A Dog on the Edge of Death

Buck and the exhausted sled team are sold to inexperienced travelers—Hal, Charles, and Mercedes—whose incompetence and cruelty push the dogs to the brink of death. Starved, beaten, and forced across dangerous thawing ice, Buck finally refuses to move. John Thornton intervenes, saves Buck, and cuts him free. Moments later the sled team continues onto the unstable ice, which collapses, killing the travelers and dogs.