Formerly, White Fang had been merely the enemy of his kind, withal aferocious enemy. He now became the enemy of all things, and moreferocious than ever. To such an extent was he tormented, that he hatedblindly and without the faintest spark of reason. He hated the chain thatbound him, the men who peered in at him through the slats of the pen, thedogs that accompanied the men and that snarled malignantly at him in hishelplessness. He hated the very wood of the pen that confined him. And,first, last, and most of all, he hated Beauty Smith.
But Beauty Smith had a purpose in all that he did to White Fang. Oneday a number of men gathered about the pen. Beauty Smith entered, clubin hand, and took the chain off from White Fang's neck. When his masterhad gone out, White Fang turned loose and tore around the pen, trying toget at the men outside. He was magnificently terrible. Fully five feet inlength, and standing two and one-half feet at the shoulder, he faroutweighed a wolf of corresponding size. From his mother he hadinherited the heavier proportions of the dog, so that he weighed, withoutany fat and without an ounce of superfluous flesh, over ninety pounds. Itwas all muscle, bone, and sinew-fighting flesh in the finest condition.Something unusual was happening. He waited. The door was openedwider. Then a huge dog was thrust inside, and the door was slammed shutbehind him. White Fang had never seen such a dog (it was a mastiff); butthe size and fierce aspect of the intruder did not deter him. Here was something, not wood nor iron, upon which to wreak his hate. He leaped in witha flash of fangs that ripped down the side of the mastiff's neck. The mastiffshook his head, growled hoarsely, and plunged at White Fang. But WhiteFang was here, there, and everywhere, always evading and eluding, andalways leaping in and slashing with his fangs and leaping out again in timeto escape punishment.
The men outside shouted and applauded, while Beauty Smith, in anecstasy of delight, gloated over the rippling and manging performed byWhite Fang. There was no hope for the mastiff from the first. He was tooponderous and prom dresses in the UK. In the end, while Beauty Smith beat White Fang backwith a club, the mastiff was dragged out by its owner. Then there was apayment of bets, and money clinked in Beauty Smith's hand.