Washer rose excitedly to his feet. "Then I must go at once--before thecubs and Sneaky return. They must find me gone, and if you don't tellthem where I am they'll never know."
"That's true, Little Brother. But where shall we go tonight?"
"To the Silver Birch grove where my people live. It's above the fallswhere I fell in the water. Take me there, and I'll watch and wait forthem."
"But suppose some of the wolves found you in the Silver Birch Grove?"
"What matter's that?" laughed Washer. "I can climb a tree which ismore than any of the wolves can do. I'll go up the biggest tree, andlaugh at them."
"Yes, Little Brother, you can do that. I'd forgotten that your peopleare tree climbers. Well," sighing heavily, "it's the only thing to do,but it makes me sad to lose you. I shall mourn you every day you'reaway."
"Not more than if you saw me killed by your own people," added Washer,smiling up into her face.
She nodded her head and began licking his fur. In a short time she wasready to accompany him to the grove of Silver Birches. This was somedistance from the cave, and they had to be wary in their movements,for the whole wolf pack was abroad on the hunt. They heard theirdistant howls on the clear night air, but by keeping away from themthey soon got beyond their echo.
They trotted along through the moonlight, following the river towardthe falls. Just below them they stopped, while Washer pointed outwhere Sneaky had found him when he jumped ashore from his raft.
"That must have been a terrible adventure, Little Brother," MotherWolf said. "I never heard of any animal coming over the falls andliving. It must be you have a charmed life."
"If so it's because I've had such a good foster mother," repliedWasher. "You saved me from Sneaky, and tonight you saved me from thepack. You're as brave as you are kind and loving. I shall never forgetyou."
Mother Wolf was greatly affected by these words, and she showed hergratitude in her eyes. Once more she slicked down the soft fur of herfoster child and murmured gentle words of love. Then they started offonce more on their journey.
They climbed the steep rocks that led to the upper part of the falls,and once on their summit they headed directly for the grove of SilverBirches. In the soft moonlight the birches glistened and shone liketwinkling stars, the leaves showing white and silvery. It was almostlike a fairy scene, and Washer raised his head in delight. He wasnear his original home, in the land of his own people, and his littleheart beat with excitement.
What would his own people do? Would they receive him or drive himaway? The very thought of this made him shiver. He would then bewithout a home or country of his own. He would be an outcast, which isthe worst thing that can be said of man or animal.
"I shall wait here in this big birch until some of my people appear,"Washer said when they stole silently under the shadow of the grove. "Iam safe here. I shall climb up in that crotch and sleep until morning.No wolf can get me."
"No, not even Black Wolf could reach you up there. None of my peoplecould jump that high. Are you quite sure you can climb that high?"
"I'll show you," laughed Washer. "You never saw me climb a treebefore."
He wanted to show her how well he could run up the tree, and he wasproud of his accomplishment when she watched him in silence, and thensaid: "Wonderful, Little Brother! I wish my cubs could do as well.Now, if you're safe I'll go. Good-bye!"
Washer waved a paw to her until she had disappeared from sight, andthen with a sigh of contentment he curled up in a round ball and wentto sleep. He was very tired after the night's adventure, and was gladto get a few hours of sleep before morning dawned. He was safe fromthe wolves. In the morning he would see if he was safe among his ownpeople. In the next story Washer meets an enemy that can climb trees.
WASHER WAVED A PAW AT HER]
STORY FOURTEEN
WASHER IS TREED BY STRANGERS
Now Washer had not been sleeping long, although it seemed a greatwhile to him, when a peculiar rustling noise below awakened him. Withone eye still closed, and the other only half opened, he calledsleepily:
"Is that you, Mother Wolf?"
There was no answer, and Washer opened both eyes. If it was MotherWolf who had made the rustling sound, she would have answered hisquestion immediately. Washer concluded that it was somebody else. Thenhe thought of the cubs. It would be like them not to answer, but tryto steal upon him to give him a fright.
"I know you're down there, Brothers," he added. "You can't frightenme. I'm up the tree, and no wolf can climb up here."
