“What’s that?” exclaimed the Ranger’s Boy, as he and his father peered at a small black object darting over the snow field; but it went so fast that they couldn’t make out what was coming.
Now the snow up above, where the chill winds blew, was crusted hard and firm, and the little bear, for it was he, just skimmed along as if he were on ice. But down in the gulch where the snow ran into the fir woods, the top few inches had partly melted till it was just sticky, and clung to the feet like a plaster. As Chinook reached the level stretch and tried to get to all fours, he only succeeded in turning head over heels with the momentum of his long slide. The next thing he knew, the soft snow began sticking to him inches deep, till, by the time he had stopped rolling and come to a standstill, the Boy would have taken him for a mammoth snowball if he hadn’t seen him coming.
“Dad, I want that cub!” he shouted, stripping off his coat as he ran, but clinging to the coiled lead rope he had on his arm.
“Leave him alone!” warned his father, who was leading the pack-horse; but the Boy had already thrown his coat over the struggling snowball, and the Ranger raced to his assistance.
Five minutes later a man and a boy, both scratched and bleeding but completely triumphant, had a small and frightened and very angry little bear on one end of the lead rope, with the other end tied to a fir tree.
“Now watch me make friends with him!” the Boy exulted, running to the cabin for something to feed his unexpected guest.
“I’ll watch!” his father laughed, starting after the pack-horse.
He turned head over heels with the momentum of the slide.
The Boy searched the cabin hastily. There on the top shelf stood a tightly lidded tin pail of brown sugar that the dampness had converted into one great lump. Chipping off a pocketful of hard lumps, the Boy returned to where the little bear chafed and struggled at the end of his leash. Had they not known just how to tie the knot, he would have choked himself. He was just beginning to gnaw on the rope when the Boy threw him a great hard lump of the sugar. Then he went around the corner of the cabin and peeked to see what would happen.