with one blow of
that great paw, Wahb smashed him into a limp, furry rag; then broke in all
his ribs with a crunch or two of his jaws. Oh, but it was good to feel the
hot, bloody juices oozing between his teeth!

[Illustration]

The Coyote was caught in a trap. Wahb hated the smell of the iron, so he
went to the other side of the carcass, where it was not so strong, and had
eaten but little before _clank_, and his foot was caught in a Wolf-trap
that he had not seen.

[Illustration]

But he remembered that he had once before been caught and had escaped by
squeezing the trap. He set a hind foot on each spring and pressed till the
trap opened and released his paw. About the carcass was the smell that he
knew stood for man, so he left it and wandered down-stream; but more and
more often he got whiffs of that horrible odor, so he turned and went back
to his quiet pinon benches.

PART II

THE DAYS OF HIS STRENGTH

[Illustration]

I

Wahb's third summer had brought him the stature of a large-sized Bear,
though not nearly the bulk and power that in time were his. He was very
light-colored now, and this was why Spahwat, a Shoshone Indian who more
than once hunted him, called him the Whitebear, or Wahb.

Spahwat was a good hunter, and as soon as he saw the rubbing-tree on the
Upper Meteetsee he knew that he was on the range of a big Grizzly. He
bushwhacked the whole valley, and spent many days before he found a chance
to shoot; then Wahb got a stinging flesh-wound in the shoulder. He growled
horribly, but it had seemed to take the fight out of him; he scrambled up
the valley and over the lower hills till he reached a quiet haunt, where he
lay down.

[Illustration]

His knowledge of healing was wholly instinctive. He licked the wound and
all around it, and sought to be quiet. The licking removed the dirt, and by
massage reduced the inflammation, and it plastered the hair down as a sort
of dressing over the wound to keep out the air, dirt, and microbes. There
could be no better treatment.

[Illustration]

But the Indian was on his trail. Before long the smell warned Wahb that a
foe was coming, so he quietly climbed farther up the mountain to another
resting-place. But again he sensed the Indian's approach, and made off.
Several times this happened, and at length there was a second shot and
another galling wound. Wahb was furious now. There was nothing that really
fr