Biography of a Grizzly | Page 5

after a gale,
a great Black-bear came marching down the hill. 'No one meets a friend
in the woods,' was a byword that Wahb had learned already. He swung
up the nearest tree. At first the Black-bear was scared, for he smelled

the smell of Grizzly; but when he saw it was only a cub, he took
courage and came growling at Wahb. He could climb as well as the
little Grizzly, or better, and high as Wahb went, the Blackbear followed,
and when Wahb got out on the smallest and highest twig that would
carry him, the Blackbear cruelly shook him off, so that he was thrown
to the ground, bruised and shaken and half-stunned. He limped away
moaning, and the only thing that kept the Blackbear from following
him up and perhaps killing him was the fear that the old Grizzly might
be about. So Wahb was driven away down the creek from all the good
piñon woods.
There was not much food on the Graybull now. The berries were nearly
all gone; there were no fish or ants to get, and Wahb, hurt, lonely, and
miserable, wandered on and on, till he was away down toward the
Meteetsee. A Coyote came bounding and barking through the
sage-brush after him. Wahb tried to run, but it was no use; the Coyote
was soon up with him. Then with a sudden rush of desperate courage
Wahb turned and charged his foe. The astonished Coyote gave a scared
yowl or two, and fled with his tail between his legs. Thus Wahb learned
that war is the price of peace.
But the forage was poor here; there were too many cattle; and Wahb
was making for a far-away piñon woods in the Meteetsee Cañon when
he saw a man, just like the one he had seen on that day of sorrow. At
the same moment he heard a _bang_, and some sage-brush rattled and
fell just over his back. All the dreadful smells and dangers of that day
came back to his memory, and Wahb ran as he never had run before.
He soon got into a gully and followed it into the cañon. An opening
between two cliffs seemed to offer shelter, but as he ran toward it a
Range-cow came trotting between, shaking her head at him and
snorting threats against his life.
He leaped aside upon a long log that led up a bank, but at once a savage
Bobcat appeared on the other end and warned him to go back. It was no
time to quarrel. Bitterly Wahb felt that the world was full of enemies.
But he turned and scrambled up a rocky bank into the piñon woods that
border the benches of the Meteetsee.
The Pine Squirrels seemed to resent his coming, and barked furiously.
They were thinking about their piñon-nuts. They knew that this Bear
was coming to steal their provisions, and they followed him overhead

to scold and abuse him, with such an outcry that an enemy might have
followed him by their noise, which was exactly what they intended.
There was no one following, but it made Wahb uneasy and nervous. So
he kept on till he reached the timber line, where both food and foes
were scarce, and here on the edge of the Mountain-sheep land at last he
got a chance to rest.
[Illustration]

IV.
Wahb never was sweet-tempered like his baby sister, and the
persecutions by his numerous foes were making him more and more
sour. Why could not they let him alone in his misery? Why was every
one against him? If only he had his Mother back! If he could only have
killed that Black-bear that had driven him from his woods! It did not
occur to him that some day he himself would be big. And that spiteful
Bobcat, that took advantage of him; and the man that had tried to kill
him. He did not forget any of them, and he hated them all.
Wahb found his new range fairly good, because it was a good nut year.
He learned just what the Squirrels feared he would, for his nose
directed him to the little granaries where they had stored up great
quantities of nuts for winter's use. It was hard on the Squirrels, but it
was good luck for Wahb, for the nuts were delicious food. And when
the days shortened and the nights began to be frosty, he had grown fat
and well-favored.
He traveled over all parts of the cañon now, living mostly in the higher
woods, but coming down at times to forage almost as far as the river.
One night as he wandered by the deep-water a peculiar smell reached
his nose. It was quite pleasant, so he followed it up