I had experienced this author first in his more famous book White Fang, I was outright impressed by the writing and story both.Jack London was famous for ‘Call of the wild’. I still remember that story of the amazing wolf dog! I wanted to have more of the author but unfortunately, since then time has not been very favorable to read longer work. Last month I decided to turn to smaller fictional work of some authors especially for my French and Spanish creels (I have hung two such separate brown swaying creels on a peg in my room for my anticipating shorter reads) so that there should not remain a sense of repentance in me that I am not touching new authors and new regimes.
So remembering my forgotten promise made to myself to read more of Jack London, I picked up this single story. I was well pleased with the decision. It made a mark and recalled my lost memories of The White Fang.
This story begins with two men staggering through the icy cold milky water, heavily burdened with a blanket pack strapped to their shoulders and head straps pressed across the forehead, a rifle too with them. the water squirting out under their feet with every step as they are making their way from muskeg to muskeg. One man, who is walking behind seems faint and reels then almost falling and losing his strength to move on. He calls out to the man making his way ahead of him,
I say, Bill! I have sprained my ankle.
The man named Bill does not look around. The other man makes a pleading cry of a strong man in life-threatening distress.
Bill!
Bill doesn’t look back and moving ahead passes over the crest and disappears. cowering in the midst
of such overwhelming force of milky water crushing and pressing upon him, this man gathers strength and tries to reach to bank with an optimistic mindset that he will find Bill there and that Bill has not deserted him. This story is of some icy cold swamps of North America. The stream in which he was stood was the feeder of Coppermine river, to the south of which was the Great Bear Lake.
I could easily understand here that it’s going to be another tale of the favorite themes of the author that is SURVIVAL in most adverse natural conditions. And indeed it turned out to be one. These guys
were in search of wealth, putting their lives in danger.
Jack London’s mastery in depicting such a story of survival and fight against hunger and cold weather condition is commendable. His writing is ingenious and quite fanciful. I liked this story and his writing in shorter form is as alluring as I first found in his novel. His short stories were received with critical acclaim, I think he deserved it.
BOOKBROODER 