Love of Life by Jack London. Short summary

5 seconds

Two gold diggers walk for a long time to a cache of food and ammunition. At the creek, one of them twists his leg and they split up. The injured man goes the wrong way and walks out to the Arctic Ocean.

1 minute

Two tired travelers come down to the river. They have been through many hardships. As the first of them crossed the river, the second stumbled on a slippery rock and twisted his leg. The stricken man called out to his friend Bill, but he went behind a low hill and disappeared from sight. The injured traveler was left alone.

Earlier, the men had washed two bags of gold sand. After that they went to Lake Titchinnichili. The buddies had a cache of food and ammunition in the place where the stream flowed out of it and into the Diz River.

The victim climbed the hill with difficulty and walked to the hiding place. He walked for several days, during which time he was tormented by hunger and cold. His foot was swollen and in great pain. When he could no longer fight, life itself did not want to die in him and drove him forward.

The hero realizes that he got lost and walked out to the Arctic Ocean. He is followed by a weakened wolf, who wants to kill him. Along the way, the man finds Bill’s nibbled bones. The hero kills the wolf and drinks his blood to survive. He is soon picked up by a whaling ship.