<P> Buck comes to love and grow devoted to Thornton as he nurses him back to health . He saves Thornton when the man falls into a river . After Thornton takes him on trips to pan for gold , a bonanza king ( someone who hit it rich in a certain area ) wagers Thornton on the dog 's strength and devotion . Buck wins by breaking a half - ton ( 1,000 - pound ( 450 kg ) ) sled free of the frozen ground , pulling it 100 yards ( 91 m ) and winning US $1,600 in gold dust . A king of the Skookum Benches offers a large sum to buy Buck , but Thornton has grown fond of him and declines . While Thornton and his friends continue their search for gold , Buck explores the wilderness and socializes with a timber wolf from a local pack . One night , he returns from a log hunt to find that his beloved master and the others in the camp have been killed by a group of Yeehat natives . Buck eventually kills the natives to avenge Thornton , and he then is attacked by an entire pack of wolves . Buck wins the fight , then finds that the same timber wolf he had socialized with is in the pack he fought . Buck then follows the wolf and its pack into the forest , and answers the call of the wild . At the end of the story , Buck returns each year as the Ghost Dog of the Northland Legend , to mourn at the site of Thornton 's death . </P>
what happens at the end of call of the wild
Buck returns each year as the Ghost Dog of the Northland Legend , to mourn at the site of Thornton 's death