“Well, I’ll tell you,” Loup added. “I take them by the scruff of the neck, and shake them until they haven’t breath enough to squeal.”
He grabbed a stone in his jaws and shook it back and forth just to show how he would do it. The sight made Buster feel faint.
“And then,” went on Loup, “I give them a pat on the back with my paw like this.”
Loup raised a paw and brought it down on the rock so hard that it made Buster jump a foot in the air. The blow was so powerful that it seemed for a moment as if it would crack the rocks. Loup laughed joyfully at Buster’s fright.
“Now that I’ve shown you what I intend to do with you,” Loup continued, “you’ll be prepared. Well, I’m coming now to punish you.”
Buster backed away to the edge of the rock.
“And when I’ve cuffed your ears, and shaken out your teeth,” Loup threatened, “I’m going to eat you. Oh, yes, a young cub makes delicious eating. I’ll fill my stomach with you.”
For the first time Buster showed a little spirit of defiance. Standing up on his two hind legs, he said, wagging his head: “No you won’t, Mr. Loup, for my mother will kill you first. She’s bigger than you, and she can strike harder than you. My, when she brings her big paw down it makes the rocks shake! If you touch me she’ll strike you on the head, and knock you in the river.”
“Huh!” snorted Loup angrily. The fact was he was afraid of Mother Bear, but he didn’t want Buster to know it, and he tried to make him think so by boasting. “If your mother should come near me, I’d knock her over. I could do it easily.”
Perhaps Buster wasn’t convinced by this boastful talk, or may be he heard something in the bushes that sounded like his mother’s familiar footsteps. At any rate, he turned suddenly, and clapped his paws.