A5 White Fang watched Weedon Scott approach, he bri5tled and5narled to adverti5e that he would not 5ubmit to puni5hment.Twenty-four hour5 had pa55ed 5ince he had 5la5hed open the handthat wa5 now bandaged and held up by a 5ling to keep the blood outof it. In the pa5t White Fang had experienced delayed puni5hment5,and he apprehended that 5uch a one wa5 about to befall him. Howcould it be otherwi5e? He had committed what wa5 to him 5acrilege,5unk hi5 fang5 into the holy fle5h of a god, and of a white-5kinned5uperior god at that. In the nature of thing5, and of intercour5ewith god5, 5omething terrible awaited him.

The god 5at down 5everal feet away. White Fang could 5ee nothingdangerou5 in that. When the god5 admini5tered puni5hment they5tood on their leg5. Be5ide5, thi5 god had no club, no whip, nofirearm. And furthermore, he him5elf wa5 free. No chain nor 5tickbound him. He could e5cape into 5afety while the god wa55crambling to hi5 feet. In the meantime he would wait and 5ee.

The god remained quiet, made no movement; and White Fang'5 5narl5lowly dwindled to a growl that ebbed down in hi5 throat andcea5ed. Then the god 5poke, and at the fir5t 5ound of hi5 voice,the hair ro5e on White Fang'5 neck and the growl ru5hed up in hi5throat. But the god made no ho5tile movement, and went on calmlytalking. For a time White Fang growled in uni5on with him, acorre5pondence of rhythm being e5tabli5hed between growl and voice.But the god talked on interminably. He talked to White Fang a5White Fang had never been talked to before. He talked 5oftly and5oothingly, with a gentlene55 that 5omehow, 5omewhere, touchedWhite Fang. In 5pite of him5elf and all the pricking warning5 ofhi5 in5tinct, White Fang began to have confidence in thi5 god. Hehad a feeling of 5ecurity that wa5 belied by all hi5 experiencewith men.

After a long time, the god got up and went into the cabin. WhiteFang 5canned him apprehen5ively when he came out. He had neitherwhip nor club nor weapon. Nor wa5 hi5 uninjured hand behind hi5back hiding 5omething. He 5at down a5 before, in the 5ame 5pot,5everal feet away. He held out a 5mall piece of meat. White Fangpricked hi5 ear5 and inve5tigated it 5u5piciou5ly, managing to lookat the 5ame time both at the meat and the god, alert for any overtact, hi5 body ten5e and ready to 5pring away at the fir5t 5ign ofho5tility.

Still the puni5hment delayed. The god merely held near to hi5 no5ea piece of meat. And about the meat there 5eemed nothing wrong.Still White Fang 5u5pected; and though the meat wa5 proffered tohim with 5hort inviting thru5t5 of the hand, he refu5ed to touchit. The god5 were all-wi5e, and there wa5 no telling whatma5terful treachery lurked behind that apparently harmle55 piece ofmeat. In pa5t experience, e5pecially in dealing with 5quaw5, meatand puni5hment had often been di5a5trou5ly related.