野性的呼唤十四（最后）（The Call of the Wild ）

In the autumn，Buck started to see moose in the forest．One day he met a group of about twenty．The largest was two me tres tall，and his antlers were more than two metres across．When he saw Buck， he got very angry． For hours Buck fol lowed the moose；he wanted the big one，but he wanted him alone．By the evening Buck had driven the big old moose away from the others，and then he began his attack．The animal weighed six hundred and fifty kilos—he was big enough and strong enough to kill Buck in seconds．Patiently，Buck fol lowed him for four days，attacking and then jumping away．He gave him no peace，no time to eat or drink or rest， and slowly the moose became weaker．At the end of the fourth day Buck pulled the moose down and killed him．He stayed by the dead animal for a day and a half，eating，and then turned towards camp and John Thornton．

Five kilometres from the camp，he smelt something strange．Something was wrong．He started to run．After a few hundred metres he found the dead body of Blackie，with an arrow through his side．Then he found another sledge－dog，dying，with an arrow in his neck．

Buck was near the camp now，and he could hear voices singing．Then he saw the body of Hans，lying on his face，with ten or fifteen arrows in his back．Buck was suddenly filled with a wild，burning anger．

The yeehats were dancing around the camp，when they heard a deep and terrible growling．Buck came out of the trees faster than the north wind，and threw himself on the Yeehats like a mad dog He jumped at the first man，and tore out his throat，killing him at once．He jumped onto a second，then a third man，going each time for the throat．The Yeehats could neither escape nor use their arrows．Buck moved like a storm among them，tearing，biting，destroying，in a madness that he had never known before．Nothing could stop him，and soon the Yeehats were running，wild with fear，back to the forest Buck followed for some time，then returned to the camp．

He found Pete，killed in his bed． He followed Thornton's smell to a deep pool，and found Skeet lying dead by the edge．Thornton's body was somewhere under the water．

All day Buck stayed by the pool or walked restlessly round the camp． But when the evening came， he heard new sounds from the forest；the wolves had come south for the winter，and were moving into Buck's valley．They came into the camp in the moonlight，and Buck stood silently，waiting for them．Suddenly，the bravest wolf jumped at Buck．In a second，Buck had bitten，and then stood still again．The wolf was dead behind him．Three more wolves jumped at him，and were killed．

Then the pack attacked in a crowd all at once．But not one of them could bring Buck down；he was too quick，too strong，too clever for them all．After half an hour the pack stopped attacking and moved away．Then one wolf moved forward slowly， in a friendly way；it was the wolf that Buck had met before in the forest．They touched noses．Then another wolf came forward to make friends，and another．Soon the pack was all around Buck，and the call of the wild was loud in Buck's ears．And when the wolves moved on， back into the forest，Buck ran with them，side by side

That is perhaps the end of Buck's story．But after a few years，the Yeehats noticed that some of the wolves had golden brown in their grey coats．They also talked of a Ghost Dog that ran at the head of the pack．

And sometimes men were found dead，killed by the teeth of a terrible animal．And each autumn，when the Yeehats follow the moose，there is one valley that they will not go into．

In the summers there is one visitor to that valley： a large，golden-brown wolf，larger than any other wolf．He walks alone round the lake where the yellow gold shines in the water, and howls．But he is not always alone．In the long winter nights，he runs at the head of the wolf pack through the moonlight，calling into the night with them，singing a song from a younger world．