strike and parry with amazing power,
speed, and skill. When hurt, however, the cubs whimper and cry just
like children, and if the little tots are badly wounded, the distress
of the mother is pitiful to see, for she moans and sheds tears just as
any tender-hearted human mother would. Bear-cubs are droll little
mischiefs. Not only do they, when tamed, frequently get into trouble
through the pranks they play, but they like to imitate at any risk to
themselves the doings of others. As the following example shows:

Years ago, near Fort Pelly, on the Assiniboine River, an old Indian
killed a she-bear that was followed by two cubs. Though he skinned and
cut up the carcass of the mother, he did not touch the whimpering
babes, and on going to camp, he sent his wife out with a horse to bring
in the meat. When the Indian woman arrived at the spot, she found the
two cubs cuddled up against the dressed meat of their mother, and
crying as if their poor hearts would break. Their affectionate
behaviour so touched the motherly heart of the old woman that, after
loading the meat aboard the _travois_--a framework of poles stretched
out behind the horse--she picked up the sobbing children and, wrapping
them in a blanket to keep them from falling off the _travois_, bestrode
her horse, and brought them whimpering into camp.

For some time she kept them tethered beside her lodge where she took
good care of them, but when they grew larger and seemed well behaved,
she released them and allowed them to run and play with the dogs around
camp. In the fall it was her habit to take a hand-net and go down to
the river to fish. Standing upon a rock and every once in a while
casting in her net, she would land a fish on the bank. For several
days the cubs watched her with interest, and then one day, it seems,
they decided they ought to try and help their foster-mother; so wading
in on their hind legs till the water covered their little round
tummies, they would stand perfectly still until a fish would swim near.
Then they would make a violent lunge for it, and striking
lightning-like blows with their paws, they, too, would land a fish upon
the bank. Over and over they repeated the manoeuvre, with evident
excitement and pleasure. At last, every time the old woman picked up
her net to go fishing, these two went along and helped her with her
work. So fond of the sport did they become that, presently, they
didn't even wait for her to accompan