Evening star., 1924-08-03
CONTINUED from Yesterdays Starr

He was fierce little cub. So were
his brothers and sisters. 1t was to
expected. He was carmvorous ami
NAL. He came OF a breed OF meat
killers, and neat-eaters. His father
and mother lived wholly upon meat.
The milk he had sucked wita his first
Pickering life was milk transformed
directly from meat. and now, at
month old. when his eyes had been
open for but week, he was begin
ming himself TO eat meat-meat half
digeSted by the she-W.ff and dis
gorged for the hVe growing ,ubs that
already made too great demand upon
her breast
But he was, further, the tiercest OF
the litter. He could make louder,
rasping growl than any OF them. His
tiny RACES were much more terrible
than theirs. 1t was he taht first
learned the trick of rolling II fellow
cub over with a cunning paw stroke.
And 1t was he that first gripped an
tuCEed and groEled through jaws
tight clenched. And certainly II was
he that caused the mother the mos,
trouble in keeping her litter from the
mouth of the cave.
The fascination of the light for the
gray cub increased from day to day.
He was perpetually departing on
yard-lone adventures toward the
being driven back. Only he old not
know it for an entrance. He did not
know anything about entrances--pas-
sages whereby one goes from one
place to another place. He did not
know any other place, much less Of a
way to get there. So to him the en-
trance OF the cave was wall--a wall
of light. AS the sun was to the out
side dweller, this wall was to him
the sun of his world. II attracted
p hfy, 10
was always striving to attain it.
The life that was so swiftly expand
ing with him urged him continually
toward the wall OF light. The life
that was within him knew that it was
the one way out, the way he was pre-
destined to tread. But he himself
did not know anything about it. He
did not know there was any outside
At all.
There was one strange thing about
this wall of light. His father Che had
already come to recognize his father
as the one other dweller in the world
a creature like his mother. who slept
near the light and was a bringer OF
ing right into the white far wall and
disappearing. The gray cub could
not understand this. Though never
permitted by his mother to approach
that wall. he had approached the other
walls, and encountered hard obstruc-
tion on the end of his tender nose.
This hurt. And after several such
adventures he left the walls alone.
Without thinking about it. he .ac-
cepted this disappearing into the wall
as a popularity OF his father, as milk
and half digested meat were pecu-
larities Of his mother.
In fact, the gray cub was not given
to thinking-at least. to the kind of
brain worked in dim ways. Yet his
conclusions were as sharp and dis
tnct as those achieved by men. He
had method OF accepting things
without questioning the why and
wherefore. In reality. this was the
act Of classification. He was never
disturbed over why a thing happened
How 1t happened was sufficient for
him. Thus when he had bumped his
nose on the back wall few times.
he accepted that he would not disap-
pear into walls. In the same way he
accepted that his father could disap-
pear into walls. But he was not in
the least disturbed by desire to find
out the reason for the difference be-
tween his father and himself. Logic
ana physics were no part of his men
tai makeup.
Like most creatures Of the wild, he
cams can,s . experienced ,Ies assl famine: There
meat supply cease. but the milk no
longer came from his mothers breast.
Al nrst the cubs whinpered and
cried, but for the most part they
slept 1t was not long before thew
we're reduced to a coma of hunTey.
There were no more spats and squab-
bies, no more tiny RACES nor attempts
- growling; while the adventures
altogether. The cubs slept, while the
life that was in them fickered and
died down.
One Eye was desperate. He ranged
far and wide, and slept but little in
ho ho1
less and miserable. The she-wolf,
too, left her litter and went out In
search of meat. In the first days
after the birth of the cubs, One Eye
nad 5ourneyed several times back to
the Indian camp and robbed the rab-
bit snares; but, with the melting of
the snow and the opening of the
streams, the Indian camp had moved
away, and that source of supply was
closed to him.
When the gray cub came back to
life and again took interest in the
far vhite wall, he found that the
population Of his world had been re-
dnced. Only one sister remained to
him. The rest were gone. AS he
grew stronger, he found himself COM
peIled to play alone, for the sister no
longer lifted her mead nor moved
about: His little body rounded out
had come too late for her. She slept
continuously, a tiny skeleton flung
round with skin in which the hame
nickered lower and lower and at last
Then there came a time when the
gray cub no longer saw his
father appearing and disappearing
IN the wall nor lying down asleep
in the entrance, This had happened
severe famine. The She wolf knew
why One Eye never came back but
there was no way BY which she
could tell what she had seen to the
gray cub. Hunting herself for meat
lived the lynx, she had followed
day-old trail of One Eye. And she
had found him, or what remained of
him, at the end of the trail. There
had been fought, and Of the Iynx's
withdrawal to her lair after having
won the victory. Before she went
away. the she-wolf had found this
lair. but the signs told her that the
lynx was inside, and she had not
dared to venture In.
After that, the she-wolf in her
hunting avoided the left fork For
she knew that in the lynx's lair was
litter of kittens. and she knew
creature and terrible fighter. 1t
was all very well for half dozen
wolves to drive a lynx. splitting and
bristling, up tree; but 1t was quite
a different matter for lone wolf to
encounter lynx-especially when the
hungry kittens at her back.
But the Wild is the Wild, and
motherhood is motherhood, At all
times fiercely protective whether in
was to come when the she-wolf. for
her gray cubs sake, would venture
the left fork, and the lair in the
rocks, and the lynx's wrath.