He exchanged the whip for the customary club.
Buck refused to move under the rain of heavier blows which now fell upon him.

Like his mates, he was barely able to get up, but, unlike them, he had made up his mind not to get up.

He had a vague feeling of impending doom.

This had been strong upon him when he pulled in to the bank, and it had not departed from him.

What of the thin and rotten ice he had felt under his feet all day, it seemed that he sensed disaster close at hand, out there ahead on the ice where his master was trying to drive him.