“Well, what did I say？Buck’s
a real fighter, all right,” said Francois the next morning when he discovered
that Spitz had disappeared and that Buck was covered in blood．
“Spitz fought like a wolf,” said Perrault, as he
looked at the bites all over Buck．
“And Buck fought like ten wolves,” answered Francois.
“And we'll travel faster now. No more Spitz，no more
trouble.”
Francois started to harness the dogs. He needed a new
lead-dog, and decided that Solleks was the best dog that he had. But Buck
jumped at Solleks and took his place．
“Look at Buck！” said
Francois，laughing. “He's killed Spitz，and now he wants to be lead-dog．Go away, Buck！”
He pulled Buck away and tried to harness Solleks again．Solleks was unhappy too. He was frightened of Buck,
and when Francois turned his back，Buck took
Solleks’ place again. Now Francois was angry．
“I'll show you! ” he cried，and went to get a heavy club from the sledge．
Buck remembered the man in the red coat，and moved away. This time，when Solleks was harnessed as lead-dog，Buck did not try to move in．He kept a few meters away and circled around Francois
carefully. But when Francois called him to his old place in front of Dave, Buck
refused．He had won his fight with Spitz and he
wanted to be lead－dog．
For an hour the two men tried to harness him．Buck did not run away，but he
did not let them catch him．Finally，Francois sat down，and Perrault
looked at his watch．It was getting late. The two men looked at
one another and smiled. Francois walked up to Solleks，took off his harness， led
him back and harnessed him in his old place．Then he
called Buck. All the other dogs were harnessed and the only empty place was now
the one at the front. But Buck did not move．
“Put down the club,” said Perrault．
Francois dropped the club, and immediately Buck came
up to the front of the team．Francois harnessed him,
and in a minute the sledge was moving．
Buck was an excellent leader. He moved and thought
quickly and led the other dogs well. A new leader made no difference to Dave
and Solleks; they continued to pull hard．But the other
dogs had had an easy life when Spitz was leading．They
were surprised when Buck made them work hard and punished them for their
mistakes. Pike，the second dog，was usually lazy；but by the
end of the first day he was pulling harder than he had ever pulled in his life.
The first night in camp Buck fought Joe，another
difficult dog，and after that there were no more problems
with him．The team started to pull together，and to move faster and faster．
“I've never seen a dog like Buck!” cried Francois,
“Never! He's worth a thousand dollars. What do you think, Perrault? ”
Perrault agreed．They were
moving quickly，and covering more ground every day. The
snow was good and hard，and no new snow fell．The temperature dropped to 45°C below zero, and didn't
change．
This time there was more ice on the Thirty Mile River,
and they crossed in a day．Some days they ran a hundred kilometers，or even more. They reached Skagway in fourteen days;
the fastest time ever．
1.The writer mentioned “the man in the red coat” in
the passage to show that____.
A．the man in
the red coat once beat Buck severely with a club.
B．Buck
remembered Francois was the man in the red coat.
C．the man in
the red was quite friendly to Buck in his memory.
D．Buck
remembered Francois was a friend of the man in the red coat.
2.Why did Buck fight Joe the first night in camp?
A．He wanted to
get rid of Joe.
B．He wanted to
make some trouble.
C．He was
interested in fighting with others.
D．He wanted to
teach Joe a lesson.
3.According to the passage, which of the following is
true about the other dogs?
A．Dave stood in
the second position in the team.
B．Joe was
always quite lazy in the team.
C．Pike was a
trouble-maker in the team.
D．Solleks was
hard-working in the team.
4.What did Francois think of Buck at the end of the
passage?
A．annoying B．admirable C．aggressive D．average
5.Which of the following best shows that Buck was an
excellent leader?
A．He killed
Spitz at the beginning of the story.
B．He punished
them for their mistakes.
C．He fought Joe
the first night in camp.
D．They reached
Skagway in the fastest time ever.
6.Which of the following is the best title for the
passage?
A．The Fight
with Dogs B．The New
Lead-dog
C．A Dog Called
Buck D．A Real
Fighter
