After
his wounds and the _sapoos oowin_ and the feast in the valley he was
feeling tremendously fine and comfortable, and he was in no very great
haste to leave this golden pool of sunlight. For a long time he looked
steadily and curiously at Muskwa. In the chill of the night the little cub
had snuggled up close between the warmth of Thor's huge forearms, and still
lay there, whimpering in his babyish way as he dreamed.
After a time Thor did something that he had never been guilty of before--he
sniffed gently at the soft little ball between his paws, and just once his
big flat red tongue touched the cub's face; and Muskwa, perhaps still
dreaming of his mother, snuggled closer. As little white children have won
the hearts of savages who were about to slay them, so Muskwa had come
strangely into the life of Thor.
The big grizzly was still puzzled. Not only was he struggling against an
unaccountable dislike of all cubs in general, but also against the firmly
established habits of ten years of aloneness. Yet he was beginning to
comprehend that there was something very pleasant and companionable in the
nearness of Muskwa. With the coming of man a new emotion had entered into
his being--perhaps only the spark of an emotion. Until one has enemies, and
faces dangers, one cannot fully appreciate friendship--and it may be that
Thor, who now confronted real enemies and a real danger for the first time,
was beginning to understand what friendship meant.
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