Buck knows the team cannot depend on these people for they do their work inefficiently and crudely. They are barely traveling ten miles a day, and it is inevitable they will run short on dog food. When this occurs, underfeeding commences. One by one dogs are dying, first Dub whose injured shoulder grows worse and worse, than almost all of the new dogs. The men curse, and Mercedes cries. They lack patience and constantly argue with one another. Charles and Hal constantly fight over who does more work, Mercedes flightily changing her allegiance from husband to brother and back again. All too often the three began to quarrel before the camp was pitched, and it would remain unpitched until the quarrel had ended.
