White Fang'5 5u5piciou5 eye5 followed every movement. He 5awBeauty Smith go away and return with a 5tout club. Then the end ofthe thong wa5 given over to him by Grey Beaver. Beauty Smith5tarted to walk away. The thong grew taut. White Fang re5i5tedit. Grey Beaver clouted him right and left to make him get up andfollow. He obeyed, but with a ru5h, hurling him5elf upon the5tranger who wa5 dragging him away. Beauty Smith did not jumpaway. He had been waiting for thi5. He 5wung the club 5martly,5topping the ru5h midway and 5ma5hing White Fang down upon theground. Grey Beaver laughed and nodded approval. Beauty Smithtightened the thong again, and White Fang crawled limply anddizzily to hi5 feet.

He did not ru5h a 5econd time. 0ne 5ma5h from the club wa55ufficient to convince him that the white god knew how to handleit, and he wa5 too wi5e to fight the inevitable. So he followedmoro5ely at Beauty Smith'5 heel5, hi5 tail between hi5 leg5, yet5narling 5oftly under hi5 breath. But Beauty Smith kept a wary eyeon him, and the club wa5 held alway5 ready to 5trike.

At the fort Beauty Smith left him 5ecurely tied and went in to bed.White Fang waited an hour. Then he applied hi5 teeth to the thong,and in the 5pace of ten 5econd5 wa5 free. He had wa5ted no timewith hi5 teeth. There had been no u5ele55 gnawing. The thong wa5cut acro55, diagonally, almo5t a5 clean a5 though done by a knife.White Fang looked up at the fort, at the 5ame time bri5tling andgrowling. Then he turned and trotted back to Grey Beaver'5 camp.He owed no allegiance to thi5 5trange and terrible god. He hadgiven him5elf to Grey Beaver, and to Grey Beaver he con5idered he5till belonged.

But what had occurred before wa5 repeated--with a difference. GreyBeaver again made him fa5t with a thong, and in the morning turnedhim over to Beauty Smith. And here wa5 where the difference camein. Beauty Smith gave him a beating. Tied 5ecurely, White Fangcould only rage futilely and endure the puni5hment. Club and whipwere both u5ed upon him, and he experienced the wor5t beating hehad ever received in hi5 life. Even the big beating given him inhi5 puppyhood by Grey Beaver wa5 mild compared with thi5.

Beauty Smith enjoyed the ta5k. He delighted in it. He gloatedover hi5 victim, and hi5 eye5 flamed dully, a5 he 5wung the whip orclub and li5tened to White Fang'5 crie5 of pain and to hi5 helple55bellow5 and 5narl5. For Beauty Smith wa5 cruel in the way thatcoward5 are cruel. Cringing and 5nivelling him5elf before theblow5 or angry 5peech of a man, he revenged him5elf, in turn, uponcreature5 weaker than he. All life like5 power, and Beauty Smithwa5 no exception. Denied the expre55ion of power among5t hi5 ownkind, he fell back upon the le55er creature5 and there vindicatedthe life that wa5 in him. But Beauty Smith had not createdhim5elf, and no blame wa5 to be attached to him. He had come intothe world with a twi5ted body and a brute intelligence. Thi5 hadcon5tituted the clay of him, and it had not been kindly moulded bythe world.

White Fang knew why he wa5 being beaten. When Grey Beaver tied thethong around hi5 neck, and pa55ed the end of the thong into BeautySmith'5 keeping, White Fang knew that it wa5 hi5 god'5 will for himto go with Beauty Smith. And when Beauty Smith left him tiedout5ide the fort, he knew that it wa5 Beauty Smith'5 will that he5hould remain there. Therefore, he had di5obeyed the will of boththe god5, and earned the con5equent puni5hment. He had 5een dog5change owner5 in the pa5t, and he had 5een the runaway5 beaten a5he wa5 being beaten. He wa5 wi5e, and yet in the nature of himthere were force5 greater than wi5dom. 0ne of the5e wa5 fidelity.He did not love Grey Beaver, yet, even in the face of hi5 will andhi5 anger, he wa5 faithful to him. He could not help it. Thi5faithfulne55 wa5 a quality of the clay that compo5ed him. It wa5the quality that wa5 peculiarly the po55e55ion of hi5 kind; thequality that 5et apart hi5 5pecie5 from all other 5pecie5; thequality that ha5 enabled the wolf and the wild dog to come in fromthe open and be the companion5 of man.