CHAPTER XII
THE KING OF THE MOUNTAIN
The following spring, when Black Bruin came forth from hibernation, hewent one day's journey nearer to the settlements and took upheadquarters in a rugged and heavily timbered series of mountains,which were admirably adapted to his purpose.
Whenever he awoke during his winter nap he still tasted pork and muttonfrom the autumn raid. Henceforth he must have more of that diet. Sothe reason for his changing his base of operations will be readilyseen. One day's journey would carry him back into the wilderness, withits fine resources for fishing and hunting, while a day's travel in theopposite direction would bring him to the outskirts of the settlements,within easy striking distance of plunder.
At his first meeting with White Nose, he found her most unresponsive tohis advances, considering the fact that they had come and gone togetherall through the autumn. The reason for her indifference was soondiscovered, for Black Bruin saw that she had two little fuzzy cubs intow;--one with a smutty white nose like her own, and the other with adark muzzle like Black Bruin's. If Black Bruin knew that these werehis offspring, he did not evince much interest in them, while WhiteNose would hardly let him go near them. Perhaps she was afraid that hemight eat them, or maybe it was only maternal jealousy, which is alwaysstrong in wild mothers.
For several days after taking up his abode in the mountains, BlackBruin contented himself with a vegetarian diet, varied with fish andsmall game, but the blood-lust soon came upon him and he began prowlingabout the settlements.
At first, his reconnoitering was unsuccessful; but one day hediscovered an animal four or five times as large as a deer, feeding inan open field near the woods. This would not have interested him muchhad not the large creature been followed by a little animal of the samekind. He never would have thought of attacking the mother, but thecalf was easily within his scope and he began shadowing them with thepersistence of a good hunter.
Black Bruin knew that these creatures were the property of men. He hadoften watched the cattle feeding when he lived near the scene of thegreat bear-hunt, but with the exception of the calf he had killed uponthat eventful morning, he had never molested them.
Even now, he associated the killing of the calf with the baying ofhounds and danger, but he was now much wiser and stronger. He feltthat he could get away to the mountains long before men would discovertheir loss. He could even fight if need be.
Of all the bears in the region he was easily the strongest and heaviestand his life with White Nose the fall before had taught him many things.
One morning the young heifer hid her little red calf in a thicket justas the doe had her fawn and went to feed in the open near by.
This was Black Bruin's opportunity, and swift and sure like the goodhunter he had now become, he approached. The deer mother had notoffered to attack him and he did not think this one would, so he didnot pay much attention to her.
He crept as near as he could without scaring the game and then with aswift pounce was upon it. He struck the calf a blow that should havebroken its neck, but the calf moved at just the critical moment andreceived a glancing stroke. With a bleat of pain and fear it sprang upand fled toward its mother. It took only two jumps, for a second blowlaid it low, with just enough life left to kick.
Black Bruin seized the prize by the head and began dragging it into thebushes. But he had not gone far when the heifer was upon him like awhirlwind. He aimed a blow at her head which deprived her of one horn,but this did not stop her charge. She caught him fairly in the chestand sent him sprawling.
Her remaining horn ploughed a deep wound in his shoulder and the forceof the contact knocked the breath out of him, but it also aroused hisfighting blood and put him upon his guard.
When the heifer came for him the second time, he ripped open her noseand eluded her charge, but in no way dampened her fighting ardor.
Ordinarily she would have fled from the bear like the wind, but hermaternal affection had been aroused and wounded and no matter how timidthe wild mother, it will usually fight desperately when its young areassailed.
Now that the bear was upon his guard, the heifer was hardly a match forhim, for he could usually elude her charges and punish her sorely ateach rush; but one thing was certain: It would be no easy matter tocarry off the dead calf, and carry on such a fight as this at the sametime.
In five minutes the cow was covered with blood and her hide had beendeeply lacerated in many places, while Black Bruin still had but onewound, that in his shoulder.
