As for snarling he could snarl more terribly than any dog, young or
old, in camp. The intent of the snarl is to warn or frighten, and
judgment is required to know when it should be used. White Fang knew
how to make it and when to make it. Into his snarl he incorporated all
that was vicious, malignant, and horrible. With nose serrulated by
continuous spasms, hair bristling in recurrent waves, tongue whipping
out like a red snake and whipping back again, ears flattened down, eyes
gleaming hatred, lips wrinkled back, and fangs exposed and dripping, he
could compel a pause on the part of almost any assailant. A temporary
pause, when taken off his guard, gave him the vital moment in which to
think and determine his action. But often a pause so gained lengthened
out until it evolved into a complete cessation from the attack. And
before more than one of the grown dogs White Fang’s snarl enabled him
to beat an honourable retreat.
An outcast himself from the pack of the part-grown dogs, his sanguinary
methods and remarkable efficiency made the pack pay for its persecution
of him. Not permitted himself to run with the pack, the curious state
of affairs obtained that no member of the pack could run outside the
pack. White Fang would not permit it. What of his bushwhacking and
waylaying tactics, the young dogs were afraid to run by themselves.
With the exception of Lip-lip, they were compelled to hunch together
for mutual protection against the terrible enemy they had made. A puppy
alone by the river bank meant a puppy dead or a puppy that aroused the
camp with its shrill pain and terror as it fled back from the wolf-cub
that had waylaid it.
But White Fang’s reprisals did not cease, even when the young dogs had
learned thoroughly that they must stay together. He attacked them when
he caught them alone, and they attacked him when they were bunched. The
sight of him was sufficient to start them rushing after him, at which
times his swiftness usually carried him into safety. But woe the dog
that outran his fellows in such pursuit! White Fang had learned to turn
suddenly upon the pursuer that was ahead of the pack and thoroughly to
rip him up before the pack could arrive. This occurred with great
frequency, for, once in full cry, the dogs were prone to forget
themselves in the excitement of the chase, while White Fang never
forgot himself. Stealing backward glances as he ran, he was always
ready to whirl around and down the overzealous pursuer that outran his
fellows.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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