Charles George Douglas Roberts

“ Not for nothing, was it, however, that the woodsman had learned to "run the logs" in many a tangled boom and racing "drive." His foot barely touched the treacherous floe ere he leaped again, and yet again; till he had gained, by a path which none but a riverman could ever have dreamed of traversing, an ice-cake broad and firm enough to give him foothold. Beyond this refuge was a space of surging water, foam, and ice-mush, too broad for the essay of any human leap. ”

“ The Little Furry Ones knew what it was. Of course they were a little frightened. But most of all they were in a rage at such an impudent intrusion. A vicious growl came from between their long, white teeth. And those creeping eyes halted. For half a minute, motionless, they studied the defiant youngsters. Then, very slowly, they withdrew, and presently disappeared. For the weasel, though the most courageous of assassins, is no fool. He saw that the children of the otter had grown too big for him. ”

“ On the wide, sun-flooded expanse of ice, with the dark woods beyond and soft blue sky above, the threat of imminent death seemed to the woodsman curiously out of place. Yet there death was, panting savagely at his heels, ready for the first misstep. And there, too, a mile below, was death in another form, roaring heavily from the swollen falls. And hidden under a face of peace, he knew that death lurked all about his feet, liable to rise in mad fury at any instant with the breaking of the ice. As he thought of all this besetting menace, the woodsman's nerves drew themselves to steel. ”

“ The bear paused, swaying in surly fashion about ten paces in front of him, completely blocking the trail. But the woodsman kept right on. The only attention he paid to the big, black stranger was to shout at him authoritatively—"Git out the way, thar!"
To his unbounded astonishment, however, the beast, instead of getting out of the way, ran at him with a snarling growl. The woodsman's calm blue eyes flamed with anger; but the life of the woods teaches one to think quickly, or, rather, to act in advance of one's thoughts. ”

“ The Big Fork from shore to shore was now a tossing, swishing, racing, whirling, and grinding chaos of ice-cakes, churning in an angry flood and hurrying blindly to the falls. In the center of his own floe the woodsman sat down, the better to preserve his balance. He bit off a chew from his plug of "blackjack," and with calm eyes surveyed the doom toward which he was rushing. A mile is a very short distance when it lies above the inevitable. The woodsman saw clearly that there was nothing to be done but chew his "blackjack," and wait on fate. ”

“ Under the snow and under the rotting patches of ice, innumerable small streams were everywhere hurrying to swell the still ice-fettered flood of the river, the Big Fork, whose roomy valley lay about a half-mile eastward through the woods. Every now and then, when a soft gust drew up from the south, it bore with it a heavy roar, a noise as of muffled and tremendous trampling—the voice of the Big Fork Falls thundering out from under their decaying lid of ice. The falls were the only thing which the black bear really feared. ”

“ In the strange sudden quiet, the shrunken falls clamouring thinly and the broken ice swishing against the upper side of the jam, the man picked his way across the slippery, chaotic surface, expecting every moment that it would crumble with a roar from under his feet. About ten or a dozen yards behind him came the bear, stepping hurriedly, and trembling as he looked down at the diminished cataract. The miracle of the vanishing falls daunted his spirit most effectively, and he seemed to think that the whole mysterious phenomenon was of the man's creating. ”

“ There are few wild parents less given to spoiling their young than a pair of grumbling old woodchucks. The father, who spent most of his time sleeping, rolled up in a ball at the bottom of the burrow, paid them no attention except to nip at them crossly when they tumbled over him. They were always relieved when he went off, three or four times a day, down into the neighboring clover-field, to make his meals. The little ones did not see what he was good for, anyhow, till one morning, when the black-and-yellow dog from the next farm happened along. ”

“ Young Grumpy followed with a triumphant rush—and, of course, took all the credit to himself. “This led him into the farm-yard. Here he promptly forgot both the dog and the gander. It was such a strange place, and full of such strange smells. He was about to turn back into the more familiar clover, when, as luck would have it, he stumbled upon a half-eaten carrot which had been dropped by one of the horses. ”

“ Or what was much more likely, that slim, black, murderous robber, the mink, might come swimming in by the front entrance, pop his head above the water, see the youngsters alone, and be at their throats in a twinkling. The old otters were not running any risks like that.
“Well, when the Little Furry Ones were about the size of five-month kittens, they were as handsome a pair of youngsters as you are ever likely to set eyes upon. Their fur, rich, and soft, and dark, was the finest ever seen. ”

