On the opposite slope of the watershed they came down into a level country where were great stretches of forest and many streams, and through these great stretches they ran steadily, hour after hour, the sun rising higher and the day growing warmer.Buck was wildly glad.He knew he was at last answering the call, running by the side of his wood brother toward the place from where the call surely came.Old memories were coming upon him fast, and he was stirring to them as of old he stirred to the realities of which they were the shadows.He had done this thing before, somewhere in that other and dimly remembered world, and he was doing it again, now, running free in the open, the unpacked earth underfoot, the wide sky overhead.
They stopped by a running stream to drink, and, stopping, Buck remembered John Thornton.He sat down.The wolf started on toward the place from where the call surely came, then returned to him, sniffing noses and making actions as though to encourage him.But Buck turned about and started slowly on the back track.For the better part of an hour the wild brother ran by his side, whining softly.Then he sat down, pointed his nose upward, and howled.It was a mournful howl, and as Buck held steadily on his way he heard it grow faint and fainter until it was lost in the distance.
John Thornton was eating dinner when Buck dashed into camp and sprang upon him in a frenzy of affection, overturning him, scrambling upon him, licking his face, biting his hand--"playing the general tom-fool," as John Thornton characterized it, the while he shook Buck back and forth and cursed him lovingly.