Just when he thought his end had surely come, he bobbed up on the surface, and his head came out of the water. What a wonderful thing it was to inhale pure fresh air again! Buster had never realized how good it was until then! Of course he had always breathed all the air he wanted, and so having enough he didn’t know what it meant to be without it for even a few seconds. That’s the way with a lot of things we have in this world.
Buster inhaled the air in great gulps, filling his lungs until they swelled up like balloons, and then to his horror he felt himself sinking. The mere thought of going down in the water again terrified him. He let out a squeal of fear, and began splashing with all four paws.
That was the best thing he could do, for a bear can swim without any lessons if he must do it to save his life. But it was a laughable sight to Loup the Lynx watching from the shore. Buster’s swimming was clumsy and awkward.
“Ha! Ha!” laughed Loup gleefully. “Wag your tail, Buster, and maybe that will help you! Don’t sneeze now, or you’ll swallow all the water in the river. That’s right, keep going around in a circle.”
It was cruel of Loup to poke fun at him, and Buster thought so too, but he was so occupied in trying to keep his head above the surface he didn’t have time to answer.
“Come toward the shore, Buster, and I’ll help you,” Loup called finally, running down to the edge, and wading knee-deep in the river.
This was the first kindly offer of the Lynx, and once more Buster began to think Loup was not so wicked after all, but when he had made his way a few feet toward the shore he stopped. Why was Loup so anxious to save him? Of course, there was only one explanation to it. He wanted to eat him up.
Buster turned suddenly and splashed away from the bank. Much as he dreaded death by drowning, he preferred it to being eaten up by Loup.
“This way, Buster! This way!” called Loup, thinking that the cub had got turned around and didn’t know which way he was swimming.
Buster made no reply. He saw the opposite shore ahead. It was a long distance away, but he was going to swim for it. He began splashing harder than ever.