Scott looked eagerly around for Johnson but he had already left for Park Rapids, and Scott had to harbor his troubled conscience for many another month. It was beginning to hurt. He little dreamed then how splendidly he would some day square the account.
CHAPTER XVII
The bear recovered from the crack it had received on the head, thrived in its new mode of life and became one of the curiosities of the park. It became quite tame, permitted a favored few to scratch its head, and only occasionally hurled itself at the wire with an ugly snarl when strangers approached the cage. Different people tried a great variety of food upon it, but nothing seemed to satisfy it so well as the blueberries and fish; of these it never tired.
The capture of the bear had opened up a new field of interest to Scott. He knew the geology of the country thoroughly—could trace the origin of almost every type of pebble to be found in the glacial drift; his dendrology and botany had brought him in touch with all the trees and plants, but the great field of animal life he had completely overlooked. The bear furnished a point of contact, and he grasped the new lead eagerly. He undertook the responsibility of feeding the bear regularly and enjoyed studying his diet and habits. There were many good books on natural history in the library and he soon obtained a pretty good idea of bruin in all his relations to man and beast. He was surprised to see how many new points of interest this study brought out and still more surprised to find how many traces of bear he could find in the woods now that he knew enough to look for them.
Naturally to such an active mind as his, the study and observation of one animal could not help but be an introduction to the other forms of animal life. The deer, wolves, minks, lynx, wild cats, skunks, otter, coons, porcupines, woodchucks, squirrels, chipmunks, frogs, fish, nutes, salamanders, snakes, birds and a host of others he had never dreamed of crowded upon his attention and filled the woods with a new interest. Now that his eyes were opened he could not walk a hundred yards without seeing something to attract his attention. He was beginning to realize how the old woodsman with his knowledge of woods’ life could live for months without human company and never feel lonely.
Greenleaf had long ago discovered this secret, and could help him greatly in his observations. Almost every Sunday when the other fellows were enjoying themselves with the girls at the Lodge these two were canoeing around the lake or tramping through the woods investigating some of the denizens.
As Greenleaf expressed it: “There’s plenty of time to rush the girls when you are cooped up in town and can’t get at the other animals.”
It came about very happily that just at the time when Scott was beginning to get interested in the animals a naturalist came to visit the camp and a geologist came to give the boys some field work. Scott’s thorough knowledge of geology let him out of the class work and enabled him to put in a large part of his time with the naturalist. The trips he made with this interesting man lent him an enthusiasm and gave him many practical hints which carried him easily over the preliminary stage which is apt to be rather discouraging to the uninitiated. It carried him to a point from which he could easily go on alone.
This new friend, Dr. Barnes, was a man of deep reading and wide observation, a Chautauqua lecturer, and a most interesting conversationalist. He had camped all over the north woods studying the habits and watching the antics of the woods creatures. He was as delighted to find a fellow enthusiast no matter how green a beginner, as Scott was to profit by his experience and they became great chums.
The special attraction which had brought Dr. Barnes to that particular place at that time was an opportunity to study the beaver, of which there were a great many in the park. Two pairs placed there ten years before had increased until they populated dozens of lakes and had built some dams of remarkable size. The evidence of their work was everywhere but the beavers themselves seemed to possess a wonderful faculty for keeping out of sight, and Scott was astonished when he tried to look them up in the books to find how little seemed to be known about them.