Graduation Speech: John At The Eldorado Saloon

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Today, John Thornton and I are at the Eldorado Saloon. It’s sixty below zero right now and I am freezing my paws off. Every man here is bragging about their dogs. I think I heard one say his dog could pull 500 pounds. Wait, now another says his could pull 600 pounds. I don’t think I believe this. Oh boy, one just said his could pull 700 pounds. I don’t even think I could pull that much. The men blabber on and on, bragging to one another. I watch John as he starts bragging. Wait, he is starting to say something about me, “Pooh! Pooh! Buck can start a thousand pounds.” I think that there is no chance in the world I could pull that much. Oh no! Matthewson just bet John $1,000.00 that I can’t break the sled out of the packed snow and pull it one …show more content…

The man says that he has 1,000 pounds on his sled. The sled that I have to pull has been sitting there for hours and the snow has packed it down and it’s iced in. I don’t know how I am going to do this. John comes walking towards me with a face of guilt. When he is about to talk to me, he stops abruptly and turns around. Matthewson is saying, “Three to one! I’ll lay you another thousand at that figure, Thornton. What d’ye say?” John thinks about it for a minute then calls Hans and Pete over to him. They are doubtful but it looks like they think I can do it. They manage to pull together $200.00 and Matthewson pulls out his $600.00 in gold. The men shake on it and start preparing the sled. As the men unhitch the other dogs, I start feeling nervous but excited at the same time. I want to win this for John and make him proud. I know I can do it for the man who saved my life. If it weren’t for John Thornton, I would be at the bottom of a frozen lake with the rest of the dogs. If it weren’t for John Thornton, I’d have been beaten to death with a club by Hal. John Thornton is my hero. As I was hitched in to the sled I started worrying; what if I can’t do this? I only weigh one hundred and fifty pounds. All one hundred and fifty of those pounds are dedicated to John. Men start screaming at John saying that they will buy me right now for prices that were less than the bet. Matthewson tells them to back away so I can have a clear path. John walks