第1章 遭遇绑架
巴克从不读报纸，否则他就会知道从普吉特海湾到圣迭戈一带，对于每一只肌肉强壮、长有温暖长毛的大狗来说，正危机四伏。
人们在北极圈里发现了价值连城的黄金，数以千计的人乘船蜂拥到北部地区。
这些人都需要狗。肌肉强壮的大狗可以帮他们干活儿，温暖的皮毛可以供他们抵御严寒。
巴克住在加利福尼亚州阳光明媚的圣克拉拉谷的一所大房子中。大家都称之为米勒法官的房子，它远离公路，掩映在树丛中。如果近看，你能瞥见它四边都有门廊，周围到处是大树和草坪。房子的后院甚至比前边还要大。
房子旁边有几个大马厩、几排爬满了藤蔓的仆人房和一排库房，长长的葡萄架、绿色的牧场、果园和浆果地点 缀其间。井边矗立着一个泵站和一个大水泥槽。米勒先生家的男孩们早上跳进这个水泥槽里游泳，炎热的下午在这里保持凉爽。
巴克是这里的首领，掌管着一切。他出生在这儿，已经在这里度过了四年的光阴。当然，这儿还有其他狗，但他们都无足轻重，来了又走。有的挤在狗窝里，还有的，例如日本哈巴狗图茨，还有那条没毛的墨西哥犬伊莎贝尔，他们整天窝在家里，很少去外面。
另外，还有几十条猎狐 。每当图茨和伊莎贝尔在窗户边探出头，他们都要冲这两只狗狂吠。那两只看门狗有手拿扫帚和拖把的女佣保护。
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CHAPTER 1 Kidnapped
Buck did not read the newspapers. If he did, he would have known that trouble was brewing from Puget Sound to San Diego. Not only for himself, but for every dog that was strong of muscle with warm, long hair.
Men in the Arctic had found a yellow metal that was worth a lot of money. They had found gold. Steamships rushed thousands of men into the Northland.
These men wanted dogs—heavy dogs with strong muscles to work. They needed dogs with furry coats to protect them from the frost.
Buck lived at a big house in the sun-kissed Santa Clara Valley in California. Judge Miller’s place, as it was called, stood back from the road. It was half hidden among the trees. If you looked closely, you could catch a glimpse of the porch that ran around its four sides. It sat upon wide-spreading lawns adorned with tall trees. The back of the property was even bigger than the front.
There were great stables, rows of vine-covered servants’ cottages, and an array of outhouses. Long grape arbors, green pastures, orchards, and berry patches dotted the land. There was a pumping plant for the well and a big cement tank. It was in this tank that the Miller boys took their morning plunge and kept cool in the hot afternoon.
Buck ruled over all of it. He had been born here, and he had lived here for all four years of his life. There were other dogs, of course. But they didn’t count. They came and went. Some lived in the kennels and others, like Toots, the Japanese pug, and Ysabel, the Mexican hairless, stayed indoors. They rarely put a paw down on the ground.
On the other hand, there were scores of fox terriers who yelped at Toots and Ysabel whenever they poked their eyes up at the window. The house dogs were protected by the housemaids, who were armed with brooms and mops.
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