“Buck lived at a big house in the sun-kissed Santa Clara Valley. Judge Miller's place, it was called. It stood back from the road, half hidden among the trees, through which glimpses could be caught of the wide cool veranda that ran around its four sides."

“And over this great demesne Buck ruled. Here he was born, and here he had lived the four years of his life.”

Buck is the dog of Judge Miller in Santa Clara