The Call of the Wild: Selected Short Stories by Jack London

Chapter 17 The Call of the Wild (13)
While it was running like this, it felt strongly that something was happening in the direction of the camp. Under the influence of this feeling, Booker stopped more than once and took a few deep breaths.The inhaled air is cool, but it is mixed with something that has never been seen in this land.

After sniffing out these, Booker couldn't help speeding up his feet.

An ominous premonition hung over Booker's heart.Although Booker knew that there was danger coming, what he didn't know was whether he could reach the camp before the danger came.The last watershed was in sight, and Booker crossed it and ran straight for camp.

It pulled itself together and kept on high alert as it moved forward.

Booker had just walked three miles when he saw a newly opened road, and the direction of this road was the camp.Seeing this, Booker's expression was very nervous, and the hair all over his body stood on end.

Booker's reaction was very quick, he walked quietly to the next path, and then continued to search forward.It will not miss any slight change along the way.It observed carefully, and finally confirmed one thing, that is, there was a stranger here.

At this moment, Booker smelled a pungent smell.Guided by this smell, Booker walked into a forest.It saw Nico's body lying on the ground, with an arrow stuck in his chest, and the arrow pierced from behind.According to its judgment, Niko must have been in great pain before he died, and he had struggled for a long time before finally collapsing here.

Booker didn't stop.After traveling about a hundred meters, it saw another dog in the middle of the road.This dog was bought by Sandy from Dawson.Its injuries told Booker that it had been beaten and killed in the heat of the struggle.

The successive deaths of his companions did not stop Booker, and he still walked forward.

At this moment, a slight sound faintly entered Booker's ears, and the sound came from the camp.

So Booker caught the sound carefully.It found that the voice was very monotonous, and it kept repeating, as if someone was singing for celebration.

Booker crawled to the edge of the camp.It saw Hansen lying on the ground like a porcupine, with arrow tail feathers on his back.

When Booker saw Hansen, he also sneaked a glance at the wooden shed. Everything in front of him made him extremely angry, the hairs all over his body stood on end, and he couldn't help howling crazily.

There was a group of Indians in the woodshed, and they were dancing and celebrating.Booker's roar startled them.Immediately afterwards, a wild beast fell from the sky and rushed towards them.Although they had never seen Booker before, looking at him insanely, he seemed determined not to put them to death, and vowed not to give up.

The leader at the front became Booker's first target.Booker bit his neck, and blood spurted out like a fountain.After Booker bit it, he didn't stay long.It has no fixed goal, and whoever it encounters will be unlucky.

It bit aimlessly like this, catching the group of Indians by surprise.Although they had arrows in their hands, Booker's attack was not only fast, but also fierce. They couldn't find an accurate target at all, so they could only shoot arrows indiscriminately.

Finally, a young Indian hunter took aim, so he stabbed at Booker with the spear in his hand.But to his surprise, it was the other hunter's chest that was stabbed, and because of too much force, the spearhead pierced the other hunter's back.Booker jumped away in time with his quick reflexes.

When this happened, the other Indians were terrified.Shouting loudly, they fled toward the forest, hurried and flustered.

Now Booker is no different from the Devil.The group of Indians ran ahead, and it was right behind.

They ran in panic, and just as they were about to get out of danger, Booker ran ahead of them.Then Booker turned around and treated them as he had dealt with elk.When it has had enough, kill them all.

For that group of Indians, this day was a day of sacrifice for all of them.

The battle was over, and Booker was exhausted.It dragged its shaking body and walked slowly back to the camp.The camp at this time was full of desolation.

Walking into the shed, Booker saw Pete.Pete was killed in the blanket, and the astonishment at the time of death was still frozen on his face.Next, it looked for Sandy, but it searched all over the wooden shed, but found no trace.

where is sandyBooker was very anxious, and when it was spinning in place, he saw a bloodstain on the ground.So, it sniffed all the way forward, and finally came to a deep pool.

Booker stopped and found Siqide's figure.Si Kid had licked his wounds before, but now, its head and front feet were soaked in the pool water, turning into a cold corpse.Even at the end of its life, it has done its duty.

The bloodstain extended to the edge of the deep pool and disappeared.Booker searched for a long time, but still did not see Sandy.

