1906 white fang jack london - pinkmonke - Pink Monkey
1906 white fang jack london - pinkmonke - Pink Monkey
1906 white fang jack london - pinkmonke - Pink Monkey
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72<br />
age. Denied the outlet, through play, of his energies, he recoiled<br />
upon himself and developed his mental processes. He became<br />
cunning; he had idle time in which to devote himself to thoughts of<br />
trickery. Prevented from obtaining his share of meat and fish when<br />
a general feed was given to the camp-dogs, he became a clever<br />
thief. He had to forage for himself, and he foraged well, though he<br />
was oft-times a plague to the squaws in consequence. He learned to<br />
sneak about camp, to be crafty, to know what was going on<br />
everywhere, to see and to hear everything and to reason<br />
accordingly, and successfully to devise ways and means of<br />
avoiding his implacable persecutor.<br />
It was early in the days of his persecution that he played the first<br />
really big crafty game and got therefrom his first taste of revenge.<br />
As Kiche, when with the wolves, had lured out to destruction dogs<br />
from the camps of men, so White Fang, in manner somewhat<br />
similar, lured Lip-lip, into Kiche’s avenging jaws. Retreating before<br />
Lip-lip, White Fang made an indirect flight that led in and out and<br />
around the various tepees of the camp. He was a good runner,<br />
swifter than any other puppy of his size, and swifter than Lip-lip.<br />
But he did not run his best in this chase. He barely held his own,<br />
one leap ahead of his pursuer.<br />
Lip-lip, excited by the chase and by the persistent nearness of his<br />
victim, forgot caution and locality. When he remembered locality,<br />
it was too late. Dashing at top speed around a tepee, he ran full tilt<br />
into Kiche lying at the end of her stick. He gave one yelp of<br />
consternation, and then her punishing jaws closed upon him. She<br />
was tied, but he could not get away from her easily. She rolled him<br />
off his legs so that he could not run, while she repeatedly ripped<br />
and slashed him with her <strong>fang</strong>s.<br />
When at last he succeeded in rolling clear of her, he crawled to his<br />
feet, badly dishevelled, hurt both in body and in spirit. His hair<br />
was standing out all over him in tufts where her teeth had mauled.<br />
He stood where he had arisen, opened his mouth, and broke out<br />
the long, heart-broken puppy wail. But even this he was not<br />
allowed to complete. In the middle of it, White Fang, rushing in,<br />
sank his teeth into Lip-lip’s hind-leg. There was no fight left in Liplip,<br />
and he ran away shamelessly, his victim hot on his heels and<br />
worrying him all the way back to his own tepee. Here the squaws<br />
came to his aid, and White Fang, transformed into a raging demon,<br />
was finally driven off only by a fusillade of stones.<br />
Came the day when Gray Beaver, deciding that the liability of her<br />
running away was past, released Kiche. White Fang was delighted<br />
with his mother’s freedom. He accompanied her joyfully about the<br />
camp; and, so long as he remained close by her side, Lip-lip kept a