Little by little the heifer's frenzy was worn out, until at last sheretired to a distance and pawed the ground and bellowed. But whenBlack Bruin sought to carry off the calf, she was back again fightingevery inch of the ground and often causing him to abandon the carcassfor a time.
When she stood over the dead calf, licking the blood from its woundsand caressing and nosing it, trying in her dumb way to bring it back tolife, she was a pathetic picture of wild motherhood, fighting and readyto fight to the end if need be for its offspring.
Finally toward night she seemed to understand that the calf was deadand no longer of value to her, so, after driving Black Bruin far fromthe spot, she abandoned the fight and left him conqueror and in fullpossession of the field.
When he had made sure that she had returned to the pasture, he draggedthe calf far up the mountainside into his fastness and gorged upon itas long as it lasted.
As the pasture in which Black Bruin had committed his depredation was amile from the settler's house and not often visited except to salt theyoung stock kept in it, the real offender was not discovered, althoughit was apparent to the farmer that the heifer had been attacked by somewild beast. The rains, however, had so obliterated the signs that itis doubtful if he could have read them rightly, even had he discoveredthe scene of the battle.
About a week later Black Bruin was climbing the mountainside on the wayto his fastness when the wind brought him a new scent that he hadsometimes smelled before, but what to attribute it to he had neverknown. The scent was very strong and Black Bruin knew that theintruder of his domain was near at hand. At last he made out a dimgray shape, near the trunk of a tree. Its color so blended with itssurroundings that he might not have noticed it at all, had it not beenfor two yellow phosphorus eyes that glowed full at him.
The creature was about the size of a large raccoon, but it was noraccoon. Its head was large and round, and surmounted by long earswith hairy tassels at the end. Its forearm was longer and strongerthan that of a raccoon and the tail was short and not much of anornament.
Whatever the animal was, it was small and possibly good to eat, soBlack Bruin made a rush at it; but quick as he was, he was not half asquick as the lynx, which with a snarl and a spit scratched up the treein a manner that made the bear's own accomplishments at tree-climbinglook mean indeed. So the stranger could climb trees? Well, so couldBlack Bruin. Up he scratched after it. He would follow it to the topand then bat it off with his paw.
When the cat had nearly reached the top of the tree, it turned aroundand looked back. Its enemy was close upon it and something heroic mustbe done.
The cat measured the distance to a tree-top forty or fifty feet fartherdown the mountainside; then the top of the tree in which it squattedsprang back and the gray form shot through the air and alightedgracefully in the distant tree-top.
It was a great jump, and so astonished Black Bruin that he forgot to befurious at seeing his game escape.
This was his first experience with a Canadian lynx, but he saw themoften, once he had learned their ways. He discovered that they toowere fishermen, and hunters of small game. He often found them huntingupon his preserves, but their broad paws fell so lightly upon theforest carpet and their gray forms were so unobtrusive in the woodsthat he did not often come to close quarters with them.
A few days later, one evening, just at twilight, when Black Bruin wasprowling cautiously after a deer family, consisting of a buck,
twodoes, and three fawns, he made the acquaintance of another cat, muchlarger and more supple than the lynx.
The deer were moving slowly from point to point, browsing as they went,when suddenly from the tree-tops, fell a long lithe figure.
So swift and terrible was its coming that the doe upon whom it sprangwas borne to the ground. The great cat did not wait for it to recover,but with claw and fang soon throttled it, while the rest of the herdfled at a breakneck pace, their white flags up.
Here was game already killed. The great cat was not over a third asheavy as Black Bruin. It would doubtless run away at his approach asdid everything else.
So thought the bear as he rushed in to take the kill from the cougar,but he had reckoned without his host.
The panther was so intent upon its own game that it did not notice theapproach of the bear until the rival hunter was within thirty feet ofthe prize. Then it wheeled about and was instantly transformed into ademon. Its tail lashed its sides, its fangs were bared in the ugliestsnarl that Black Bruin had ever faced and its eyes fairly blazed.
