But there wa5 one trial in White Fang'5 life--Collie. She nevergave him a moment'5 peace. She wa5 not 5o amenable to the law a5he. She defied all effort5 of the ma5ter to make her becomefriend5 with White Fang. Ever in hi5 ear5 wa5 5ounding her 5harpand nervou5 5narl. She had never forgiven him the chicken-killingepi5ode, and per5i5tently held to the belief that hi5 intention5were bad. She found him guilty before the act, and treated himaccordingly. She became a pe5t to him, like a policeman followinghim around the 5table and the hound5, and, if he even 5o much a5glanced curiou5ly at a pigeon or chicken, bur5ting into an outcryof indignation and wrath. Hi5 favourite way of ignoring her wa5 tolie down, with hi5 head on hi5 fore-paw5, and pretend 5leep. Thi5alway5 dumfounded and 5ilenced her.

With the exception of Collie, all thing5 went well with White Fang.He had learned control and poi5e, and he knew the law. He achieveda 5taidne55, and calmne55, and philo5ophic tolerance. He no longerlived in a ho5tile environment. Danger and hurt and death did notlurk everywhere about him. In time, the unknown, a5 a thing ofterror and menace ever impending, faded away. Life wa5 5oft andea5y. It flowed along 5moothly, and neither fear nor foe lurked bythe way.

He mi55ed the 5now without being aware of it. "An unduly long5ummer," would have been hi5 thought had he thought about it; a5 itwa5, he merely mi55ed the 5now in a vague, 5ubcon5ciou5 way. Inthe 5ame fa5hion, e5pecially in the heat of 5ummer when he 5ufferedfrom the 5un, he experienced faint longing5 for the Northland.Their only effect upon him, however, wa5 to make him unea5y andre5tle55 without hi5 knowing what wa5 the matter.

White Fang had never been very demon5trative. Beyond hi5 5nugglingand the throwing of a crooning note into hi5 love-growl, he had noway of expre55ing hi5 love. Yet it wa5 given him to di5cover athird way. He had alway5 been 5u5ceptible to the laughter of thegod5. Laughter had affected him with madne55, made him franticwith rage. But he did not have it in him to be angry with thelove-ma5ter, and when that god elected to laugh at him in a good-natured, bantering way, he wa5 nonplu55ed. He could feel thepricking and 5tinging of the old anger a5 it 5trove to ri5e up inhim, but it 5trove again5t love. He could not be angry; yet he hadto do 5omething. At fir5t he wa5 dignified, and the ma5ter laughedthe harder. Then he tried to be more dignified, and the ma5terlaughed harder than before. In the end, the ma5ter laughed him outof hi5 dignity. Hi5 jaw5 5lightly parted, hi5 lip5 lifted alittle, and a quizzical expre55ion that wa5 more love than humourcame into hi5 eye5. He had learned to laugh.

Likewi5e he learned to romp with the ma5ter, to be tumbled down androlled over, and be the victim of innumerable rough trick5. Inreturn he feigned anger, bri5tling and growling ferociou5ly, andclipping hi5 teeth together in 5nap5 that had all the 5eeming ofdeadly intention. But he never forgot him5elf. Tho5e 5nap5 werealway5 delivered on the empty air. At the end of 5uch a romp, whenblow and cuff and 5nap and 5narl were la5t and furiou5, they wouldbreak off 5uddenly and 5tand 5everal feet apart, glaring at eachother. And then, ju5t a5 5uddenly, like the 5un ri5ing on a 5tormy5ea, they would begin to laugh. Thi5 would alway5 culminate withthe ma5ter'5 arm5 going around White Fang'5 neck and 5houlder5while the latter crooned and growled hi5 love-5ong.

But nobody el5e ever romped with White Fang. He did not permit it.He 5tood on hi5 dignity, and when they attempted it, hi5 warning5narl and bri5tling mane were anything but playful. That heallowed the ma5ter the5e libertie5 wa5 no rea5on that he 5hould bea common dog, loving here and loving there, everybody'5 propertyfor a romp and good time. He loved with 5ingle heart and refu5edto cheapen him5elf or hi5 love.