Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-06-12
CHAPTER MI

Ia WV sun bDblltl TWO lOlfR InOr leo
Muskwa on that tresome jaunt into the
north. They had Travelled good twenty
miles since leaving tho Bighorn Highway,
and to the little tau-faced cub those twenty
miles were like a Journey around the world.
ordinarily he would not have gone that far
away from his birthplace until his second
year. and very possibly his third.
Not once in this hike down the valley had
Thor wasted time on tho mountain slopes.
lie had picked out the easiest trails along
the creek Three or four miles below the
pool, where they had left the old bear, he
suddenly changed this procedure by swing
ing due westward and n little later they
were once more climbing mountain. They
went up long green slide for a quarter Of
a mile and, luckily for Muskwas legs. this
brought them to the smooth. plain-like
floor OF n break which took them without
much more effort out on the slopes of the
other valley.
This was the valley in which Thor had
killed the black bear twenty miles to the
southwark.
From the moment Thor looked out over
the northern limits Of his range a change
took possession Of him All at once he lost
his cagerness to hurry. For fifteen minutes
he stood looking down into the valley, sniff
fling the air. He doSA'nded slowly. and
when he reached the g-S'I. meadows and the
creek bottom ho mooshed along straight
in the face OF the wind, which was coming
from the south and west. II did not bring
him the scent he wantcd-the smell of his
mate. Yet an instinct that was more in
fallble than reason told him that she was
near, or should be near. He did not take
accident or sickness or the possibility OF
hunters having killed her into consideration.
This was where he had always started in
TO hunt for her, and sooner or later he had
found her, He knew her smell, And he
crossed and recrossod the bottoms so that II
could not escape him.
When Thor was lovesick he was more
or less like a man: that is to say, he was
an IDIOT The Importance Of all other things
dwindled into nothingness. His habits
which were fixed as the stars al other times,
took n complete vacation. lie even forgot
hunger, and the whistlers and gophers were
quite safe. He was treless. He rambled
during the night as well as the day in quest
OF his lady-lOve.
II was quite natural that in these ex-
citing hours he should forget Muskwa al
most entirely. At least ten times before
sunset he crossed and recrOssed the creeS,
and the dlsgusted and almost ready TO quit
cub waded and swan and floundcred after
him until he was nearly drowned The
tenth or dozenth time Thor forded the
stream Muskwa revoltcd and followed along
on his own side 1t was not long before
tho grizzly returned.
II was soon after this, just as the sun
was setting, that the unexpected happened,
What little wind there was suddenly swung
straight into the east, and from the western
slopes half n mile away It brought scent
that held Thor motionless in his tracks for
perhaps half a minute and then set him on
on that ambling run, which is the ungain-
lest gait Of all four-footed creatures
MuslSwa rolled after him like ball, peg
ging away for dear life, but losing ground
at every jump. In that half-mile stretch
he would have lost Thor altogether II the
grizzly had not stopped near the bottom
OF the first slope 20 take fresh reckonings.
When he started up the slope Muskwa could
see him and with a yelping cry for him
TO wait minute set after him again.
Two or three hundred yards up the noun
tainside the slope shelved downward into
n hollow, or dip, and nosing about in this
dip, auesting the air as Thor had quested
II, was the beautiful she-grizzly from over
the range with her was one Of her last
years cubs. Thor was within nifty yards
of her when he came over the crest. He
stopped He looked at her. And lskwao,
"the female" looked at him.
Then followed true bear courtship All
haste all eagerness, all desire for his mate,
seemed TO have left Thor; and II Iskwao
had been eager and yearnlng, she was pro-
foundly Indifferent now. For two or three
minutes Thor stood looking casually about,
and this gave Muskwa time TO come up
and perch himself beside him, expecting
another fight.
AS though Thor was thousand miles or
so from her thoughts, lskwao turned over
a fat rock and began hunting for grub
and ants, and not 10 be outdone in this
stole unconcern Thor pulled up bunch OF
grass and swallowed II. Iskwao moved a
step or two, and Thor moved up a step or
two and as II purely by accident their steps
were toward each other
Muskwa was puzzled. The older cub
was puzzled. They sat on their launches
like two dogs, one three times as big as
the other. and wondered what was going
II took Thor and Iskwao five minutes TO
arrive within Ave feet Of each other, and
then very decorously they smelled noses,
The year-old cub Joined the family cir.
Gle. He was just the right age TO have an
exceedingly long name, for the Indians
called him Pipoonaskoos-"the yearlng"
He came boldly up TO Thor and his mother |
For a moment Thor did not seem to no.
lice him. Then his long right arm shot |
out in a sudden swinging uppercut that |
lifted Pipoonaskoos clean on the ground and |
sent him spinning two-thirds OF the dis |
tance up TO Muskwa.
the mother paid no attention 10 |
this elimination Of her offspring and |
stln lovingly snslled noses with Thor