第79页 For the love of a man

And Buck was merciless. He had learned well the law of club and fang, and he never forewent an advantage or drew back from a foe he had started on the way to Death. He had lessoned from Spritze, and from the chief fighting dogs of the police and mail, and knew where was no middle course. He must master or be mastered; while to show mercy was a weakness. Mercy did not exist in a primordial life. It was misunderstood for fear, and such misunderstandings made for death. Kill or be killed, eat or be eaten, was the law; and this mandate, down out of the depths of Time, he obeyed.