And
not for nothing had his puppyhood been made bitter by the persecution of
Lip-lip and the whole puppy pack. It might have been otherwise, and he
would then have been otherwise. Had Lip-lip not existed, he would have
passed his puppyhood with the other puppies and grown up more doglike and
with more liking for dogs. Had Grey Beaver possessed the plummet of
affection and love, he might have sounded the deeps of White Fang's
nature and brought up to the surface all manner of kindly qualities. But
these things had not been so. The clay of White Fang had been moulded
until he became what he was, morose and lonely, unloving and ferocious,
the enemy of all his kind.
CHAPTER II--THE MAD GOD
A small number of white men lived in Fort Yukon. These men had been long
in the country. They called themselves Sour-doughs, and took great pride
in so classifying themselves. For other men, new in the land, they felt
nothing but disdain. The men who came ashore from the steamers were
newcomers. They were known as _chechaquos_, and they always wilted at
the application of the name. They made their bread with baking-powder.
This was the invidious distinction between them and the Sour-doughs, who,
forsooth, made their bread from sour-dough because they had no baking-
powder.
All of which is neither here nor there.
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