Grizzly King

Chapter 7

Thor went up a tributary of the Babin, almost in the direction of Skeena.The terrain became higher and higher, and the road became rough.Thor had now traveled seven or eight miles from the ravine where he had met Muska.From then on, the topography of the hillside gradually changed. The ditch was dark and narrow, and the hillside was cut off layer by layer. together.The sound of the stream was getting noisier, and walking along the stream became more and more difficult.

In this area, if Thor wants to hide, he can find thousands of hiding places; in this wild place full of cracks, he has no trouble hunting big game, and at the same time, he has no worries about "human taste". "will follow.

Thor lumbered forward, seemingly oblivious to the fact that Mascar the cub was following him.Of course, Thor could hear and smell the cub.

Mascar is suffering now.It is not used to such a long journey. Its body is small and fat, and its legs are thick and short.However, although he was young, he was very brave, and he only whined twice in half an hour.The first time it wailed, it fell from the rock and rolled to the creek; the other time it stepped on a hedgehog, and the hedgehog's thorns went into the sole of its foot.

Eventually, Thor abandoned the course by the creek and entered a deep ravine instead.As it walked along the deep valley, a "plateau basin" suddenly appeared in front of it - an open slope halfway up the mountain.Thor stopped, and he saw a rock on a hillock, facing the sun, and covered with grass.Maybe it's the childish friendship of little Mascar, maybe the licking of little Mascar's small, red and soft tongue, maybe it's little Mascar's persistent following of it, all these aroused Thor The resonance touched it and touched its generous heart.For a while Thor sniffed around, then lay down on the edge of the rock and stretched out his whole body.Only then did the cub lie down. It was already exhausted and exhausted, and fell asleep within three minutes after lying down.

Just after noon, Thor felt his stomach growling twice. He was hungry.This feeling is not the same as the hunger of ants, grubs and gophers, or even other grizzly bears.Maybe, Thor thought, little Muska must be hungry too.Thor intends to move on, but at this moment the little bear is still lying quietly in the warm sun with his eyes closed.

The northern valleys are exceptionally peaceful and silent in late June.It was about three o'clock in the afternoon, and the chirping gophers were also tired, and they crouched on the rocks full of sunshine; the eagles flew high, like little dots on the top of the mountain ; the falcon disappeared into the woods with its prey in its mouth; the goats and sheep lay far away, near the horizon.If there were any herbivores nearby, they were well fed and napping by now.

Thor was the catcher of the woods, and he knew it was his turn to search the green hillsides and glades for himself.

This is the prime time for Thor to hunt.By nature, it knows that when other animals are well fed and fast asleep, it can move around more freely without too much fear of being spotted.If prey is spotted, it can sit aside and bide its time.Occasionally, it will hunt a goat, sheep or reindeer in broad daylight.In very short distances, Thor ran faster than goats and sheep, and almost as fast as reindeer.However, Thor's main hunting time is at sunset or just after nightfall.

Thor stood up from the edge of the rock, and let out a roar that woke Muska up.The little bear got up, blinked at Thor, shook himself in the sun, and lay down again.

Looking at the little bear with a brown face and yellow fur, Thor felt a little uncomfortable.It craves a meal of bright red, juicy meat, like a hungry person craves steak, not just muffins or mayonnaise salad.Alas, Thor is in a dilemma, with the half-starved, but cute bear cub at his side, can he still kill the reindeer?

Muska seemed to guess what Thor was thinking.There is a way.And lo and behold, it ran a dozen yards ahead of Thor.Then it stopped and turned its head, its little ears pricked up, and it had the expression of a little boy to his father, as if to prove that he was perfectly capable of hunting the first rabbit.

Thor yelled again, then rushed down the slope, and in a blink of an eye, he was in front of Muska, and with a wave of his right palm, Muska rolled behind him, rolling more than ten feet away.This is Thor's simple way of saying: "If you want to follow me to hunt, follow me!"

Then Thor lumbered along, eyes, ears, nose searching for prey.It went straight down and came within a hundred yards of the creek.It no longer follows the path it just walked, but walks toward the rugged and broken place.It walks slowly and in a zigzag pattern.When it encounters a huge boulder, it carefully bypasses it; when it encounters a deep valley, it raises its head and sniffs.In the bushes and in the fallen fruit it searches.

