piled up over Wahb's den, shutting out the cold of the winter, shutting out
itself: and Wahb slept and slept.

[Illustration]

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 pinon-nuts to get, and no berries or ants; but Wahb's nose
led him away up the canyon to the body of a winter-killed Elk, where he had
a fine feast, and then buried the rest for future use.

[Illustration]

Day after day he came back till he had finished it. Food was very scarce
for a couple of months, and after the Elk was eaten, Wahb lost all the fat
he had when he awoke. One day he climbed over the Divide into the Warhouse
Valley. It was warm and sunny there, vegetation was well advanced, and he
found good forage. He wandered down toward the thick timber, and soon
smelled the smell of another Grizzly. This grew stronger and led him to a
single tree by a Bear-trail. Wahb reared up on his hind feet to smell this
tree. It was strong of Bear, and was plastered with mud and Grizzly hair
far higher than he could reach; and Wahb knew that it must have been a very
large Bear that had rubbed himself there. He felt uneasy. He used to long
to meet one of his own kind, yet now that there was a chance of it he was
filled with dread.

No one had shown him anything but hatred in his lonely, unprotected life,
and he could not tell what this older Bear might do. As he stood in doubt,
he caught sight of the old Grizzly himself slouching along a hillside,
stopping from time to time to dig up the quamash-roots and wild turnips.

He was a monster. Wahb instinctively distrusted him, and sneaked away
through the woods and up a rocky bluff where he could watch.

Then the big fellow came on Wahb's track and rumbled a deep growl of anger;
he followed the trail to the tree, and rearing up, he tore the bark with
his claws, far above where Wahb had reached. Then he strode rapidly along
Wahb's trail. But the cub had seen enough. He fled back over the Divide
into the Meteetsee Canyon, and realized in his dim, bearish way that he was
at peace there because the Bear-forage was so poor.

As the summer came on, his coat was s