In fact, Sandy is in the deep pool.The water discharged from the trough-shaped washing machine polluted the pool water, so that the current pool water is very turbid, almost like a muddy ground, so Sandy's body was hidden in it.

This incident made Booker extremely sad.In the following days, besides sitting by the pool, it just kept wandering in the camp.When it is by the pool, it is very quiet, and it takes a whole day to sit.

Although no trace of Sandy was ever found, one thing Booker knew very well was that Sandy would never come back again.

Sandy's departure not only traumatized Booker's spirit, but also made Booker's heart extremely empty and lonely.That feeling is a bit like hunger, but not quite the same.Because the emptiness of hunger can be filled with food, but there is no food that can eliminate the dull pain of loneliness.

Many times, when Booker was wandering around the camp, he would stop suddenly and look silently at the bodies of the Indians.

Only at this time, the dull pain of loneliness no longer tortured it.A sense of pride arises spontaneously in my heart, and this feeling has never been felt before.

Now, I actually killed all these people. They are human beings, the most noble and intelligent animals on earth.

Booker was very curious.It smelled their corpses with its nose, and there was a bit of complacency in its expression.

How is it so easy to kill them?Booker couldn't believe it.Even killing a huskie is not so easy.

At the same time, it also figured out one thing, that is, if human beings do not have weapons in their hands, they are not worth fearing at all. What really scares them are the bows, arrows, spears, and sticks in their hands.

It was dark, the moon hung high in the night sky, and the moonlight shone through the treetops.

Booker's heart was filled with sentimentality.It sat quietly by the pool, maintaining the same posture for a long time.There is no focus in its eyes, and its thoughts don't know where to go.

Suddenly, the flow of breath in the surroundings made it alert, and its ears were erected accordingly.This breath gave Booker a feeling of deja vu.

At this time, a howl came from afar, the voice was high and piercing.Immediately afterwards, the same sound sounded again, just echoing the previous howl.

After hearing this voice, Booker's body stood upright and his spirit was lifted.It listened carefully, and after a few times, it finally understood that it was the call from another world hidden in its heart.

So it walked into the middle of the clearing and listened very carefully.Yes, that call from memory, a mixture of different tones.Now, that voice reverberates in the night sky, attracting Booker more than ever before.

In this world, Sandy is Booker's only concern.Sandy's death left him with nothing to miss.So, it decided to heed that call.

The Indians are for hunting, and the deer are for migration. Although the purposes are different, their destinations are all in the valley where Booker is located.Likewise, wolves come here to hunt for food.At this time, the moonlight in the night sky poured down, covering the wilderness full of streams and forests.And the wolves were walking across that wilderness, and they kept going.They were like a surging tide, shining silvery.

The first time that calling sounded in Booker's ears, it was very clear that this day would come sooner or later.So, it stood in the middle of the valley, motionless like a stone statue.It was waiting for the pack of wolves.

(Section [-]) Plunge into the forest

The group of wild wolves came to the valley, and at the same time, they also saw Booker standing there.The composure and calmness shown by the tall Booker made them fearful at first sight.Therefore, they did not act rashly, and Booker did not move either.

They confronted each other like this, and after a long time, the wolves made their move first.One of the wolves jumped out and pounced on Booker.

The wolf was the bravest of the pack, but Buck was even braver.Seeing the wolf pounced on him, Booker didn't dodge, but went up to meet him, biting the wolf's neck with one bite, and counterattacked very quickly, like a flash of lightning.Afterwards, it retreated to the original standing position, and remained in the previous position without moving.

The wolf's neck was bitten, and under the stimulation of pain, it could no longer stand up, and kept rolling on the ground.Next, three wolves came out of the pack one after another. Although they attacked in different directions, they all ended in failure without exception.

And these failures shocked the entire wolf pack, and at the same time felt extremely angry.Their desire to defeat their rivals is so strong that they attack together.Although there are many of them, there is no order at all in the process of attacking. In this way, not only is there no effect, but it creates obstacles for themselves.

With his rear legs as the axis, Booker kept turning his body with fast speed and quick response.Under its rotation, countless phantoms appeared, jumping and biting.

