1906 white fang jack london - pinkmonke - Pink Monkey

CHAPTER THREE.
The Outcast.
77
LIP-LIP CONTINUED so to darken his days that White Fang
became wickeder and more ferocious than it was his natural right
to be. Savageness was a part of his make-up, but the savageness
thus developed exceeded his make-up. He acquired a reputation
for wickedness amongst the man-animals themselves. Wherever
there was trouble and uproar in camp, fighting and squabbling or
the outcry of a squaw over a bit of stolen meat, they were sure to
find White Fang mixed up in it and usually at the bottom of it.
They did not bother to look after the causes of his conduct. They
saw only the effects, and the effects were bad. He was a sneak and
a thief, a mischief-maker, a fomenter of trouble; and irate squaws
told him to his face, the while he eyed them alert and ready to
dodge any quick-flung missile, that he was a wolf and worthless
and bound to come to an evil end.
He found himself an outcast in the midst of the populous camp. All
the young dogs followed Lip-lip’s lead. There was a difference
between White Fang and them. Perhaps they sensed his wild-wood
breed, and instinctively felt for him the enmity that the domestic
dog feels for the wolf. But be that as it may, they joined with Liplip
in the persecution. And, once declared against him, they found
good reason to continue declared against him. One and all, from
time to time, they felt his teeth; and to his credit, he gave more than
he received. Many of them he could whip in a single fight; but
single fight was denied him. The beginning of such a fight was a
signal for all the young dogs in camp to come running and pitch
upon him.
Out of this pack-persecution he learned two important things: how
to take care of himself in a mass-fight against him; and how, on a
single dog, to inflict the greatest amount of damage in the briefest
space of time. To keep one’s feet in the midst of the hostile mass
meant life, and this he learned well. He became catlike in his
ability to stay on his feet. Even grown dogs might hurtle him
backward or sideways with the impact of their heavy bodies; and
backward or sideways he would go, in the air or sliding on the
ground, but always with his legs under him and his feet
downward to the mother earth.
When dogs fight, there are usually preliminaries to the actual
combat- snarlings and bristlings and stiff-legged struttings. But