Show WHItE F G Gj j L on on F r Continued from yesterday Midway In the passage the current current current cur cur- rent picked up the tho cub and swept him downstream He was In the miniature rapid at the tho bottom bottom bottom bot bot- tom of the Hero Here was little chance for swimming The quiet water had become suddenly angry Som Sometimes times he was w was s 's under sometimes sometimes sometimes some some- times on top At all times he ho was In violent motion now being turned over or around and again j being smashed against a rock And with every rock rocIe he struck truck ho he yelped His His progress was wasa a series of yelps from which might have been adduced the number of rocks he encountered Below the vapid sapid was a second pool and hero here captured by the edd eddy r he was gently borne to the bank and as gently deposited on a abed abed abed bed of gravel He Ho crawled frantically frantically franti frantl- cally clear of t the water and lay down He had learned ome more about about- the world worM Water was not alive Yet it moved Also it looked as solid as the earth but was without without without with with- out any solidity at all aU v r His conclusion conclusion conclusion con con- was that things were not always What they appeared to be The cubs cub's fear of ot the unknown was an Inherited distrust distrust and it had now been strengthened by experience ence Thenceforth forth In the nature of or things he would pos possess ess an abidIng abiding abid abid- ing distrust of appearances He would woud have to learn the reality of j I II I I j I I I I 1 J I J I la a thing before he ho could put his faith into it ft it One other adventure was wag destined destined destined des- des tined for him that day He lie had recollected recI rec- rec oll that there was such a athing athing thing in the world as his mother And then there came to him a feelIng feeling feel- feel Ing that he wanted her more than all all' the rest of the things' things in fn the world Not only was his body tired with the adventures It had undergone undergone undergone under under- gone but his little brain was equally tired In all the days he had lived it had not worked so hard as on this one day Furthermore he was sleepy So he started out to look for the cave care and his mother feeling feel teel- feeling ing at the same time an overwhelming overwhelm overwhelm- ing rush of loneliness and helplessness helpless- helpless ness He was sprawling along between some bushes when he heard a sharp intimidating cry There was wasa a flash of f yellow ell w before his eyes He saw a weasel leaping swiftly away from him It was a small live thing and he had no fear Then before him at his feet he saw an extremely small live thing only several inches long long long-a a young oung weasel that like himself had disobediently disobediently disobediently dis dis- dis- dis obediently gone out adventuring It tried to to retreat before him He lie turned it over with his paw It mado made r The next a queer Quer grating noise moment the flash lash of ot f yellow reappeared reappeared reap reap- before his eyes He heard hoard again the tho intimidating cry and at atthE atthe atthe the same Instant received a severe blow on the side aide of the neck and felt feIt he sharp teeth of the mother weasel cut into his flesh While he yelped and kI lid and scrambled backward he saw the mother weasel easel leap upon her young youns one and disappear with it into the neighboring thicket The cut of or her hert t teeth eth in fn his neck still hurt but his feelings were hurt more grievously and he sat down and weakly whimpered whim whim- This mothe weasel was so small and so savage He lie was yet yetto yetto to learn that for size and weight the weasel was the most ferocious vindictive and terrible of or all aU the killers of the wild But a portion of this knowledge was quickly to tobe tobe tobe be his He was still whimpering when the mother weasel reappeared She Shedid Shedid Shedid did not ot rush him now that her yot young i g one was safe She approached approached approached ap ap- ap- ap more cautiously and the cub had full tull opportunity to observe her lean snakelike body and her head erect eager roger and snakelike it it- it self Her sharp menacing cry sent the hair bristling along his back and he snarled warningly at her She came closer and closer There Ther e wag was was' a leap swifter than than his his' unpracticed unpracticed un- un practiced sight and the lean yellow yellow yel yel- ellow el low body disappeared for a moment t out of his field of his vision viston The next moment she was at his throat her ber teeth burled buried In his hair an and d flesh I At first he snarled and tried t to d fight tight but he was very young an anthis and this was only his first day in th the e world and his snarl became a I whimper his fight a struggle to es esI es- es cape The never relaxed he her r I hold She hung on striving t to press down with her teeth to th the e great vein where his life lite blood bubbled bubbled bubbled bub bub- bled The weasel was a drinker o of i blo blood d and It was ever her preferenCe preference preference prefer prefer- ence to drink from the throat of life lift i itself eIt The gray cub would have died and there would have been no story to write about him had not the sh she e wolf come bounding through th the b bushes The weasel let go the cu cub and flashed at the she wolfs wolf's throat t missing but getting a hold on th the e Jaw instead The she wolf flirted d her head like th snap of a whip breaking the weasels weasel's hold and flinging it high in the air And still in the air the she wolfs wolf's jaws closed on the lean yellow body and nd the weasel knew death between the crun crunching teeth The cub experienced another ac access access access ac- ac cess of ot affection on the part of his mother Her Joy at finding him seemed greater even than his Joy at being found She nuzzled him and caressed him and licked the cuts made mado in fn him by the weasels weasel's teeth Then between them mother and cub they ate the blood drinker I and after that went back to the cave caye and slept I CHAPTER V. V The Law of Meat The cubs cub's development was rapid He rested for two days and then hen ventured forth from the cave again It was on this adventure that he found the young weasel whose mother he had helped eat and ha he saw to It t that the young weasel went the way of Its mother But on this trip he did not get lost When he grew tired he found his his way back to the cave and slept And every day thereafter found him out and ranging a wider area He began to get an accurate measurement of his strength and his weakness and to know when to tobe tobe tobe be bold and when to be cautious He lie found It expedient to be cautIous cautious cautious cau cau- all the time except for the rare moments when assured of his own Intrepidity he abandoned himself himself himself him him- self to petty rages and lusts He was always a little demon of fury when he chanced upon a stray ptarmigan n. n Never did he fall tall to I respond savagely to the chatter of ot the squirrel he had first met on the tho blasted pine While the sight of a a. moose-bird moose almost invariably put him Into the tho wildest of rages for he never forgot the peck on the nose he had received from the first of that ilk he encountered But there were times when even evena a moos moose bird failed to affect him and those were times he felt himself to be In danger from some other prowling meat hunter He never forgot tha th hawk a wI and its moving shadow always sent him crouching into the nearest thicket He no longer sprawled and straddled straddled strad strad- and already he was developIng developing develop develop- ing ins the gait of his mother slinking ana asset and furtive apparently without ex exertion exertion ex- ex yet sliding along with a swiftness that was as deceptive as asIt asit asit it was imperceptible I In the matter of meat his luck had been all in the beginning The seven ptarmigan chicks and the baby weasel represented the sum of ot his killings His desire to kill strengthened with the days and he cherished hungry ambitions for the squirrel that chattered s so volubly and always alwa's informed all wild creatures creatures crea crea- tures tares that the wolf cub was ap- ap But as birds flew In the theaIr aIr squirrels squirrels could climb trees and the cub could only try to crawl unobserved unobserved unobserved un un- observed upon the squirrel when it was on n the ground Continued tomorrow |