STORY II
Buster and Loup
It was a dreadful position for a little rolly polly bear to be in, with Loup the Lynx facing him, and his mother away in the woods where she couldn’t hear his cries. Loup was so sure of his prize that he let him squeal and cry for some time. It rather amused him.
“What a little howling brat you are!” Loup said finally. “Stop that squealing or I’ll make you.”
Buster was as much frightened by the tone of the voice as by the words, and almost instantly stopped calling for his mother. He was a very young bear—a mere cub—and you could not blame him for crying for help. Besides he had never been outside of the cave alone before, and right down in his heart he knew that his disobedience of his mother’s commands had got him into trouble.
“I’ll stop,” he said, “if you’ll please move away from that doorway and let me go inside. Mother told me not to come out of the cave when she was away.”
“Oh, she did!” sneered Loup. “Then you’ve been a bad, wicked cub, and you deserve to be punished. I think I’ll teach you a lesson.”
“Please don’t, Mr. Loup,” pleaded Buster, who much preferred to be punished by his mother than this wicked looking animal. “One punishment will be enough, and I know mother will attend to that.”
Loup laughed and swished his short tail as if he wished it were longer so he might use it as a whip to punish Buster with.
“No, I’ll punish you too,” he added. “You deserve it. Do you know how I punish cubs that disobey their mothers?”
Buster didn’t know, and wasn’t particularly anxious to find out. His one desire was to get back of Loup and escape in the cave where he might be able to hide until his mother returned. If he could only get Loup away from the front of the cave, he might run in it.