When Buck is harnessed to a sled by François, he is placed between Spitz, the lead dog, and Dave, "an experienced wheeler." (A "wheeler" is the dog nearest the sled.) At first, Buck resents being placed in a harness, as though he were merely some "draft animal" that he remembers from civilization, but Buck is too wise to rebel against this treatment, because he knows that François is "stern in demanding obedience, and Buck [knows] that he would not hesitate to use the whip." For the code of the Far North, the whip is tantamount to what the club was in Buck's first lesson concerning the "law of the club." Buck learns his duties very quickly, and one of the important laws of the primitive world is that one must learn quickly if one is to adapt to new situations and survive. For example, after his first day as a sled dog, Buck learns to "stop at 'ho,' and to go ahead at 'mush.'"
Buck's next learning experience involves the three new dogs that Perrault acquires. Two of these dogs, Billee and Joe, are huskies and brothers, but they are quite different in temperament. The third dog, however, Sol-leks (meaning "the angry one"), is blind in one eye, and he does not like to be approached on his blind side. Once, when Buck forgetfully approaches Sol-leks from the blind side, Sol-leks hurls himself upon Buck and slashes Buck's shoulder to the bone. Forever afterward, Buck avoids Sol-lek's blind side. Thus, continually, Buck learns an entirely new way of living and existing. Yet he and Sol-leks are not enemies because of the episode mentioned above, and until the death of Sol-leks, he and Buck are good friends.
Buck's next lesson in adapting to his new life involves finding a warm place to sleep. He sees lights one night in François and Perrault's tent, and because he has been used to sleeping by the Judge's fireplace, Buck enters their tent, only to be bombarded by curses and flying objects. Wandering around the camp site in the cold bitter wind, that is penetrating his wounded shoulder, Buck is surprised to find that all of the other dogs are, as it were, "teammates," and that they have buried themselves under the snow. Thus, Buck learns how the other dogs sleep and keep warm, so he selects a place for himself and is soon asleep; once again, he learns another lesson about how to survive in this new and hostile country.
