176 WAITING IN THE WILDERNESS 



deep. In this the cubs had evidently curled up 

 together on the barren gravel. They did not 

 use this den the second winter. 



During the second autumn of their lives I 

 saw these aggressive youngsters on the moun- 

 tains at least twenty miles from the prospector's 

 cabin. They were having a swim in a beaver 

 pond, and no three swimming boys ever had 

 more fun. They splashed water, they wres- 

 tled, and occasionally they boxed. I watched 

 their pranks for more than an hour. For a 

 week I followed them and had a number of 

 peeps into their life. Just where they spent 

 most nights I could not discover. But one 

 night they lay close together under the edge 

 of a willow clump at the foot of a steep forested 

 mountain, with a thicket of willows in front of 

 them and a cliff behind. 



Another time I watched the cubs with field 

 glasses while they were catching fish in a little 

 stream that flowed into Red Fish Lake. While 

 thus absorbed a deer came rustling through the 

 willows near them. Evidently the cubs had 

 not scented it. Though in no wise alarmed, 

 they instantly endeavoured to see what it was. 

 The leader happened to be standing near a much- 

 branched tree that lay on the ground. He 

 reared up, put forepaws against it, and peered 

 intently ahead. The other two cubs, unable 