For a while, Thor was on the high ground, near the exposed shale;It smelled all kinds of smells mixed in the wind, but none of them attracted it or interested it.Once, beside the shale in the highlands, he smelled goats; but Thor had never hunted on the shale.Twice in a row he smelled goats, and just later that afternoon he saw a big ram looking down at him from a cliff a hundred feet high.

Thor lowered his head and sniffed for signs of the porcupine, and it often put its head over the reindeer's footprints, sniffing the air ahead at the same time.

Usually, bears live near creek beds, and their fur is either black or fawn.Once, Thor caught the scent of another grizzly bear, which let out a hostile growl.

It had been two hours since Thor and Mascar had left Sunrise Rock.During this time, Thor hadn't paid much attention to Muskar.As the days grew longer, little Masca grew hungrier and weaker.I'm afraid there is no bear more brave than him: on rough places, he stumbles and often falls to the ground; on higher places, Thor can step over, but Muska has to struggle desperately to pass and three times Thor waded across the creek, and Muska, who followed him, was half drowned.It was bruised and soaked, and its feet ached.Still, it follows Thor.Sometimes it came very close to Thor; sometimes it had to hurry to catch up.As the sun went down, Thor finally found his prey, and Muska was almost exhausted.

Muska didn't understand why Thor suddenly pressed his huge body against a rock.Looking down from a barren meadow, a small valley can be seen.Muska wanted to cry in a low voice, but was a little scared.The young Mascar misses his mother all the time, and now is the time when he needs her most.It didn't understand why its mother left it among the rocks and never came back.Langdon and Otto learned of this unfortunate encounter later.Moreover, it doesn't understand why the mother hasn't come to it until now.Now is the time for it to nurse before going to bed at night, because it is a bear cub born in March, and according to the most authoritative "rules for mother bears", it should have another month to nurse.

Mascarp was born differently than other animals.Its mother, like female bears in other cold places, gave birth to it early in the den before hibernation.Therefore, it just came to the world, and its mother is still hibernating.For a month or a month and a half, it can't see anything, and its whole body is naked.The mother nurses it, but she does not eat or drink.After six weeks, the mother took it out of the cave to find her first bite of food.About six weeks later, Muska weighed twenty pounds.That said, he used to weigh twenty pounds, and now he's hungry, never been so hungry, maybe he doesn't weigh that much now.

Below where Thor stood was a balsam grove three hundred yards away, and the grove grew by the little lake that ran slowly along the far end of the valley.There was a reindeer right there in that bush, maybe two or three.Thor was sure of it, as if he saw it.It knows that the smell of reindeer and goat is different: one smell is suspended in the air, like the perfume of a woman walking by, her dress and hair, giving off a faint, floating smell the other smell was hot and strong, like the smell from a broken perfume bottle.

Muska climbed up, leaned against the big grizzly bear, and lay there, it also smelled this smell.

For ten full minutes, Thor remained motionless, his eyes fixed on the valley, on the edge of the lake.

How to approach the grove?Thor measured the direction of the wind with his nose.Thor was silent because it was on the edge of the wind.In other words, the steep inclination of the mountain and the terrain created a gust of wind in the valley, and once Thor appeared fifty yards above where it was now crouching, the reindeer with a keen sense of smell would immediately sniff Thor's scent along the wind .

Muska pricked up his small ears forward, showing a comprehensible look, and he was observing the first class—a round-up class.Thor was silent, squatting so low that even his stomach touched the ground.It moved slowly toward the creek, the bones of its shoulder blades looming like the stiff spine on a dog's back.Muska followed.Thor kept walking in a detour, moving a full hundred yards, stopping three times to sniff in the direction of the bushes.Finally, it is satisfied, the wind is blowing head-on, there is great hope!

Thor seemed to be in high spirits all the time.It's moving.It was now only fifty feet away from the reindeer.Suddenly, Thor shortened the distance by half like a huge rolling ball. Only then did the reindeer hear his sound, and they ran away like frightened birds.

