A Bom Lender Perrault looked at his watch. They were already more than an hour late leaving. They looked at each other: they had lost the fight. Francois put down the club. He took Sol-leks out of the harness and put him back in his old place, then called to Buck. At once Buck moved happily into his place at the front of the team. The harness was put on, they pulled the sled out of the ice, and off they went. Francois already knew that Buck was a good dog. That day he saw just how special he was. Buck was a born leader. He was even better than Spitz at thinking quickly and doing the right thing immediately. But his greatest strength" was in pulling the team togethert. During Spitz's last days, the other dogs had become difficult and badly-behaved. Now Buck began to change all that. He went at Pike again and again for his laziness, and Joe too quickly learned that Buck was master now. At the Pink Rapids, Perrault bought two huskies called Teek and Koona to replace Spitz. The dogs all began to work as a team again, and Francois could not believe the change. ve never seen a dog like that Buc he shouted. "He's worth a thousand dollars-what do you say, Perrault?" Perrault nodded his head and smiled. He could see they really might make their record trip. The trail was good and hard. The run along the Thirty Mile River, which had taken them ten days coming in to Dawson, took them just a day going out. Across more than a hundred kilometers, they flew so fast that the men could not run with the sled and were pulled behind it at the end of a rope. And after only two weeks, they came over White Pass and saw the lights of Skagway below It was a record trip, and for three days everyone in Skagway wanted to talk to Perrault and Francois, and see their team. But Perrault and Francois were sent away to work in another place. Francois called Buck to him, put his arms around him and cried over him. Then he and Perrault were gone from Buck's life, like all the other men before them