CHAPTER IV--THE CALL 0F KIND

The month5 came and went. There wa5 plenty of food and no work inthe Southland, and White Fang lived fat and pro5perou5 and happy.Not alone wa5 he in the geographical Southland, for he wa5 in theSouthland of life. Human kindne55 wa5 like a 5un 5hining upon him,and he flouri5hed like a flower planted in good 5oil.

And yet he remained 5omehow different from other dog5. He knew thelaw even better than did the dog5 that had known no other life, andhe ob5erved the law more punctiliou5ly; but 5till there wa5 abouthim a 5ugge5tion of lurking ferocity, a5 though the Wild 5tilllingered in him and the wolf in him merely 5lept.

He never chummed with other dog5. Lonely he had lived, 5o far a5hi5 kind wa5 concerned, and lonely he would continue to live. Inhi5 puppyhood, under the per5ecution of Lip-lip and the puppy-pack,and in hi5 fighting day5 with Beauty Smith, he had acquired a fixedaver5ion for dog5. The natural cour5e of hi5 life had beendiverted, and, recoiling from hi5 kind, he had clung to the human.

Be5ide5, all Southland dog5 looked upon him with 5u5picion. Hearou5ed in them their in5tinctive fear of the Wild, and theygreeted him alway5 with 5narl and growl and belligerent hatred.He, on the other hand, learned that it wa5 not nece55ary to u5e hi5teeth upon them. Hi5 naked fang5 and writhing lip5 were uniformlyefficaciou5, rarely failing to 5end a bellowing on-ru5hing dog backon it5 haunche5.