The Call of the Wild Chapter 3 Summary

  • Spitz starts picking fights with Buck, and doing annoying things like stealing his warm sleeping spots. Stealing his sleeping spot is the last straw for Buck (because nothing's worse than that) and the two finally go at it.
  • The fight's interrupted by a group of raving mad, starving huskies (a kind of sled dog).
  • Everyone gets violently injured.
  • Later on the trail, the dogs are on thin ice (literally) and they fall through a few times. Buck's like an anchor, keeping them from their tragic deaths in the icy water.
  • The men, although they work the dogs hard, respect the animals as well, taking care of them at night by rubbing their feet.
  • Dolly—another one of the dogs—goes nuts and is frothing at the mouth and attacking Buck. We know what you’re thinking—who's Dolly?
  • When she goes nuts, François kills her.
  • Spitz, seeing that Buck's tired from having run away from the crazed dog, believes this is a fair and opportune moment to fight. Spitz vs. Buck, Round 2.
  • Spitz sort of has the upper hand, but François puts an end to the fight by whipping Spitz.
  • The two men debate over who will win the next fight. (Our money's on Buck.)
  • Buck joins in on some nightly howling sessions with the wolves.
  • There's mutiny in the ranks—against Spitz, who's the current leader.
  • Buck starts chasing a rabbit in a crazy, bloodthirsty sort of way.
  • He and Spitz fight over the rabbit—Round 3. It’s a close one, but Buck wins.