Nomads of the North | Page 3

black cavern. A glorious understanding dawned upon him. He could
snarl at anything he wanted to snarl at, no matter how big. For
everything ran away from Noozak his mother.
All through this first glorious day Neewa was discovering things, and
with each hour it was more and more impressed upon him that his
mother was the unchallenged mistress of all this new and sunlit
domain.
Noozak was a thoughtful old mother of a bear who had reared fifteen or
eighteen families in her time, and she travelled very little this first day
in order that Neewa's tender feet might toughen up a bit. They scarcely
left the fen, except to go into a nearby clump of trees where Noozak
used her claws to shred a spruce that they might get at the juice and
slimy substance just under the bark. Neewa liked this dessert after their
feast of roots and bulbs, and tried to claw open a tree on his own
account. By mid-afternoon Noozak had eaten until her sides bulged out,
and Neewa himself--between his mother's milk and the many odds and
ends of other things--looked like an over-filled pod. Selecting a spot
where the declining sun made a warm oven of a great white rock, lazy
old Noozak lay down for a nap, while Neewa, wandering about in quest
of an adventure of his own, came face to face with a ferocious bug.
The creature was a giant wood-beetle two inches long. Its two battling
pincers were jet black, and curved like hooks of iron. It was a rich
brown in colour and in the sunlight its metallic armour shone in a
dazzling splendour. Neewa, squatted flat on his belly, eyed it with a
swiftly beating heart. The beetle was not more than a foot away, and
ADVANCING! That was the curious and rather shocking part of it. It
was the first living thing he had met with that day that had not run
away. As it advanced slowly on its two rows of legs the beetle made a
clicking sound that Neewa heard quite distinctly. With the fighting
blood of his father, Soominitik, nerving him on to the adventure he
thrust out a hesitating paw, and instantly Chegawasse, the beetle, took
upon himself a most ferocious aspect. His wings began humming like a
buzz-saw, his pincers opened until they could have taken in a man's

finger, and he vibrated on his legs until it looked as though he might be
performing some sort of a dance. Neewa jerked his paw back and after
a moment or two Chegawasse calmed himself and again began to
ADVANCE!
Neewa did not know, of course, that the beetle's field of vision ended
about four inches from the end of his nose; the situation, consequently,
was appalling. But it was never born in a son of a father like
Soominitik to run from a bug, even at nine weeks of age. Desperately
he thrust out his paw again, and unfortunately for him one of his tiny
claws got a half Nelson on the beetle and held Chegawasse on his
shining back so that he could neither buzz not click. A great exultation
swept through Neewa. Inch by inch he drew his paw in until the beetle
was within reach of his sharp little teeth. Then he smelled of him.
That was Chegawasse's opportunity. The pincers closed and Noozak's
slumbers were disturbed by a sudden bawl of agony. When she raised
her head Neewa was rolling about as if in a fit. He was scratching and
snarling and spitting. Noozak eyed him speculatively for some
moments, then reared herself slowly and went to him. With one big
paw she rolled him over--and saw Chegawasse firmly and determinedly
attached to her offspring's nose. Flattening Neewa on his back so that
he could not move she seized the beetle between her teeth, bit slowly
until Chegawasse lost his hold, and then swallowed him.
From then until dusk Neewa nursed his sore nose. A little before dark
Noozak curled herself up against the big rock, and Neewa took his
supper. Then he made himself a nest in the crook of her big, warm
forearm. In spite of his smarting nose he was a happy bear, and at the
end of his first day he felt very brave and very fearless, though he was
but nine weeks old. He had come into the world, he had looked upon
many things, and if he had not conquered he at least had gone
gloriously through the day.
CHAPTER TWO
That night Neewa had a hard attack of Mistu-puyew, or stomach- ache.

Imagine a nursing baby going direct from its mother's breast to a
beefsteak! That was what Neewa had done. Ordinarily he would not
have begun nibbling at solid foods