Alas, it is too late!Thor is full of drive, as fast as a galloping horse.It approached the two-year-old reindeer from the side like a gallop, then turned slightly sharper, and went to the other side.Thor seemed to be effortless, still like a big ball, bouncing up and down, and the short-distance race was over.

Thor swung his strong right arm and hit the two-year-old reindeer on the shoulder.As soon as he fell to the ground, Thor's left paw firmly pressed the reindeer's muzzle. Its huge paw was as flexible as a human hand.Thor threw the reindeer to the ground, as he always did.It does not cling to its prey until it dies of its own accord.It first bends one leg and then straightens it.Its claws are like five knives, and it quickly pulls out the reindeer's internal organs.Not only that, but it wrenched off the reindeer's ribs as if they were made of wood.At this moment Thor stood up, looked around, and shook himself, while roaring, which sounded like a cry of victory, or an invitation for Muska to come to a feast.

If it's an invitation, the cubs can't wait to come over.This was the first time Mascar smelled flesh and blood, and it felt warm.Just as Thor had experienced years earlier, this smell and feel came at the best time in the cub's life.Not all grizzlies are capable of hunting large game.In fact, very few grizzlies can do it.Most grizzlies are primarily vegetarian, with a diet of small animal meat such as gophers, woodchucks, and porcupines.If you are lucky occasionally, the grizzly will also catch caribou, goats, sheep, and even elk and deer.Thor is such a hunter.Maybe Muska will be a hunter in the future, even though he is a black bear and not a grizzly bear.

Thor and Mascar ate a big meal, and it took a full hour. They didn't eat like a hungry dog, but like a gourmet, eating slowly and comfortably.Mascarpin spread its belly, chewed the tender meat with its small teeth, licked the blood, and neighed, much like a kitten.Whenever Thor forages, his first thought is to find something good to eat, and this thought often makes him starve, and his stomach is as empty as an unfurnished house.Now, Thor sucked leafy blubber from the reindeer's kidneys and intestines, squinting half-closed, chewing yard-long sticks of blubber.

The last ray of sunlight receded from the mountains, and darkness followed dusk.When they were done eating, and it was getting dark, the little mascars were fat and round.

Thor is the greatest protector of nature.It never wastes good food.Even if there is an old reindeer walking around it deliberately, Thor will not kill it, because Thor has food, and his task now is to find a safe place to store food.

Thor was back in the balsam grove, and little Mascar, having had his fill, no longer labored to follow.It was greatly satisfied, and it figured Thor would never throw away the rest of the meat.Sure enough, 10 minutes later, Thor turned back to the unfinished reindeer, which proved Muska's judgment.Thor took the reindeer by the nape of the neck, then wobbled a little sideways, and dragged the carcass toward the woods, much like a dog dragging a ten-pound load of bacon.

The young caribou probably weighed four hundred pounds.If it weighed eight hundred pounds, or even a thousand pounds, Thor could still yank it away.If it was really that heavy, Thor would have carried the prey directly on his back.

In the ground beside the balsam grove, Thor found a pit.It threw the reindeer carcass into the pit and covered the reindeer with dried needles, twigs, rotting roots, and a log.At this moment, Muska was full of interest, watching the whole process.Thor didn't stand up on his hind legs or leave a "mark" on the tree to warn other bears. He just sniffed around and walked out of the jungle.

Muska followed.He has gained weight, which is a disadvantage because he is a little bit disorientated when he walks.Stars began to fill the night sky.Under the stars, Thor climbed straight up the slope leading to the top of the mountain. The slope was steep and rugged, rising higher and higher. Muskar had never been so high.They crossed a field of snow and came to a place deep in what appeared to be a volcanically damaged mountain.Thor took Muska off the beaten track.

At last Thor stopped, standing on a narrow ridge with a vertical wall behind him and broken rock below.The valley, far below, seemed a dark, bottomless cavern.

Thor lay down, stretching his head between his great arms for the first time since he had been wounded in that valley, and let out a long, leisurely sigh.Muska crawled up to it, so close that he could feel Thor's body heat.They fed their bellies and slept together, soundly and peacefully.Above their heads, the stars grew brighter, and the moon came out, and the moonlight filled the hilltops and valleys with golden light.

(End of this chapter)