Black Bruin backed off a few feet to get a better look at the terriblestranger. He had not expected opposition and such effrontery was newto him.
But the panther continued to lash her sides with her tail and to glareand snarl, so the bear circled about and about, trying to get behindhis adversary. Finally, seeing that the panther had no notion ofgiving up the kill, the bear went in search of other game.
But he was not afraid of the great cat, only astonished and curious.He knew quite well that the deer did not belong to him and this mayhave kept him from picking a quarrel.
If he had met the cat in any of the forest highways and it had disputedhis right to any of the privileges of the ancient woods, he would havegiven battle. So he was still the king of the mountain, although hehad left the cat in full possession of the deer.
Spring and summer came and went. The blueberries ripened in thepastures and scant clearings, and the blackberries along the edge ofthe woods. All the native roots that Black Bruin knew so well grew inabundance.
Occasionally he stole from the distant settlements, as the king of themountain had a right to do, or went farther into the wilderness wherethe hunting and fishing were better. Several times he ran across WhiteNose and her two fuzzy cubs, but they did not have much to do with eachother until autumn came around.
Finally the first frosts came, and the waiting forest shook out itsscarlet and crimson and golden banners, and many water-grasses andweeds took on quite bright colors, for such humble plants.
One moonlight night in October, when the air had begun to be clear andcrisp, and the sky was so studded with stars that it seemed as if therewas not room for even one more, a strange and lordly company camestalking into the land of the king of the mountain. They were gray,dim, spectral shapes and new to the region.
They may have been looking for feeding grounds, or perhaps the autumnrestlessness was upon their leader, who was a giant of his kind,--abroad-antlered belligerent bull moose, ready at this season of the yearto fight anything and everything that crossed his path.
The first time Black Bruin saw the newcomers he was digging roots alongthe edge of a shallow pond. He was also keeping a sharp lookout forfrogs, clams, or almost any small crustaceans.
Presently he noticed a commotion out in the middle of the pond, whichwas only about an acre in extent. Then a great head, surmounted by amassive set of horns, came up out of the water and Black Bruin saw thatthe strange creature had his mouth full of lily-bulbs andwater-grasses. Soon the huge head disappeared again, and after a fewseconds reappeared, bringing up more lily-pads.
For half an hour Black Bruin watched the stranger diving andreappearing. Then the great beast swam ashore, shook himself and wentcrashing off through the woods, his hoofs keeping time in a rhythmicclack, a-clack, clack.
When he had disappeared Black Bruin advanced to the spot where he hadcome ashore and smelled his track. It was not like anything that hehad ever smelled before, and somehow the scent made him angry. Thislordly monster was invading his preserves. No one but him had a rightto hunt or fish, or to eat roots in this region. So Black Bruinfollowed the trail of the moose, half curious and half angry.
He had not gone a quarter of a mile when he came up with the bull, whowas rubbing his antlers upon the branches of a low tree.
Black Bruin watched him for several moments, until a puff of windcarried the telltale scent to the moose, who is most wary and watchful.
The moose threw up his head, gave a loud snort and blew his breaththrough his nose with a whistling sound, then crashed off through theforest. This fact led Black Bruin to surmise that he was afraid ofhim, and nearly resulted in his undoing.
The following day, he discovered the broad-antlered stranger browsingupon a small tree that was bent down under his foreleg. There were twoother tall, gaunt creatures, also feeding near, and two small animalsof the same kind. These were two cow-moose and their calves.Altogether it was quite an imposing family party.
Black Bruin watched them curiously for a time, until finally the bullscented him, and came charging through the bushes.
This both astonished and angered the bear, but seeing how large andformidable the stranger was, and how fearlessly he came on, Black Bruinsneaked away through the bushes into some very thick cover and bidedhis time.