There was still no response, and the silence of the woods suddenlymade Washer a little afraid. He became wide awake. He remembered nowwhat had happened to him; how he had been rejected by the wolves, andhow Mother Wolf had brought him to the grove of Silver Birches to findhis own people.
He also remembered that the wolf pack had declared they would hunt himdown and kill him. They were thirsting for his blood, and now thatMother Wolf had left him they had followed his tracks and treed him.
Yes, down below there were undoubtedly many of the wolves--the wholepack for all he knew--and the moment he came down they would pounceupon him. Washer shivered, and crawled to a higher crotch. The moonhad gone down, and the woods were wrapped in darkness. It wasimpossible for him to see anything below; but the thought that wolvescould not climb trees brought a sense of security. He was safe therefrom Sneaky, Gray Wolf and the whole pack.
He waited a long time for a repetition of the noise, and then decidedthat he would resume his sleep. If the wolves couldn't climb the treewhat was the use of worrying about them? He closed his eyes with asigh of relief.
Then came the rustling noise again--this time much nearer the trunk ofthe tree. It came nearer, and finally reached the tree itself. Therewas a slight jar that made the leaves tremble. Washer thought it was awolf leaping up, trying to reach the lower branches; but it wasfollowed by a steady rustling, scraping noise that puzzled him.
For a long time he was uncertain what to make of it, but when it camenearer and nearer, and finally seemed to be in the tree itself, hegrew terribly frightened. Somebody or something was climbing the tree!
When Washer made this discovery his alarm was genuine. With a littlesqueak of fear he ran to the top branch of the tree. But the scraping,rustling noise followed him. It first came from the lower branches;then from the middle ones, and now it was approaching the top.
Washer strained his eyes in the darkness to see this unknown creaturethat was slowly crawling toward him. In time he could make out a darkform; then another and another. There were three creatures climbingthe tree!
Washer's terror reached a climax. He ran so far out on a branch thatit threatened to break with him. He was panic-stricken! It would nothave been at all surprising if he had lost his hold and fallen to theground below. There was no other tree near enough for him to reach,and it was either a matter of holding on and fighting his enemies upthere among the top-most branches or dropping to the ground thirtyfeet below.
"Who is that?" he demanded between chattering teeth.
Then in a little panicky voice he added: "If you don't get away I'llcall Mother Wolf, and she'll eat you up."
That threat had the effect of loosening the tongue of one of theanimals, for a voice said in a low growl: "Hear him! Didn't I tell youhe was a friend of the wolves? Now he's going to call them to kill us.But wolves can't climb trees. Come on, we'll catch him! He can't getaway!"
Now Washer recognized that voice at once. It was that ofthe raccoon he had saved from the cubs, and who in return for hiskindness had bitten him. In some way he had discovered Washer'spresence in the tree, and had summoned his friends to kill him. For amoment Washer was more afraid of his own people than of the wolves.Then he decided he would make matters plain to them.
"Please don't come any further," he said in a shaking voice. "You justlisten to me. I'm not going to hurt you."
"Listen to that!" sniffed the big raccoon. "He promises not to hurtus. Well, I don't
think we'll give him a chance. But we'll hurt you."
"But why do you want to hurt me?" asked Washer.
"Because you're a friend of the wolves, and you're sent here to betrayus to them. We saw you come in the grove of Silver Birches with a bigwolf, and then say farewell to her. We knew it was all a trap. Younearly had me killed that day when--"
"No, no," interrupted Washer, "I saved your life when the cubs had youtreed. If it hadn't been for me they'd caught you."
"No wolf can catch me when I'm up a tree," growled the raccoon.
"No, but they would have watched and waited at the foot of the treeuntil you were starved out," replied Washer. "You don't know howpatient a wolf can be."
"I don't, eh?" snapped the raccoon. "I was treed by one once, and hekept me there for nearly a week, but he got hungry before I did andwent away."
"What are you going to do to me?" Washer asked more interested in thisquestion than what happened to the big raccoon one day.