“ He knew that with no weapon but his knife he was no match for such a foe, so, leaping aside as lightly as a panther, he darted around a tree, regained the trail beyond his assailant, and ran on at his best speed toward the river. He made sure that the bear had acted under a mere spasm of ill-temper and would not take the trouble to follow far.
When, once in a long time, a hunter or trapper gets the worst of it in his contest with the wild kindreds, in the majority of cases it is because he had fancied he knew all about bears. ”

“ He knew that in a very few minutes the rising weight of the flood must either sweep all before it or flow roaring over the top of the jam in a new cataract that would sweep the island bare. He sprang to his feet, grasped his stick, and scanned the tumbled, precarious surface, choosing his path. Then he turned and looked at the bear, wondering if that animal's woodcraft were subtler than his own to distinguish when the jam was secure. He found that the bear was eyeing him anxiously, and not looking at the ice at all ”

“ I ’ve known a lot of them in my time, and I ’ve almost always found them interesting. Like some people we know, they ’re sometimes most amusing when they are most serious.
“There was Young Grumpy, now, as sober-minded a woodchuck as ever burrowed a bank. From his earliest days, he took life seriously, and never seemed to think it worth his while to play as the other wild youngsters do. Yet, in spite of himself, he was sometimes quite amusing.
“He had the good fortune to be born in the back pasture of Anderson’s farm. ”

“ He would let no one, not even a man, rob him of that chipmunk. Then, as his wrath swelled rapidly, he decided to hunt the man himself. Perhaps, as the bear relishes practically everything edible under the sun except human flesh, he had no motive but a savage impulse to punish the intruder for such an untimely intrusion. ”

“ For a few minutes, they stole about, poking their noses into everything, and jumping back, startled, at the strange smells they encountered. Then, beginning to feel more at home, they fell to romping on the sunny bank, close to the water. Presently their father slipped gracefully over the bank, and began darting this way and that, and sometimes throwing himself half-way out of the water. The Little Furry Ones stopped playing to watch him. ”

“ The bear is strong in individuality and delights to set at nought the traditions of his kind. So it happens that every now and then a woodsman pays with his life for failing to recognize that the bear won't always play by rule. ”

“ Their mother slyly slipped her nose under them, and threw them, one after the other, far out into the chilly water.”
“Ow!" exclaimed the Babe, with a little gasp of sympathy.
Uncle Andy chuckled. “That ‘s just the way they felt,” said he. “When they came to the top again, they found, to their great surprise, that they could swim. Feeling most indignant and injured, they struck out straight for shore. But there, between them and good, dry ground, swam their mother, and would not let them land. They did not see how mothers could be so heartless. ”

“ For the mink, let me tell you, would have been a tough proposition for them to tackle. “This back-down of their most dreaded enemy made the youngsters feel almost bigger than was good for them. But they did not lose their heads. They waited a few minutes to give the mink time to get good and far away, then they dived forth into the misty pool. It was full of fish They caught all they could eat. ”

“ He had grown so accustomed to counting all the furry wild folk as his prey that he never thought of them as possible adversaries—unless it might chance to be some such exception as a bull-moose in rutting season. ”

“ And in a minute more, they were both hard at it, having the time of their lives, weasels. foxes, minks, and vanished parents alike forgotten.”
“Oh!” protested the Babe, in a shocked voice.
“Let me tell you,” retorted Uncle Andy, “if the wild creatures had not pretty short memories for some things, they ’d have a mighty unhappy time of it. So don’t blame them.
“Well, they had been forgetting their troubles in this way for some little time, when, just as one of them came down the slide—it was the female—she was grabbed and pulled under. It was that same old mink. ”

“ You may depend upon it, the youngsters did not need any coaxing to learn that game!
“Taking it all together, it was a pretty jolly life, I can tell yon, there in the sweet-smelling, shadowy woods. Then, one day, as quick as falling off a log, everything was changed.
“A hunter from the city came that way. He had a good eye, a repeating rifle, and no imagination whatever. He shot instantly. “The father otter came down the slide, but he came down in a crumpled heap. The mother might have escaped, but, just for one second, she hesitated, glancing around to see 1f her babies were out of danger. ”

“ And it was rather lucky to be born there,—except for weasels, of course.”
“Why not for weasels?” demanded the Babe.
“Well now, you ought to know that yourself,” replied Uncle Andy, impatient at being interrupted. “The weasels are such merciless killers themselves, that both Mr. ”