Biography of a Grizzly | Page 2

knocked off the top of the hill, then laid her great paw flat on it for
a few moments, and as the angry ants swarmed on to it she licked them
up with one lick, and got a good rich mouthful to crunch, without a
grain of sand or a cactus-stinger in it. The cubs soon learned. Each put
up both his little brown paws, so that there was a ring of paws all
around the ant-hill, and there they sat, like children playing 'hands,' and
each licked first the right and then the left paw, or one cuffed his
brother's ears for licking a paw that was not his own, till the ant-hill
was cleared out and they were ready for a change.
Ants are sour food and made the Bears thirsty, so the old one led down
to the river. After they had drunk as much as they wanted, and dabbled
their feet, they walked down the bank to a pool, where the old one's
keen eye caught sight of a number of Buffalo-fish basking on the
bottom. The water was very low, mere pebbly rapids between these
deep holes, so Mammy said to the little ones:
"Now you all sit there on the bank and learn something new."
[Illustration: ]
First she went to the lower end of the pool and stirred up a cloud of
mud which hung in the still water, and sent a long tail floating like a
curtain over the rapids just below. Then she went quietly round by land,
and sprang into the upper end of the pool with all the noise she could.
The fish had crowded to that end, but this sudden attack sent them off
in a panic, and they dashed blindly into the mud-cloud. Out of fifty fish
there is always a good chance of some being fools, and half a dozen of
these dashed through the darkened water into the current, and before
they knew it they were struggling over the shingly shallow. The old
Grizzly jerked them out to the bank, and the little ones rushed noisily
on these funny, short snakes that could not get away, and gobbled and
gorged till their little bellies looked like balloons.

They had eaten so much now, and the sun was so hot, that all were
quite sleepy. So the Mother-bear led them to a quiet little nook, and as
soon as she lay down, though they were puffing with heat, they all
snuggled around her and went to sleep, with their little brown paws
curled in, and their little black noses tucked into their wool as though it
were a very cold day.
[Illustration: ]
After an hour or two they began to yawn and stretch themselves, except
little Fuzz, the smallest; she poked out her sharp nose for a moment,
then snuggled back between her Mother's great arms, for she was a
gentle, petted little thing. The largest, the one afterward known as
Wahb, sprawled over on his back and began to worry a root that stuck
up, grumbling to himself as he chewed it, or slapped it with his paw for
not staying where he wanted it. Presently Mooney, the mischief, began
tugging at Frizzle's ears, and got his own well boxed. They clenched for
a tussle; then, locked in a tight, little grizzly yellow ball, they sprawled
over and over on the grass, and, before they knew it, down a bank, and
away out of sight toward the river.
[Illustration: ]
Almost immediately there was an outcry of yells for help from the little
wrestlers. There could be no mistaking the real terror in their voices.
Some dreadful danger was threatening.
[Illustration: ]
Up jumped the gentle Mother, changed into a perfect demon, and over
the bank in time to see a huge Range-bull make a deadly charge at what
he doubtless took for a yellow dog. In a moment all would have been
over with Frizzle, for he had missed his footing on the bank; but there
was a thumping of heavy feet, a roar that startled even the great Bull,
and, like a huge bounding ball of yellow fur, Mother Grizzly was upon
him. Him! the monarch of the herd, the master of all these plains, what
had he to fear? He bellowed his deep war-cry, and charged to pin the
old one to the bank; but as he bent to tear her with his shining horns,
she dealt him a stunning blow, and before he could recover she was on
his shoulders, raking the flesh from his ribs with sweep after sweep of
her terrific claws.
The Bull roared with rage, and plunged and reared, dragging Mother
Grizzly with him; then, as he hurled heavily off the slope, she let go to

save herself,