 went hunting with the Judge's sons; he
escorted Mollie and Alice, the Judge's daughters, on long twilight or early
morning rambles; on wintry nights he lay at the Judge's feet before the roaring
library fire; he carried the Judge's grandsons on his back, or rolled them in
the grass, and guarded their footsteps through wild adventures down to the
fountain in the stable yard, and even beyond, where the paddocks were, and the
berry patches. Among the terriers he stalked imperiously, and Toots and Ysabel
he utterly ignored, for he was king, - king over all creeping, crawling, flying
things of Judge Miller's place, humans included.
    His father, Elmo, a huge St. Bernard, had been the Judge's inseparable
companion, and Buck bid fair to follow in the way of his father. He was not so
large, - he weighed only one hundred and forty pounds, - for his mother, Shep,
had been a Scotch shepherd dog. Nevertheless, one hundred and forty pounds, to
which was added the dignity that comes of good living and universal respect,
enabled him to carry himself in right royal fashion. During the four years since
his puppyhood he had lived the life of a sated aristocrat; he had a fine pride
in himself, was even a trifle egotistical, as country gentlemen sometimes become
because of their insular situation. But he had saved himself by not becoming a
mere pampered house-dog. Hunting and kindred outdoor delights had kept down the
fat and hardened his muscles; and to him, as to the cold-tubbing races, the love
of water had been a tonic and a health preserver.
    And this was the manner of dog Buck was in the fall of 1897, when the
Klondike strike dragged men from all the world into the frozen North. But Buck
did not read the newspapers, and he did not know that Manuel, one of the
gardener's helpers, was an undesirable acquaintance. Manuel had one besetting
sin. He loved to play Chinese lottery. Also, in his gambling, he had one
besetting weakness - faith in a system; and this made his damnation certain. For
to play a system requires money, while the wages of a gardener's helper do not
lap over the needs of a wife and numerous progeny.
    The Judge was at a meeting of the Raisin Growers' Association, and the boys
were busy organizing an athletic club, on the memorable night of Manuel's
treachery. No one saw him and Buck go off through the orchard on what Buck
