“That’s right,” he laughed. Then turning to his companion, he added: “I’m going to teach him tricks, Jim. You can teach a young cub almost anything if you begin early enough.”
All this was strange talk to Buster, but he had learned the first lesson of his new life—the trick of begging. After that when he wanted milk or honey or anything else, he stood up on his hind legs and grunted or cried for it. He found that he always got what he wanted in this way.
With his little stomach full of rich milk and sweet honey, Buster grew very sleepy, and when he curled up to rest one of his rescuers spread a warm blanket over him. In a few minutes he was lost in slumberland.
He stood on his hind legs and cried for it
When Buster awoke he had a queer sensation of being carried in a hammock or something equally soft and comfortable. It was so different from his hard bed on the rocks! His first thought was that it was all part of a dream, but remembering his experience with Loup the Lynx he shuddered, and set up a call for his mother. He was frightened, and whimpered so loudly that the man carrying him opened the blanket and peeked in.
“What is it, Buster?” he asked, addressing him by the very name his mother had always called him. “Hungry again?”
Buster was indeed hungry again, but he was also homesick and wanted his mother. He kept on whimpering when the man took him out of the blanket and patted him.
“Oh, give him something to eat, Bill, and stop his crying,” said the man’s companion.
So they stopped long enough to feed him again, and after that Buster felt less homesick, and, it must be confessed, forgot his mother. The men began playing with him, and Buster rolled over and gnawed at a stick for them until they roared with laughter.