Booker fought and retreated while guarding against the deadly defense, so that it would not be attacked by the enemy. Finally, it retreated into the valley.There is an embankment in the valley, which is very high and is made of sand and stone.Booker stopped just in front of the embankment.

There is a corner on the embankment, shaped like a right angle.After seeing this corner, Booker quickly retreated in.With this as a barrier, the safety of its left and right sides and behind it is guaranteed, and it only needs to concentrate on the opponent's front attack.

The terrain Booker occupies is very beneficial to him.Under its cover, Booker can attack and defend freely.In less than half an hour, the wolves had to retreat due to loss.

Now, the wolves are of different shapes, some stick out their tongues and hang long outside; some lie on the ground with their ears upright, short of breath; ; some are quenching their thirst with pool water, looking very eager.

They were in a stalemate like this, and after a while, a wolf came out of the pack.Its body is thin and long, and its hair is gray.It walked towards Booker slowly, with a very friendly expression.

Booker recognized at a glance that it was the wolf that had run with him.At that time, they ran all day and all night.

A whining sound came out of the wolf's mouth, and Booker responded with the same sound.Not long after, Booker and the wolf became intimate again, touching each other's noses.

Being able to meet again filled their hearts with joy.At this moment, another old wolf covered in scars came over.As soon as he saw it approaching, Booker immediately recovered from his joy, howled loudly, and opened his posture, ready to fight.

To Buck's surprise, the old wolf didn't come to fight him, and in order to show kindness, it and Buck sniffed each other's noses.

After that, the old wolf sat on the ground with its upper body upright and its head raised high, and then it howled loudly towards the sky with a slow and sustained sound.Immediately afterwards, the other wolves followed suit.

At this moment, the mysterious call was so close to him, and Booker was extremely excited, so he also squatted down and let out a long howl.

After it stood up, the pack of wild wolves immediately surrounded it.Although they were once Booker's underdogs, they are now expressing their affection with a touch of nose, which is both friendly and brutal.

Next, the old wolf also stood up, and ran towards the forest while singing loudly.Under its leadership, the other wolves also sang the howling song of the pack, and followed closely behind.

Buck ran with them, howling, shoulder to shoulder, in step.As their figures gradually moved away, their singing gradually weakened, and finally they all dissipated in the depths of the forest.

Booker's story is now coming to an end.

A few years later, the Yeheite people discovered that in the forest where they lived, there were new changes in the types of wild wolves.Some wolves have brown markings on their heads and mouths, and there are many white hairs on their chests, which are distributed in strips in the center of the chest.

In the Yeheite tribe, there is also a very magical legend.The content of the legend is that there is a "dog demon" in the forest, leading the wolves to run around.

They are terrified of that "dog demon", because it not only snatches their prey and bites their dogs, but even if their bravest hunter stands in front of it, it will not show a look of fear .

At this point in the story, people can't help but be frightened, but the more frightening thing is yet to come.When the hunters of the Yehite tribe went out to hunt, some never came back, and some were found, but their throats were cut.At the same time, their people also discovered that there was a kind of footprint left around the dead hunter, which was so huge that no wolf on the snow was as big as it.

If the Yahites were going to hunt, there was a valley that was off limits to them, because they never had the guts to go into it.

At night, when the fire was lit, the women sat around the ground. When they chatted with me, as long as they talked about the "dog demon" and the valley, they would feel very sad and couldn't control it.

Every summer, there will be guests in that valley.Not only does it look strange, but its behavior is also inexplicable.Its appearance is very similar to that of a wolf, but upon closer inspection, it is not exactly the same.After it came, it would walk to the edge of a deep pool and squat there, thinking about something seriously. After a long time, it roared loudly, the sound was slow and long-lasting, and full of sadness.After a sound, it turned and left.

And acting alone like this is not a frequent thing.

When autumn came, at night, in order to catch prey, the wolves walked into the valley.The moonlight in the night sky casts a desolate coldness.Under the moonlight, Booker ran at the head of the wolves, looking proud like a leader.It sang loudly, and the songs were vigorous and vigorous, from the primitive world.The song was heard throughout the valley, the song of the wolves.

(End of this chapter)