are fighters, and great big bullies, besides! Why! I bet you've got
claws three inches long."

"You think so?" Big White Bear put out his front paw which was as big as
the trunk of a small tree. Huskie dodged.

"Look," said Big White Bear.

Huskie looked at Big White Bear's claws. They were not as long as his
own. They were broad and blunt, just sharp enough for climbing over the
ice.

"I don't know why they name me Bear," said Big White Bear; "Old Buster
Grizzly, Buster Brown, and Buster Black, now, are very distant relatives
of mine. Indeed, they have long claws and are great fighters. But my
nearest relative, Tusks, the Walrus, is no fighter at all, and believe
me, neither am I."

But Huskie was a very quarrelsome and suspicious fellow.

"That will do to tell," said he; "but I know it is not true. As for
those claws of yours, I can guess how that is. They look very harmless
now. But when you want to fight, you run them out like a cat's."

"It's no such thing," said Big White Bear.

"Oh, yes, it is. Omnok says it is. I am going to tell him now, and he'll
fix you!" Vain boast! Huskie had forgotten himself.

In another instant, before he could dodge, Big White Bear had grabbed
him and hugged him tight. Huskie could not call out at all. His voice
became the tiniest little squeak.

"Let me go! Let me go!" he squeaked. "I won't tell! I won't tell! Oh!
Oh! Please, Mr. Bear, let me go!"

[Illustration: "I am going to make your teeth chatter so you can't call
your master." _Page 81_]

But Big White Bear only grinned, and said "Huh?"

"Oh, I'll not kill you," said Big White Bear finally. "It's just as I
have told you. I am no fighter. I never hurt anybody, unless I am driven
to do so. I'll not kill you, but I am going to make your teeth chatter
so you can't call your master."

At that, Big White Bear dropped right down into the cold, cold water
with Huskie in his arms.

Now Big White Bear lives half the time in water, and he does not mind it
a bit. But poor Huskie! When Big White Bear put him back on the ice, he
couldn't have said a word to save his life.

"Now, go and tell your master that you have seen Big White Bear," said
Big White Bear, grinning. "But you don't know where he is just now."

Then he dropped into the water and disappeared.

Huskie did not wait to hunt up his master. He ran home as fast as he
could go. Try as he might, Omnok has never been able to get him to go
hunting for Big White Bea