Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-06-11
THE GRIZZLY KING
BY JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD
The Author of "Kazan"

fear Of his enemies that was bringing Thor
into the lower country Of the Bahiuc water
ways. For week past there had been in
INN steadily growing unrest and 1t had
reached its climax In these last two or three
days Of battle and flight IIc was filled
with strange and uusatisncd ycarnng,
and as Musliwa mapped I'm his little bed
among the bushes Thor's ears were kceuly
alert for certain sounds and his nose FREE
qucntly shifted tho air. lie wanted "A mate.
1t was puskoowcposlm - tho "molting
moou'-and always In this moon, or the
end OF the 'cgg-laying MOON" which was
June, he hunted for the female that came
To him from the western ranges lie was
almost entirely a creature Of habit, and
always he made this particular detour, en-
tcring the other valley again far down to-
ward the Babnc lie never failed to feed
on fish along the way and the more fish he
ate the stronger was the odor of him. II
is barely possible Thor had discovered that
this perfume OF Eoldcn-spotted trout made
him more attractive to his lady-love Any
way, he ate fish, and he smellcd abundantly
Thor rose and stretched himself two
hours before sunset, and he knocked three
more fish out of the water MuslIwa ate
the head Of one and Thor finished the rest
Then they continued their pilgrimage.
It was a new world that Muskwa entered
now. In II there were none OF tho old IA
miliar sounds The purring drone Of the
upper valley was gone. There were no
whstlers, and no ptarmgan, and no fat
little gophors running about
The water Of the lake lay still and dark,
and deep, with black and sunless pools hid
ing themselves under the roots of trees,
so close did the forest cling to il, There
wero no rocks to climb over but dank soft
logs. thick windfals and litters Of brush.
The air was different too. 1t was very
still Under their feet at times was a Won
derful carpet of soft moss in which Thor
sank nearly to his armpits. And tho forest
was filled with a strange gloom and many
mysterious shadows and there hung heavily
In it the pungent smells Of decaying vege-
| tatiOn.
! Thor did not travel so swiftly here. The
| silence and the gloom and the oppressively
| scented air seemed to rouse his caution.
| lie stepped quietly; frequently he stopped
| and looked about him, and listened; he
! smelled at the edges Of pools hidden under
| the roots; every new sound brought him
TO a stop, his head hung low and his ears
| alert.
Several times Muskwa saw shadowy
| things floating through the gloom They
were the big gray owls that turned snow
| white in winter And once when it was
almost dark, they came upon n pop-eycd
! loose -jointed fierce-lookng creature in the
/
| Of Thor, 1t was a lynx.
1t was not quite dark when Thor came
out very quietly into a clearing and Musk
wa found himself first on the shore Of a
| creek and then close to n big pond. The
| air was fun of the breath and warmth OF
| a new kind Of life 1t was not fish. and yet
| II seemed to come from the pond, in the
center of which were three or four circular
masses that looked like great brush-heaps
| pastered with coating Of mud,
Whenever he came into this end Of the
valley Thor always paid a visit TO the
| beaver colony, and occasionally he helped
himself to a fat young beaver for supper
or breakfast. This evening he was not
| hungry, and he was in hurry. In spite
Of these two facts he stood for some min
utes in the shadows near the pond
The beavers had already begun their
! nights work. MusSwa soon understood the
significance Of the shimmering streak that
ran swiftly over the surface OF the water.
At the end Of each streak was always a
dark fiat head and now he saw that most
of these streaks began at the farther edge
of the pond and made directly for a long,
low barrier that shut in the water hun
dred yards TO the east.
This particular barrier was strange 10
| Thor and with his maturer knowledge Of
beaver ways he knew that his engineering
friends-whom he ate only occasionally
| were broadening their domain by building
a new dam As they watched, two fat work.
men showed a four-foot length Of log into
the pond with a big splash, and one Of them
began plotting II toward the scene of build
ing operations, while his companion re-
turned 10 other work. A little later there
was a crash in the timber on the opposite
aide of the pond, where another workman
had succeeded in Telling tree. Then Thor
| v,ada his NVay toward the dam.
Almost instantly there was terrific
crack out in the middle OF the pond, fol.
lowed by a tremendous splash An old
HEAVIER had seen Thor and with the fiat side
Of his broad tail had given the surface OF
the water a warning slap that cut the still
air like a rife shot All at once there were
snlashings and divings in every direction
and a moment later the pond was ruffiet
and heaying as a score OF interrupted
workers dove excitedy under the surfac,
20 the safety Of their brush-ribbed and mud
mastered stronghods, and Mnskwa was Sc
absorbed In the general excitement that h,
almost forgot TO follow Thor.
He overlook the grizzly at the dam. Fol
few moments Thor Inspected the new
work and then tested II with his weight
+, was solid, and over this bridge ready
huff for them they crossed TO the higher
ground on the opposite side. A few hundred
Yards farther on Thor struck fairly well
beaten caribou trail which in the course o.
haif an hour led them around the end o
the lake 70 the outlet stream howing north
EVERY minute Mu6lwa was hoping tina
srhor would stop His afternoons nap has
not taken the lameners opt qs ne 'ets no'