Biography of a Grizzly | Page 6

to the water's edge.
It seemed to come from a sunken log. As he reached over toward this,
there was a sudden _clank_, and one of his paws was caught in a strong,
steel Beaver-trap.
Wahb yelled and jerked back with all his strength, and tore up the stake
that held the trap. He tried to shake it off, then ran away through the
bushes trailing it. He tore at it with his teeth; but there it hung, quiet,
cold, strong, and immovable. Every little while he tore at it with his
teeth and claws, or beat it against the ground. He buried it in the earth,
then climbed a low tree, hoping to leave it behind; but still it clung,

biting into his flesh. He made for his own woods, and sat down to try to
puzzle it out. He did not know what it was, but his little green-brown
eyes glared with a mixture of pain, fright, and fury as he tried to
understand his new enemy.
[Illustration]
He lay down under the bushes, and, intent on deliberately crushing the
thing, he held it down with one paw while he tightened his teeth on the
other end, and bearing down as it slid away, the trap jaws opened and
the foot was free. It was mere chance, of course, that led him to squeeze
both springs at once. He did not understand it, but he did not forget it,
and he got these not very clear ideas: 'There is a dreadful little enemy
that hides by the water and waits for one. It has an odd smell. It bites
one's paws and is too hard for one to bite. But it can be got off by hard
squeezing.'
For a week or more the little Grizzly had another sore paw, but it was
not very bad if he did not do any climbing.
[Illustration: ]
It was now the season when the Elk were bugling on the mountains.
Wahb heard them all night, and once or twice had to climb to get away
from one of the big-antlered Bulls. It was also the season when the
trappers were coming into the mountains, and the Wild Geese were
honking overhead. There were several quite new smells in the woods,
too. Wahb followed one of these up, and it led to a place where were
some small logs piled together; then, mixed with the smell that had
drawn him, was one that he hated--he remembered it from the time
when he had lost his Mother. He sniffed about carefully, for it was not
very strong, and learned that this hateful smell was on a log in front,
and the sweet smell that made his mouth water was under some brush
behind. So he went around, pulled away the brush till he got the prize, a
piece of meat, and as he grabbed it, the log in front went down with a
heavy chock. It made Wahb jump; but he got away all right with the
meat and some new ideas, and with one old idea made stronger, and
that was, 'When that hateful smell is around it always means trouble.'
As the weather grew colder, Wahb became very sleepy; he slept all day
when it was frosty. He had not any fixed place to sleep in; he knew a
number of dry ledges for sunny weather, and one or two sheltered
nooks for stormy days. He had a very comfortable nest under a root,

and one day, as it began to blow and snow, he crawled into this and
curled up to sleep. The storm howled without. The snow fell deeper and
deeper. It draped the pine-trees till they bowed, then shook themselves
clear to be draped anew. It drifted over the mountains and poured down
the funnel-like ravines, blowing off the peaks and ridges, and filling up
the hollows level with their rims. It piled up over Wahb's den, shutting
out the cold of the winter, shutting out itself: and Wahb slept and slept.

V.
He slept all winter without waking, for such is the way of Bears, and
yet when spring came and aroused him, he knew that he had been
asleep a long time. He was not much changed--he had grown in height,
and yet was but little thinner. He was now very hungry, and forcing his
way through the deep drift that still lay over his den, he set out to look
for food. There were no piñon-nuts to get, and no berries or ants; but
Wahb's nose led him away up the cañon to the body of a winter-killed
Elk, where he had a fine feast, and then buried the rest for future use.
Day after day he came back till he had finished it. Food