Out of the
bewilderment that had at first overwhelmed him he had finally evolved
two Great Rules of Conduct, which he observed implicitly--to Pull as
Hard as he Could, and to Obey his Driver. This code of ethics is perfect
for a trail dog of Alaska, but it was in the minor things that he was
constantly perplexed--things in which it was difficult to distinguish
between right and wrong, or at least between folly and wisdom. To tell
where frankness of action became tactlessness, and the renunciation of
passing pleasures a pose. It was particularly disconcerting to see that
virtue often remained unnoticed, and that vice just as often escaped
retribution; and what he saw might have undermined Baldy's whole moral
nature, but for the simple sincerity that was the key-note to his
character. As an artless dog of nature he was accustomed, when the world
did not seem just and right to him, to show it plainly--an attitude not
conducive to popularity; and it often made him seem surly when as a
matter of fact he was only puzzled or depressed. He could not feign an
amiability to hide hatred and vindictiveness as did the Tolmans, and it
was a constant shock to him to note how the hypocrisy of Tom and his
brothers deluded their friends into a deep-seated belief in their
integrity. Even after such depravity as chasing the Allan girl's pet
cat, stealing a neighbor's dog-salmon, or attacking an inoffensive
Cocker Spaniel, he had seen Tom so meek and pensive that no one could
suspect him of wrong-doing who had not actually witnessed it; and he had
seen the Woman, when she _had_ actually witnessed it, become a sort of
accessory after the fact, and shield Tom from "Scotty's" just wrath,
which was extraordinary and confusing.
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