YOUTHFUL EXPERIENCES 63 



case of a surprise they would all be caught and 

 shot down in this hollow, unclimbable on three 

 sides. Going off at a great pace, they ran into 

 thick timber, negotiating it after the marvellous 

 manner of moose, feeling the air as they went. 



Where four game paths linked up a huge bear 

 stood, a disturbing spirit, with eyes oblique with 

 fury. He did not seem to see the deer, but the 

 calf recognized at a glance the puckered face, more 

 drawn now than ever. The blazer of the tree I In 

 deep trouble and distress, the stupidest of the bush 

 people could tell that. 



Suddenly he rose on hind-feet, towering above 

 the scrub-bushes about him, and with quivering 

 arms struck the air with weighty blows, a Samson 

 shorn of his strength. Down his chest a thin bead 

 of blood trickled dully. Then, with a groan wrung 

 from the depths of him, the bear turned viciously 

 on a fine birch growing some feet away and scored 

 the bark into a dozen furrows. Again and again 

 the stricken creature wreaked revenge with fierce, 

 driving claws, and so tremendous was the onslaught 

 that the tree, though a big one, shook to its roots. 



The calf fled the place, leading, always leading. 

 Terror lent him a speed his mother could not 



