it was a dreadful position for a little rolly polly bear to be in, with loup the lynx facing him, and his mother away in the woods where she couldn’t hear his cries. loup was so sure of his prize that he let him squeal and cry for some time. it rather amused him.
“what a little howling brat you are!” loup said finally. “stop that squealing or i’ll make you.”
buster was as much frightened by the tone of the voice as by the words, and almost instantly stopped calling for his mother. he was a very young bear—a mere cub—and you could not blame him for crying for help. besides he had never been outside of the cave alone before, and right down in his heart he knew that his disobedience of his mother’s commands had got him into trouble.
“i’ll stop,” he said, “if you’ll please move away from that doorway and let me go inside. mother told me not to come out of the cave when she was away.”
[16]“oh, she did!” sneered loup. “then you’ve been a bad, wicked cub, and you deserve to be punished. i think i’ll teach you a lesson.”
“please don’t, mr. loup,” pleaded buster, who much preferred to be punished by his mother than this wicked looking animal. “one punishment will be enough, and i know mother will attend to that.”
loup laughed and swished his short tail as if he wished it were longer so he might use it as a whip to punish buster with.
“no, i’ll punish you too,” he added. “you deserve it. do you know how i punish cubs that disobey their mothers?”
buster didn’t know, and wasn’t particularly anxious to find out. his one desire was to get back of loup and escape in the cave where he might be able to hide until his mother returned. if he could only get loup away from the front of the cave, he might run in it.
“well, i’ll tell you,” loup added. “i take them by the scruff of the neck, and shake them until they haven’t breath enough to squeal.”
he grabbed a stone in his jaws and shook it back and forth just to show how he would do it. the sight made buster feel faint.
“and then,” went on loup, “i give them a pat on the back with my paw like this.”
[17]loup raised a paw and brought it down on the rock so hard that it made buster jump a foot in the air. the blow was so powerful that it seemed for a moment as if it would crack the rocks. loup laughed joyfully at buster’s fright.
“now that i’ve shown you what i intend to do with you,” loup continued, “you’ll be prepared. well, i’m coming now to punish you.”
buster backed away to the edge of the rock.
“and when i’ve cuffed your ears, and shaken out your teeth,” loup threatened, “i’m going to eat you. oh, yes, a young cub makes delicious eating. i’ll fill my stomach with you.”
for the first time buster showed a little spirit of defiance. standing up on his two hind legs, he said, wagging his head: “no you won’t, mr. loup, for my mother will kill you first. she’s bigger than you, and she can strike harder than you. my, when she brings her big paw down it makes the rocks shake! if you touch me she’ll strike you on the head, and knock you in the river.”
“huh!” snorted loup angrily. the fact was he was afraid of mother bear, but he didn’t want buster to know it, and he tried to make him think so by boasting. “if your[18] mother should come near me, i’d knock her over. i could do it easily.”
perhaps buster wasn’t convinced by this boastful talk, or may be he heard something in the bushes that sounded like his mother’s familiar footsteps. at any rate, he turned suddenly, and clapped his paws.
“now let me see you do it, mr. loup!” he cried. “here comes mother! she won’t let you hurt me!”
the way loup jumped and growled showed that his courage wasn’t so very great after all. he had no desire to meet mother bear, and the thought he had lost a delicious dinner by talking so long to buster made him hungry. for a moment he hesitated. if he jumped on buster and ran away with him, mother bear would be on his tracks immediately, and if he stayed he would be cornered in the cave. he decided to take the safest course.
“well, if your mother’s coming, buster,” he said in a changed voice, “it won’t be necessary for me to stay here with you any longer. you might tell her i kept guard over the cave while she was away.”
buster was so surprised by these words that he turned to look at the lynx. loup smiled at him, and added: “of course, you know this was all a joke. i didn’t intend to hurt[19] you. i love little bear cubs. that’s why i came here to protect you. we’ll always be great friends, and when you grow up i’ll show you the ways of the woods.”
buster in his innocence believed these soft words, and his feelings toward loup took a sudden change. he wasn’t wise enough to follow up his advantage and let loup go. instead he said:
“don’t go yet, mr. loup. i’m not sure mother is coming after all. the noise in the bushes was just a bird scratching for worms.”
loup raised his ugly head and glanced around him. his ears were cocked up so that he could catch the faintest sound in the distance. then a smile of satisfaction spread over his face. turning to buster he let out a roar that sounded like distant thunder rumbling in the sky. it made buster jump nearly two feet in the air.
“so you were trying to deceive me!” he growled. “you lied to me! you said your mother was coming when she wasn’t. then for that i’ll kill you and eat you up!”
buster started to protest. “no, no, mr. loup, i didn’t lie to you,” he stammered.
but he couldn’t get any further. loup had crouched for a spring. buster saw his big, dark body coming through the air at him, and[20] very naturally he ran away crying with fright. loup seeing that he had missed him in his spring struck viciously with one paw, and just grazed buster’s head. it was only a graze, but it drew blood, and made buster whimper with pain.
there was one thing buster wanted, and that was to get safely inside the cave, and the moment loup sprang in the air he started for it. but loup was a quick, powerful dodger, and before the cub could reach the entrance the lynx had taken another long jump and landed directly in front of him.
buster, to escape him, wheeled so suddenly that he rolled all over in a heap. the rock sloped down toward the water, and the cub rolled down it so fast that loup was unable to catch him. it was the only thing that saved buster’s life.
he had never been in the river, and he didn’t know whether he could swim or not, but he much preferred the water to loup’s dripping jaws. so instead of trying to check his rolling he kicked out to make himself go faster.
loup reached him just as he got at the edge of the rocks, and with one paw tried to crush his head and body; but again he missed him, and merely cut a deep gash in buster’s shoulder. the next moment the cub splashed[21] into the river, and went down, down, down until it seemed to him there was no bottom.
in the next story you will hear of how buster was rescued from the river.
