The Call of the Wild. Jack London

CK LONDON

      The Call of the Wild

      THE CALL OF THE WILD

      At home in California, Buck has an easy, comfortable life. He is the biggest, strongest, most important dog in the place. He goes walking and swimming with the children, and sits by his owner’s fire in the winter.

      But this is 1897 and dogs like Buck are needed in the Yukon, where men have found gold. So Buck is stolen from his home and taken north. There he learns how to pull a sledge, travelling day after day over the frozen snow. He learns how to steal food, how to break the ice in water-holes, how to fight the other dogs when they attack him. And he learns fast.

      Soon Buck is one of the most famous sledge-dogs in the north. But the north is a wild place, where the wolf howls to the moon and runs free in the forest. And the call of the wild comes to Buck in his dreams, louder and louder …

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ISBN 978 0 19 479110 6

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Map by: William Rowsell

Word count (main text): 10,965 words

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      1

      To the north

      Buck did not read the newspapers. He did not know that trouble was coming for every big dog in California. Men had found gold in the Yukon, and these men wanted big, strong dogs to work in the cold and snow of the north.

      Buck lived in Mr Miller’s big house in the sunny Santa Clara valley. There were large gardens and fields of fruit trees around the house, and a river nearby. In a big place like this, of course, there were many dogs. There were house dogs and farm dogs, but they were not important. Buck was chief dog; he was born here, and this was his place. He was four years old and weighed sixty kilos. He went swimming with Mr Miller’s sons, and walking with his daughters. He carried the grandchildren on his back, and he sat at Mr Miller’s feet in front of the fire in winter.

      But this was 1897, and Buck did not know that men and dogs were hurrying to north-west Canada to look for gold. And he did not know that Manuel, one of Mr Miller’s gardeners, needed money for his large family. One day, when Mr Miller was out, Manuel and Buck left the garden together. It was just an evening walk, Buck thought. No one saw them go, and only one man saw them arrive at the railway station. This man talked to Manuel, and gave him some money. Then he tied a piece of rope around Buck’s neck.