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���������~�ء���xӋ����Ұ�Եĺ􆾡�������He quickly lost the choosy nature that he had had in his old life. If he ate slowly, he found that his mates would steal his unfinished portion. While he was fighting off two or three, his food was disappearing down the throats of the others. To resolve this, he ate as fast as they did. He was so hungry that he was not above taking what did not belong to him. He watched and learned. Once he saw Pike, one of the new dogs, cleverly steal a slice of bacon when Perrault's back was turned. Buck copied the performance the following day, getting away with the whole chunk. Perrault was very upset, but he never suspected Buck; instead he punished Dub, a clumsy dog who was always getting caught.����This first theft showed Buck could survive in the hostile Northland environment. It showed his ability to adapt to changing conditions. The lack of such ability would have meant swift and terrible death. It also showed the decay of his moral nature. It was all well enough in the Southland, under the law of love and fellowship, to respect private property and personal feelings; but in the Northland, under the law of club and fang, those who respected such things were fools, and would suffer.����The club of the man in the red sweater had beaten into him a more basic and primitive law. In his old life, he would have been willing to die for a moral cause. But now he was losing his ties to civilization, and he only cared to protect his own skin. He stole not for the joy, but because of the growling in his stomach. He did not rob in front of others, but stole secretly and sneakily, out of respect for the law of club and fang. In short, the things he did were done because it was easier to do them than not to do them.����His development, or his regression, was rapid. His muscles became hard as iron, and he grew insensitive to all ordinary pain. He became highly efficient both internally as well as externally. He could eat anything, no matter how disgusting or hard to eat. Sight and scent became remarkably sharp. His hearing developed such sharpness that in his sleep he could hear the faintest sound and knew whether it meant peace or danger. He learned to bite the ice out with his teeth when it collected between his toes. When he was thirsty and there was a thick layer of ice over the water hole, he would break it by hitting it with his stiff front legs. His most obvious skill was an ability to smell the wind and predict it a night in advance. Even if there was no wind blowing when he went to sleep, Buck was always hidden when the cold wind came in the middle of the night.��������