Page:Babyhood of Wild Beasts.djvu/98

78 madly after the bears. This game was very amusing and afforded pleasure for all concerned until the bears were about eight months old.

Jerry was fast becoming a very good boxer and was anxious to show his skill whenever he could invent the slightest excuse for doing so.

One fine day Tad, the wolf, and Jerry were having a race. Tad gave chase the first round; then it was Jerry's turn to be the pursuer. The first lap he kept several paces behind. On the second lap he suddenly leaped forward with a bound and with a powerful swing of his big, hairy paw caught Tad fairly on the side of the rump. Tad described an arc while madly turning somersaults in the air and landed with a sickening thud outside the pen. After a few minutes of apparent lifelessness, he leaped to his feet and, with wild bounds, ran yelping down the trail and disappeared in the woods. It was several days before he approached the house, looking scared and half starved. He crept with great caution and, skulking around the bear pen, crawled up to the door, whining dismally. Tad made his home in the kitchen after that.

In the Temperate and Frigid Zones Bears