It came a few days later. He was poking under the dead leaves forbeechnuts, when he noticed the herd passing at a distance. The twocows and the calves were apparently alone, and one of the calves wasstraggling far behind the rest. For several days the blood-lust hadbeen strong upon Black Bruin, and here was his opportunity. So hebegan stalking the calf warily. The wind was in his favor and in halfan hour he had worked around within striking distance.
He first peered all about to see that the bull was not in sight, andthen made a sudden rush upon the calf. But awkward as it looked, thecalf was agile, and nearly eluded him, merely receiving a raking blowacross the shoulder, where Black Bruin had intended to break its neck.Terrified and stung with excruciating pain, it ran hither and thither,bleating and making a great outcry.
But Black Bruin was not the hunter to let his prey get away if he couldhelp it, so he pursued the calf hotly and soon landed another blow thatstretched it upon the ground. He was so intent upon his own game, thathe did not notice the cyclone bearing down upon him.
Suddenly the broad-antlered monster was above him, striking withterrible cutting hoofs, which ploughed deep furrows in his shaggy coatand cut deeper gashes. Almost before he knew it, he had been knockeddown and was rapidly being trampled to death.
The only thing that protected him was his fat. He was so rotund and socovered with thick layers of fat, that he slipped about under thefearful cutting hoofs.
He struck out viciously, laying open one of the bull's forelegs, butwithout avail. In another minute his fate would have been sealed, hadnot a deliverer come at the right second.
Suddenly, from out the bushes near at hand, charged another bull moose,bellowing frightfully as he came. He was not coming primarily to BlackBruin's assistance, but to do battle with the first bull. One of thecows by right was his, and he proposed to claim his rights, and battlefor them like the knights of old.
Hearing the challenge and seeing a rival near at hand, the moose lefthis victim and charged furiously at the newcomer, while Black Bruinlimped painfully into the bushes, feeling that he had found outsomething about the genus moose that it was well to remember.
He did not fully recover from his mauling until he went into winterquarters.
The following spring when Black Bruin came forth from hibernation, hemade a trip to a distant lake where the moose were often to be found.He had no mind to molest them, but he did want a certain root whichgrew only there.
He went directly to the little pond where he had first seen the bullmoose, and had arrived within a few rods of the shore when his keen earcaught a slight sound. I
t was a sound of pain, half-groan andhalf-moan. Something was in distress. Distress in the wildernessusually means a good dinner for some one, so Black Bruin creptcautiously forward. Soon the wind brought moose-scent to the bear'snostrils and he was filled with fear and tempted to flee, but still hecould hear deep groans and sighs. Coming to the edge of the water hepeered out through the bushes and discovered the mighty moose helplessand impotent, mired in a treacherous spring bog. His legs wereentirely buried in the mud, which came up on his sides. He was coveredwith foam and sweat, and so weak with thrashing and wrenching, that hecould hardly hold up his great head.
At the sight, hate glowed hot in the small red eyes of Black Bruin. Itwas this monster who had so beaten and humiliated him. Now he wouldpunish him, so he crept cautiously forward.
But the strong wind blew the moose-scent in his nostrils and fear kepthim at bay. Finally the moose also scented the bear and made franticefforts to free himself, feeling that he was now helpless and at themercy of all; but his efforts were futile and he laid his head wearilydown in the mud when he had ceased struggling.
For a whole day Black Bruin watched him, before he could overcome hisfear; then he crept cautiously out and sprang upon the bull's rear.The great brute was by that time so spent that he hardly moved whileBlack Bruin lacerated his flanks. The only sign of pain that he gavewas expressed in deep groans and sighs which seemed fairly to come fromhis breaking heart.
Soon the conqueror crept along the back to his neck, and biting andstriking at the vertebrae, quickly extinguished the strong life in thegreat frame and the huge head gradually sank in the mire. For severaldays Black Bruin came and gorged himself upon the carcass and did notdesist until it had entirely disappeared in the bog.