"We're going to punish you, and then drive you back to yourfriends--the wolves."
"The wolves are not my friends any more," pleaded Washer.
"Wasn't that wolf who came here with you a friend?"
"Why, yes, that was Mother Wolf," stammered Washer.
"What did I tell you?" cried the big raccoon. "He admits it. If you'rea friend of a wolf you're the enemy to all raccoons."
"No!" interrupted Washer. "Let me explain!"
"Now we've got him!" interrupted the raccoon, who had been creepingnearer. "Shake him off the branch! If the fall doesn't kill him ourpeople will catch him. He can't escape."
The three raccoons sprang toward the swaying branch and began shakingit. Washer clung to it desperately, and it was impossible to dislodgehim.
"Bite it! Gnaw it off!" cried the leader of the raccoons.
To Washer's horror, they began biting and gnawing at the branch, whichsoon sagged lower and lower. It snapped under his weight and the nextmoment broke off close to the trunk. Washer felt himself going down,down, down!
He let out a little squeak of fear as he felt himself falling throughspace. His head struck a lower branch, and his feet got entangled ina few small twigs, but they could not check his fall. He went down,down, down until he landed with a loud plump on the soft earth. Whenhe got up to run he found himself surrounded by a circle of raccoons,each one swishing his tail and gnashing his teeth. In the next storyWasher saves his people from a terrible death.
STORY FIFTEEN
THE CUBS LISTEN TO WASHER'S PLEA
Washer was severely bruised by his fall from the tree, but fortunatelyno bones were broken. He limped a little, and felt a peculiarsensation in one of his front paws; but these small pains were nothingto the fear that possessed him when he saw the angry circle ofraccoons.
They were facing him on all sides so there was no chance for him toescape. He turned around several times to find an opening, but hisonly hope was to jump over the backs of his enemies, which wassomething he felt unequal to. Even so they would catch him, for hecould not expect to jump higher in the air than the others.
He felt the best way out of the difficulty was not to fight, but tostand his ground and try to explain. "Wait!" he cried in a tremblyvoice. "Please do not touch me until you've listened to my story. I'ma raccoon myself, and I've come--"
"Don't listen to him!" cried the big raccoon up the tree. "Catch himand bite him!"
There was a sound of gnashing teeth all around which made Washershiver. One of the raccoons sprang forward and snapped at his tail.
"I'm your friend!" cried Washer, drawing his tail up under him.
"He's a friend of the wolves!" shouted the one from the branches ofthe tree. "Don't believe him! He came here with a wolf, and he saidthe wolf was his friend. Therefore, he's no friend of the raccoons."
"No! No!" cried several. "He deserves death."
Washer knew they would not listen to him. They were so excited that intheir anger they might kill him before he could tell his story.Clearly then he had to make a desperate effort to escape. If MotherWolf was only near, she would protect him. In his desperation, hecried:
"O, Mother Wolf, help me! Help me!"
"Listen to him!" said several. "He's calling to the wolves to helphim. Now we know he's a traitor."
And with that they made a rush for him. They all seemed to springforward at once. Instead of trying to leap over their heads, Washerducked down low as if to hide.
This was the only thing that saved him. The circle of raccoonsspringing toward a common center came together with a plump, and someof them were knocked over by their own weight. They bit and scratchedat each other, supposing that they had Washer, and before they couldrecover from their surprise Washer was crawling stealthily betweentheir legs to the outskirts of the crowd. No one noticed him until hewas clear of the mass of wriggling, fighting animals.
Washer started on a run for the woods, hoping to get away in thedarkness and hide. But the big raccoon dropping out of the tree sawhim, and started in pursuit.
"There he goes!" he shouted. "Don't let him escape! Run after him!"
In a few moments the whole colony of raccoons were after him. NowWasher felt he had an even change in a race to escape. His longtraining with the wolf cubs had taught him to run with great speed.The way he stretched his legs made even the big raccoon wonder if hecould ever overtake him.
