Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-06-13
THE GRIZZLY KING
By JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD
The Author of "Kazan"

root grew In great profusion. And here
all through the night he dug and ate.
Muslwa, who had filled himself on spring
beauty roofs, was not hungry, and as the
day had tAen rcstful one for him, outside
Of his fighting. he found this night filled
with its brilliant stars quite enjoyable.
The moon came up about 10 o'clock, and
1t was the biggest, and the rcddest. and
the most beautiful moon Musllwa had seen
In his short life 1t rolled up over the
peaks like n forest fire. and filled all the
Rocky Mountains with wonderful glow.
The basin. In which there were perhaps ten
acres Of meadow, was lighted up almost
like day The little lake at the foot of
the mountain gllmmered softly, and the
tiny stream that fed IL from the melting
SHOWS n thousand feet above shot down in
glistoning cascades that caught the moon
light like rivulets Of dull polished dla-
monds.
About the meadow were scattered little
clumps of bushes and few halsams and
spruce as II set there for ornamental pur-
poses and on one side there was mar
row, Verdurc- covered slide that sloped up
ward for third Of a mile, and at the top
of which. unseen by Muskwa and Thor,
band OF sheep were sleeping
Muskwa wandered about, always near
Thor, investigating the clumps of bushes,
the dark shadows of the balsams and
spruce, and the edge of the lake. Here
llt lOuUu q pldbuel VI oOll Illuu "NlNH was
a great solaco to his sore feet Twenty
times during the night he waded in the
mud.
Even when the dawn came Thor seemed
TO be in no great haste to leave the basin.
Until the sun was we'll up he continued 20
wander about tho meadow and the edge OF
the lake, digging up occasional roots and
eating tender grass. This did not displease
Muskwa. who made his breakfast of the
dog-tooth violet bulbs The one matter
that puzzled him was why Thor did not go
into the lake and throw out trout, for he
yet had to learn that all water did not
contain fish. At last he went fishing for
himself and succeeded in getting black
hard-sheled water beetle that nlpped his
nose with n pair Of peedle-like pincers and
brought yelp from him
1t was perhaps 10 o'clock and the sum
nned basin was like warm oven 10 n
thick-coated bear, when Thor searched up
among the rocks near the waterfall until
he found place that was as cool as an
od-fashioned cellar II was a miniature
cavern. All about It the slate and sand
stone was Of dark and clammy wet from
a hundred little trclIles Of snow water that
ran down from the peaks.
II was just the sort OF place Thor loved
on a July day but to MuslSwa II was dark
and gloomy and not thousandTh part as
pleasant as the sun. So after an hour or
two, he left Thor In his frigdarlum and
| began to investigate the treacherous lodges
For few minutes all went well-then he
stepped on n green-tinted slope or slate,
| over which very shallow dribble OF water
was running. The water had been running
| over II just that way for some centuries,
| and the shelving slate was worn as smooth
as the surface Of polished pearl and 1t
| was as slippery as a creased pole Muskwa's
| feet went out from under him so quickly
| hn orJI wi ba - bannanaI
| The next moment ne was o. yhs way TO the
| lake a hundred feet below. He rolled over
| and over. lie splashed into shallow pools,
| lie bounced over miniature waterfalls like
| a rubber ball The wind was knocked out
| of him He was blinded and dazed by
water and shock, and he gathered fresh
| speed with every yard he made. He had
succeeded In letting out half n dozen ter
rifed yelps at the start, and these reused
| Thor
where the water from the peaks fell into
| the lake there was a precpitous drop OF
ten feet, and over this Muskwa shot with
| n momentum that carried nun Twice as tar
| out into the pond,
He hit with a big splash, and disappeared.
| Down and down he went, where everything
was black and cold and suffocating then
the life-preserver with which nature had
endowed him in the form Of his fat brought
him TO the surface. He began 10 paddle
and when he finally dragged himself ashore
he was limp and exhausted.
| While he still lay painting and very much
| frightened, Thor came down from the rocks.
| Muskwa's mother had given him sound
| cutting when he got the porcupine quill In
his foot She had cuffed him for every
accident he had had, because she believed
that cutting was good medicine. Education
| IS largely cuffed into a bear cub, and she
would have given him fine cuffing now
| But Thor only smelled of him, saw that
he was all right and began to dig up a
| dogtooth violet
He had not finished the violet when sud.
| denIy he stopped. For a half-minute he
stood like a statue. Muskwa jumped and
! shook himself Then he listened. A sound
| came 10 both of them. In one SLOW grace
| fuI movement the grizzly reared himself
10 his full height He faced the north, his
eors thrust forward, the sensitive muscles
of his nostrils twitching He could smell
nothing but he heard
over the slopes which they had climbed
| ,bera had come to him family a sound that
uDas new 10 him, a sound that had never
before been a part Of his life. II was the
barking OF dogs.
Ieor two minutes Thor sat on his
haunohes without moving a muscle OF his
great body except those twitehing thewl
peep down in this cup under the noun
tain II was dlfncult even for sound % reach