野性的呼唤十二（The Call of the Wild ）

It was hard for Thornton to hold on to his rock in that wild water，and his friends knew they had only a few minutes to save him．They tied their rope round Buck，who at once jumped into the river and tried to swim to Thornton．The first time，the water took him past the rock，and Pete and Hans had to pull him back The second time，he swam higher up the river，and the water brought him down to Thornton．Thornton held on to Buck，and Hans and Pete pulled the rope as hard as they could．Man and dog disappeared under the water，banging into rocks，turning over and over，sometimes with Buck on top，sometimes Thornton．When Hans and Pete finally pulled them out，both seemed more dead than alive But after a while their eyes opened and life returned

That winter，at Dawson，Buck did something that made him even more famous in the north．It was also very helpful to the three men．They wanted to make a journey to look for gold in the east，and they needed money．They were in a bar one day when some of the men started to talk about dogs．One man said that he had a dog who was strong enough to pull a sledge with two hundred kilos on it．Another said his dog could pull two hundred and fifty．A third man，called Matthewson，said his dog could pull three hundred kilos．

‘That's nothing，’said Thornton．‘Buck can pull three hundred and fifty．’

‘ Can he break the sledge out when it's frozen to the ice and then start it moving？And pull it a hundred metres？’ asked Matthewson．

‘He can break it out，and start it，and pull it a hundred metres，said Thornton．

‘Well，’said Matthewson，speaking slowly and loudly．‘I've got a thousand dollars here，and I say he can't．’ As he spoke，he took a bag of gold and put it down on the table．

Suddenly Thornton was worried．He knew Buck was strong，but was he strong enough？ Now ten men were watching him and waiting．He didn't have a thousand dollars，and neither did Hans or Pete．

‘I've got a sledge outside with three hundrd and fifty kilos on it，’said Matthewson．‘So it's easy if you want to try．’

Thornton didn't know what to say．He looked at the other men in the bar．One of them was an old friend，Jim O’Brien．

‘Can yon lend me a thousand dollars，Jim？’he asked softly．

‘Sure，’said O’Brien，putting another bag of gold next to Matthewson's．‘But I don't think the dog can do it，John．’

Everybody went out into the street．There were two or three hundred men around Matthewson's sledge．The sledge had been outside the bar for two hours，and it was frozen to the ice，in a temperature of 50°below zero．Most of the men thought that Buck was not strong enough，and Matthewson smiled happily．

‘Shall we make it two thousand dollars？’he asked．

Thornton，Hans and Pete talked for a minute．They had only four hundred dollars，but they added this to O’Brien's thousand．Matthewson，very sure of winning．also put down another four hundred dollars．

Matthewson's ten dogs were taken away，and Buck，who could feel the excitement in the air，was harnessed to the sledge．Buck was，without question，a very fine animal—bright-eyed，intelligent，his thick coat shining with health．And he looked as strong as a horse．

One man went up to Thornton．‘I'll buy him now，’he said．‘I’11 give you eight hundred dollars for him．’

Thornton shook his head and sat down on the snow next to Buck．He held Buck's head in his hands and spoke softly into his ear．‘If you love me，Buck．If you love me．’

Buck took Thornton's hand between his teeth，then let go，and Thornton stood up and stepped back．

‘Ready，Buck，’he said．

Buck pulled on the harness a little， getting ready．

‘Right！’cried Thornton．

Buck pulled to the right，hard，stopped suddenly，and the ice under the sledge began to break．

‘Now，left！’called Thornton，and Buck pulled to the left，breaking more of the ice．

‘Now，pull！’

Buck threw himself against his harness，and pulled．He held his body low to the ground，his head down and forward，and his feet dug into the hard snow．Harder and harder he pulled．Suddenly，the sledge moved a centimetre…two…three…and，little by little，it started to go forward across the snow．With each second it went a little faster，and Thornton ran be hind，calling to Buck as he pulled the sledge towards the end of the hundred metres．The watching men were shouting and throwing their hats in the air；Buck had won．

Then Thornton was on the snow next to Buck again，talking to him，and Buck had Thornton's hand in his teeth．