming event from the
gods themselves. In ways subtler than they knew, they betrayed
their intentions to the wolf-dog that haunted the cabin-stoop, and
that, though he never came inside the cabin, knew what went on
inside their brains.
‘Listen to that, will you!’ the dog-musher exclaimed at supper one
night.
Weedon Scott listened. Through the door came a low, anxious
whine, like a sobbing under the breath that has just grown audible.
Then came the long sniff, as White Fang reassured himself that his
god was still inside and had not yet taken himself off in mysterious
and solitary flight.
‘I do believe that wolf’s on to you,’ the dog-musher said.
Weedon Scott looked across at his companion with eyes that almost
pleaded, though this was given the lie by his words.
‘What the devil can I do with a wolf in California?’ he demanded.
‘That’s what I say,’ Matt answered. ‘What the devil can you do
with a wolf in California?’
But this did not satisfy Weedon Scott. The other seemed to be
judging him in a non-committal sort of way.
‘White-man’s dogs would have no show against him,’ Scott went
on. ‘He’d kill them on sight. If he didn’t bankrupt me with damage
suits, the authorities would take him away from me and electrocute
him.’ ‘He’s a downright murderer, I know,’ was the dog-musher’s
comment.
Weedon Scott looked at him suspiciously.
‘It would never do,’ he said decisively.
‘It would never do,’ Matt concurred. ‘Why, you’d have to hire a
man specially to take care of ‘m.’ The other’s suspicion was
allayed. He nodded cheerfully. In the silence that followed, the
low, half-sobbing whine was heard at the door and then the long,
questing sniff.
‘There’s no denyin’ he thinks a hell of a lot of you,’ Matt said.