the west wind came down the canyon with an odd message to his
nose. Wahb could not clearly read the message, but it seemed to say,
"Come," and something within him said, "Go." The smell of food will draw a
hungry creature and disgust a gorged one. We do not know why, and all that
any one can learn is that the desire springs from a need of the body. So
Wahb felt drawn by what had long disgusted him, and he slouched up the
mountain path, grumbling to himself and slapping savagely back at branches
that chanced to switch his face.

[Illustration]

The odd odor grew very strong; it led him where he had never been
before--up a bank of whitish sand to a bench of the same color, where there
was unhealthy-looking water running down, and a kind of fog coming out of a
hole. Wahb threw up his nose suspiciously--such a peculiar smell! He
climbed the bench.

[Illustration]

A snake wriggled across the sand in front. Wahb crushed it with a blow that
made the near trees shiver and sent a balanced boulder toppling down, and
he growled a growl that rumbled up the valley like distant thunder. Then he
came to the foggy hole. It was full of water that moved gently and steamed.
Wahb put in his foot, and found it was quite warm and that it felt
pleasantly on his skin. He put in both feet, and little by little went in
farther, causing the pool to overflow on all sides, till he was lying at
full length in the warm, almost hot, sulphur-spring, and sweltering in the
greenish water, while the wind drifted the steam about overhead.

[Illustration: "CAUSING THE POOL TO OVERFLOW."]

There are plenty of these sulphur-springs in the Rockies, but this chanced
to be the only one on Wahb's range. He lay in it for over an hour; then,
feeling that he had had enough, he heaved his huge bulk up on the bank, and
realized that he was feeling remarkably well and supple. The stiffness of
his hind leg was gone.

He shook the water from his shaggy coat. A broad ledge in full sun-heat
invited him to stretch himself out and dry. But first he reared against the
nearest tree and left a mark that none could mistake. True, there were
plenty of signs of other animals using the sulphur-bath for their ills; but
what of it? Thenceforth that tree bore this inscription, in a language of
mud, hair, and smell, that every mountain creature could read:

My bath. Keep away!
(Signed) WAHB

[Illustration]

Wahb