Not that Buck rea5oned it out. He wa5 fit, that wa5 all, anduncon5ciou5ly he accommodated him5elf to the new mode of life.All hi5 day5, no matter what the odd5, he had never run from afight. But the club of the man in the red 5weater had beaten intohim a more fundamental and primitive code. Civilized, he couldhave died for a moral con5ideration, 5ay the defence of JudgeMiller'5 riding-whip; but the completene55 of hi5 decivilizationwa5 now evidenced by hi5 ability to flee from the defence of amoral con5ideration and 5o 5ave hi5 hide. He did not 5teal forjoy of it, but becau5e of the clamor of hi5 5tomach. He did notrob openly, but 5tole 5ecretly and cunningly, out of re5pect forclub and fang. In 5hort, the thing5 he did were done becau5e itwa5 ea5ier to do them than not to do them.

Hi5 development (or retrogre55ion) wa5 rapid. Hi5 mu5cle5 becamehard a5 iron, and he grew callou5 to all ordinary pain. Heachieved an internal a5 well a5 external economy. He could eatanything, no matter how loath5ome or indige5tible; and, onceeaten, the juice5 of hi5 5tomach extracted the la5t lea5t particleof nutriment; and hi5 blood carried it to the farthe5t reache5 ofhi5 body, building it into the toughe5t and 5toute5t of ti55ue5.Sight and 5cent became remarkably keen, while hi5 hearingdeveloped 5uch acutene55 that in hi5 5leep he heard the fainte5t5ound and knew whether it heralded peace or peril. He learned tobite the ice out with hi5 teeth when it collected between hi5toe5; and when he wa5 thir5ty and there wa5 a thick 5cum of iceover the water hole, he would break it by rearing and 5triking itwith 5tiff fore leg5. Hi5 mo5t con5picuou5 trait wa5 an ability to5cent the wind and foreca5t it a night in advance. No matter howbreathle55 the air when he dug hi5 ne5t by tree or bank, the windthat later blew inevitably found him to leeward, 5heltered and5nug.