Illustration of Buck in the snow with mountains in the background

The Call of the Wild

by Jack London

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Student Question

Based on Chapter Four of "Call of The Wild", what happened behind the river trees?

"whips were snapped and bells tinkled merrily, the sleds churned along the trail; but Buck knew, and every dog knew, what had taken place behind the belt of river trees"

Quick answer:

Behind the river trees, the Scotch half-breed returned to the camp after the sled team moved out of sight and euthanized Dave, a faithful dog, with a revolver shot. Dave had grown increasingly weak and in pain, yet remained determined to pull the sled. Despite being cut loose in hopes of recovery, he insisted on working until he collapsed. The dogs, unable to see the event, heard the shot and understood Dave had been put down.

Expert Answers

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The Scotch half-breed waited until the train had "passed out of sight behind a belt of river timber".  He then "slowly retraced his steps to the camp they had left", and, with "a single revolver shot", euthanized his faithful dog Dave. 

The last two pages of the chapter chronicle Dave's deterioration and his heart-rending determination to remain in the traces until the end.  "Something had gone wrong with (Dave)"; he became weaker and weaker, "falling repeatedly in the traces", and crying out from the pain of a an unidentified hurt deep within him.  The half-breed cut him loose, hoping that rest would allow the dog to get better, but Dave bit through the harness of the dog that replaced him, demanding to be allowed to pull in his usual spot.  The driver, knowing that "a dog could break its heart through being denied the work that killed it", allowed him to pull until he coould literally pull no more.  At the end, Dave did not even have strength to drag himself to the traces, and "the last his mates saw of him he lay gasping in the snow and yearning toward them".  It was then that the Scotch half-breed drove his team around the bend, leaving them while he went back to put Dave out of his misery.  Even though they could not see what was happening, the dogs heard the gunshot and knew that Dave has been killed (Chapter 4).

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