All 5 Uses of

malinger
in
The Call of the Wild

When he saw Pike, one of the new dogs, a clever malingerer and thief, slyly steal a slice of bacon when Perrault's back was turned, he duplicated the performance the following day, getting away with the whole chunk.
p. 40.4

malingerer = someone who avoids responsibilities by pretending to be sick

Pike, the malingerer, leaped upon the crippled animal, breaking its neck with a quick flash of teeth and a jerk, Buck got a frothing adversary by the throat, and was sprayed with blood when his teeth sank through the jugular.
p. 51.4

One night there was a heavy snowfall, and in the morning Pike, the malingerer, did not appear.
p. 60.1

Pike, the malingerer, who, in his lifetime of deceit, had often successfully feigned a hurt leg, was now limping in earnest.
p. 95.4 *

malingerer = someone who avoids work by pretending to be sick

On the next day Koona went, and but five of them remained: Joe, too far gone to be malignant; Pike, crippled and limping, only half conscious and not conscious enough longer to malinger; Sol-leks, the one-eyed, still faithful to the toil of trace and trail, and mournful in that he had so little strength with which to pull; Teek, who had not travelled so far that winter and who was now beaten more than the others because he was fresher; and Buck, still at the head of the team, but no longer enforcing discipline or striving to enforce it, blind with weakness half the time and keeping the trail by the loom of it and by the dim feel of his feet.†
p. 115.2

malinger = avoid responsibilities and duties -- typically by pretending to be ill

Definition:

avoid responsibilities and duties -- often by pretending to be ill

or (more rarely): to be slow