Loup really liked to torture his victims. It wasn’t his nature to kill them outright. It gave him great pleasure to see them suffer. If he had struck at Buster at once, he might have killed him in one blow; but he didn’t, and that was what saved the little bear’s life. There was rescue at hand which neither one dreamed of.
There was a sudden splash in the water, and then a dull thud as something hard and heavy struck Loup on the nose. He jumped back with a scream of rage. At first he thought Buster had played a trick on him, but when another heavy thing hit him on the back of the head he knew differently.
From the shore there came excited cries. “Hit him again! Let me try him this time!”
Loup glanced that way, and understood instantly. Two men were standing on the shore pelting him with rocks. Two of them had hit him, and others were coming his way. There was no fight in Loup when caught in the water, and with a scream of rage he turned and swam for the opposite bank. He wasn’t going to risk the loss of his life for the sake of a good dinner.
The next story will tell how Buster met the men, and was carried away as a captive.
STORY IV
Buster is Carried Away by the Men
Buster was nearly as much surprised as Loup by the sudden appearance of the men, but he lacked the strength to turn and swim back to the other side of the river. Indeed, between fear and his hard struggle he was almost ready to give up and sink. He felt he couldn’t take many more strokes even to save his life.