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Thornton stepped between them to try to stop them. Buck was, as
The call of the wild Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3
usual, lying in the corner watching. Burton hit Thornton and he nearly fell, just catching a
table. Buck flew through the air at Burton's throat. Burton saved his life by putting up his
arm, and was thrown on to the ground, with Buck on top of him. Buck took his teeth out of
the man's arm and this time bit into his throat. Then a crowd of people pulled Buck off, and a
doctor was called. Everyone agreed that Buck had only attacked because he saw Thornton in
danger, and from that day Buck's name became famous all over the north.
Thornton stepped between them to try to stop them. Buck was, as
The call of the wild Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3
usual, lying in the corner watching. Burton hit Thornton and he nearly fell, just catching a
table. Buck flew through the air at Burton's throat. Burton saved his life by putting up his
arm, and was thrown on to the ground, with Buck on top of him. Buck took his teeth out of
the man's arm and this time bit into his throat. Then a crowd of people pulled Buck off, and a
doctor was called. Everyone agreed that Buck had only attacked because he saw Thornton in
danger, and from that day Buck's name became famous all over the north.
Later that year, Buck saved Thornton in a different way. The three men were taking a
boat down a fast and rocky river. Thornton was in the boat, while Hans and Pete moved
along the river bank, holding the boat with a rope. Buck followed them, keeping a worried
eye on Thornton.
They came to a more dangerous part of the river, and the boat started to go too quickly.
Hans pulled on the rope to stop it, and pulled too hard. The boat turned over, and Thornton
was thrown into the water and carried down river towards rocks where no swimmer could
live.
Buck jumped in immediately and swam three hundred metres until he reached Thornton.
Then he turned, and with Thornton holding his tail, Buck swam towards the river bank. But
they moved slowly, and all the time the river was carrying them towards the place where the
water crashed twenty metres down onto rocks. Thornton knew that they would not get to the
bank quickly enough, so he let go of Buck, held on to a rock in the middle of the water, and
shouted, 'Go, Buck, go!'
Buck swam as hard as he could to the bank, and Pete and Hans pulled him out.
It was hard for Thornton to hold on to his rock in that wild water, and his friends knew
they had only a few minutes to save him. They tied their rope round Buck, who at once
jumped into the river and tried to swim to Thornton. The first time, the water took him past
the rock, and Pete and Hans had to pull him back. The second time, he swam higher up the
river, and the water brought him down to Thornton. Thornton held on to Buck, and Hans and
Pete pulled the rope as hard as they could. Man and dog disappeared under the water,
banging into rocks, turning over and over, sometimes with Buck on top, sometimes
Thornton. When Hans and Pete finally pulled them out both seemed more dead than alive.
But after a while their eyes opened and life returned.
That winter, at Dawson, Buck did something that made him even more famous in the
The call of the wild Oxford Bookworms Library Stage 3
north. It was also very helpful to the three men. They wanted to make a journey to look for
gold in the east, and they needed money. They were in a bar one day when some of the men
started to talk about dogs. One man said that he had a dog who was strong enough to pull a
sledge with two hundred kilos on it. Another said his dog could pull two hundred and fifty. A
third man, called Matthewson, said his dog could pull three hundred kilos.
'That's nothing,' said Thornton. 'Buck can pull three hundred and fifty.'
'Can he break the sledge out when it's frozen to the ice and then start it moving? And pull
it a hundred metres?' asked Matthewson.
'