The next day, François and Perrault discover that Spitz is missing, and the signs of battle on Buck’s body are proof that the inevitable battle between Buck and Spitz has occurred, and that Buck is the obvious winner. François is pleased because he knows that now there will be no more trouble with the dogs working as a team. A major decision must be made, however. Since Spitz has been killed, the sled drivers require a new lead dog. Sol-leks is chosen as the new lead dog. But Buck will not allow this, and he springs upon Sol-leks in a fury, indicating his desire to be the leader of the pack. François separates the dogs several times, but his tries are futile because Buck attacks Sol-leks again and again. Finally, François gets a club and threatens Buck with it. Buck immediately remembers the man in the red sweater, and he cowers before the club. Yet “Buck was in open revolt,” and he springs upon Sol-leks at the first opportunity.
Perrault and François chase Buck around the camp site for about an hour, but Buck easily eludes them. Then realizing that they are losing precious time, the drivers finally yield to Buck’s wishes and install him as the lead dog. Buck more than proves his prowess. Immediately, he “shows himself” the superior even of Spitz, of whom François had never seen the equal.
Buck continues to excel in leadership, and the other dogs fall immediately in line and grant Buck his hard-earned superiority. In fact, one of the dogs, Pike, lagging during the day, is soundly punished by Buck for his laziness. Thus the team begins operating in its old superior form, a fact which pleases François and Perrault very much. At one of the stops, the Rink Rapids, two native huskies, Teek and Koona, are added to the team, and Buck immediately coerces them into being members of the team. In record time, the journey from the Rink Rapids to Skagway, their destination, is accomplished.
For three days, Perrault and François brag about their accomplishments, and “the team [is] the constant center of a worshipful crowd of dog busters and mushers.” New orders, however, come to the kindly drivers, François and Perrault, and “like other men, they are forced to accept new assignments, and so they leave Buck’s life. Buck’s new owner is a “Scotch half-breed” and is known only by that name; he is the driver of the mail team over the trail to Dawson. Once again, Buck and his mates set out on the weary and monotonous trail to Dawson. We are told that Buck enjoyed lying near the campfire, at which time he would dream of his old life in the Santa Clara Valley, but—and this is an important point—”he was not homesick.” The Sunland was very “dim and distant,” and such old memories have no power over him any more. At other times, he ponders the “half-breed cook” who also sits near the campfire. In London’s description of the “half-breed cook,” it is clear that he wants us to see the half-breed as a type of prehistoric cave man covered with hair, a creature perhaps closer to the animals than to the humans. We are told that “he did not stand erect,” but that he had “a trunk that inclined forward from the hips on legs bent at the knees.” He is described as a “hairy man” who slept with his “head between his legs.”
