Evening star., 1924-08-06
Continued from Yesterdays star.)

The famine broke. The. She off
brought home meat 1t was strange
meat, different from any she had ever
brought before. 1t was a lynx kitten
parity grown. like the cub, but MOI so
,aa,s raage, ana 1T was all for him His
Ihothef mad satisfied her hunger else
where; though he did not know that
II was the rest of the lynx litter that
ndd gone to satisfy her Nor did he
Know the desperateneSs of her decd
ne knew only that the veIvet-furred
hitten was meat and he ate and
"axed happier with every moutbfuI
a 1uil stomach conduces to mac
tion- and the cub lay in the cave
sleeping against his mothers side.
re was aroused by her snarIing
Never had he heard her snarl so ter
ribiy. Possibly in her whole life it
was the most terrible snarl she ever
gave. There was reason for il. and
none knew it better than she. A
lynx s lair is not despoiled with i'm
punity. In the full glare of the af
ternoon light, crouching in the en-
trance of the cave, the cub saw the
lynx mother. The hair rippled up all
along his back a. the sight Here
was fear and it did not require his
instinct 70 tell him of it. And if
sight alone were not sufficient, the
cry Of rage the intruder gave. begin
nIng with snarl and rushing abrupt
ly upward into a hoarse screech
was convincing enough in itself.
The cub felt the prod of the life
snarled valantly by his mothers
side. But she thrust him ignemini-
ousiy away and behind her Because
OF the low-roofed entrance the lynx
could not leap in, and when she
made A crawling rush of il the She
wolk sprang upon her and pinned her
down: The cub saw little of the bat
tie. There was tremendous snarl-
ing and splitting and screeching. The
two animals threshed about. the lynx
ripping and tearing with her claws
and using her teeth as well, while
the shewolf used her teeth alone.
Once the cub sprang in and sank
his teeth into the hind leg of the
lynx. He chung on. growing savag ge-
". Though he did not know it, by
the action Of the leg and thereby
saved his mother much damage. 4
change in the battle crushed him
under both their bodies and wrenched
loose his hold The next moment the
two mothers separated, and before
they rushed together again, the lynx
lashed out at the cub with A huge
fore-paw that ripped his shoulder
open to the bone and sent him hur-
tling sidewise against the wall Then
was added TO the uproar the cubs
shrill yelp of pain and fright. But
the fight lasted so long that he had
time TO cry himself out and TO ex-
perience a second burst of courage:
and the end of the battle found him
again clinging TO hindleg and
furiously growing betwee his teeth.
The lynx was dead. But the She
wolf was very weak and sick. At
first she caressed the cub and lick ed
his wounded shoulder; but the blood
she had lost had taken with ii her
strength. and for all of day and a
night she lay by her dead foes side.
without movement. scarcely breath
ing. For a week she never left the
cave. except for water, and then her
movements were slow and painful.
At the end of that time the lynx was
devoured, nile h she VOLTS
wounds had healed sufficiently to per-
NIT her TO take the meat-trail again.
The cubs shoulder was stiff and
sore and for some time he limped
from the terrible slash he had re-
ceived But the world now seemed
changed He went about in it with
greater confidence. with a feeling of
prowess that had not been his in the
days before the battle with the lynx.
He had looked upon life in more
ferocious aspect; he had fought: he
had buried his teeth in the flesh of a
foe: and he had survived. And be-
cause of all this. he carried himself
more boldly, with a touch of de-
tance that was new in him. He
| things and much of his timidfty had
vanished, though the unknown never
ceased to press upon him with It's
myst cries and terrors. Intangible
and ever-menacing.
He began to accompany his mother
on the mel eat-trail and he saw much
of the killing of meat and began to
play his part in it. And in his own
dim way he learned the law of meat.
There were two kinds of Iife-his
own kind and the other kind. His
own kind included his mother and
himself The other kind included all
live things that moved. But the
other kind was divided. One por-
ton was what his own kind killed
and ate. This portion was composed
of the non-killers and the small
killers The other portion killed and
ate his own kind, or was killed and
eaten by his own kind. And out OF
this classification arose the law. the
aim of life was meat. Life itself
was meat Life lived on life. There
law was eat or be eaten. He did
not formulate the law in clear. set
terms and moralize about it. He did
not even think the law-he merely
lived the law without thinking about
/ ii at all.
He saw the law operating around
him on every side. He had eaten
the ptarmigan chicks. The hawk
had eaten the ptarmigan mother.
The hawk would also have eaten
him. Later, when he had grown
more formidable, he wanted TO eat
the hawk. He had eaten the lynx
kitten, The lynx mother would have
eaten him had she not herself been
killed and eaten. And so Invent.
The law was being lived about him
by all live things, and he himself
was part and parcel of the law. He
was a, killer. His only food was
meat. live meat. that ran away
swiftly before him, or fiew into the
air or climbed trees, or hid in the
ground, or faced him and fought
with him, or turned the tables. and
ran after him.
Had the cub thought in man
fashion. he might have epitomized
life as a voracious appetite, and the
world as a place wherein ranged a
multitude of appetites, pursuing and
being pursued, hunting and beng
hunted, eating and being .eaten--aIi
in blindness and confusion, with
violence and disorder, a chaos OF
gluttony and slaughter, ruled over
by chance, merciless, painless,
endless.
But the cub did not think in man
fashion. He did not look at things
with wide vision. He was single
purposed, and entertained but one
thought or desire, as a~ttme. besides
the law of meat. there was a myriad
other and lesser laws for him to