Out of the grove of Silver Birches he ran, and when he reached thethick woods beyond he plunged desperately into them. Big trees wereall around him, but he dared not climb one, for his pursuers wouldthen corner him. They could climb trees as well as he. No, he had toescape by running and hiding.
The race was going to be a long one, for Washer was fleet of foot andstrong of muscle, and he was running for his life. But his pursuerswere equally determined to catch him, and they came after him in astraggling line, the bigger and stronger ones leading the way.Gradually the weaker ones were left behind, and not more than half adozen were in sight.
Suddenly Washer came to a clearing in the woods. In the center of thiswas a pile of rocks. The thought that he might find a hole under themwhere he could hide induced him to leave the woods and cross the openspace.
But the pursuing raccoons saw him, and ran pell mell into the opening.Washer reached the rocks first, but to his dismay there was no holeunder them--not even a tiny crevice in which he could hide. It lookedas if the race was ended, and he was cornered. In a last desperateeffort he scrambled on top of the rocks, and waited.
The other raccoons followed him up there, and the leader shoutedtriumphantly: "Now we've got him!"
Washer squealed as one of them nipped at his tail and another at hisfront paws. "Please, please--" he began, whimpering with pain.
Now whether it was his cry, or the loud noise made by the scamperingraccoons, it is impossible to say, but there were other eyes and earsin the woods that had been drawn to the scene, and Washer's words werehardly out of his mouth before several dark forms shot out of thewoods and crossed the open space. At the same moment the hunting cryof the wolf pack startled the raccoons and made them crouch in terroron top of the rock. They forgot Washer, and turned their attention tothe wolves.
To their dismay there seemed no chance of escape. The wolves had themsurrounded on all sides as they broke from the cover of the bushes onfour sides.
That terrible, blood-thirsty hunting cry of the pack terrified thecornered raccoons so they could not move. They flattened down on therock and waited for the end.
But Washer had recognized the familiar hunting cry. He knew thosevoices. They came from his own foster brothers--Mother Wolf's cubs.Fortunately Sneaky wasn't with them. Neither was there any othermember of the pack.
Washer took courage, and raised himself on the top of the rock."Brothers," he called as loudly as he could, "please don't hurt me orany of my people."
The cubs stopped short at the foot of the rock, and looked up. "Why,it's Little Brother!" they cried in a chorus.
&nb
sp; "Yes," answered Washer, "I'm up here with my people. When the packsaid they would kill me, Mother Wolf and Black Wolf took me home. ThenI asked Mother Wolf to bring me back to my people. I knew I couldn'tlive with the wolves any longer, and Mother Wolf knew she couldn'tprotect me forever from them. So she said she'd bring me to my ownpeople. I came to Silver Birch grove, and she left me there."
"And you found your people?" asked the cubs.
"Yes, they're here with me now."
"And do they treat you well, Little Brother?" asked the oldest of thecubs. "We thought we heard you crying for help. If they don't treatyou well, we'll kill them and eat them. We're very hungry."
"Oh, they're going to treat me well, Brothers," replied Washer. "Ifyou promise to go away, and not hurt them they will treat me well."
The cubs were silent for a moment. Then one of them spoke for all. "Ifwhat you say is true, Little Brother, we won't kill them. We'll goaway, and leave them this time."
"Please do," pleaded Washer.
And the cubs, because they loved Little Brother, nodded their headsand trotted off in the woods. In the next story Washer finds his realbrothers and mother.
STORY SIXTEEN
WASHER FINDS HIS MOTHER AND BROTHERS
When the wolf cubs had disappeared in the woods, leaving the raccoonsin possession of the rock, a long silence followed. Every little earwas strained to catch the slightest sound of a foot-fall, for theraccoons were still suspicious, and were ready for a trap.
But the padded feet of the wolves grew fainter and fainter, andfinally died away completely. Slowly then one after another of theraccoons raised his head and sniffed the air. They could tell whetherthere was any wolf smell near, and if one of the cubs was lying in thebushes near they could detect it.