So terrible was Joe's appearance that Spitz was forced to give up trying to discipline him. But to cover his own embarrassment, he turned upon the inoffensive and wailing Billee and drove him to the confines of the camp.
By evening Perrault secured another dog, an old husky, long and lean and gaunt, with a battle-scarred face and a single eye which flashed a warning of skill and courage that commanded respect. He was called @Sol-leks, which means the Angry One. Like Dave, he asked nothing, gave nothing, expected nothing; and when he marched slowly and deliberately into their midst, even Spitz left him alone. He had one peculiarity which Buck was unlucky enough to discover. He did not like to be approached on his blind side. Buck's first knowledge of this was when Sol-leks whirled upon him and slashed his shoulder to the bone for three inches up and down. Forever after Buck avoided his blind side, and to the last of their friendship had no more trouble. His only apparent ambition, like Dave's, was to be left alone; though, as Buck was afterward to learn, each of them had one other and even more vital ambition.
That night Buck faced the great problem of sleeping. The tent, illumined by a candle, glowed warmly in the midst of the cold, white outdoors. But when he, as a matter of course, entered it, both Perrault and Francois assaulted him with curses and cooking utensils; he fled back into the cold. A chill wind was blowing, and it bit into his wounded shoulder quite sharply. He lay down on the snow and attempted to sleep, but the frost soon drove him shivering to his feet.
