Cuffy Bear had never been very far up Blue Mountain beyond the place where his father"s house nestled among the evergreens. You know, the summer before he had been a very small little bear indeed, and the higher one goes up Blue Mountain the harder the climbing becomes. But now Cuffy was growing very fast; and he was able to scramble up places he could never have even crept a year ago. Each day now Cuffy climbed a little nearer the top of Blue Mountain. And at last the day came when he reached the very top. It was so high that the trees did not grow there.
He found nothing but rocks everywhere, with just a little earth to fill the cracks.
Cuffy thought it great fun to clamber about all by himself and look down at the hills and valleys that stretched away in all directions. Indeed, he hated to leave that delightful spot. But he noticed that the sun was getting low in the west and he knew that he must hurry home. So Cuffy started down the mountainside.
He did not pick out the easiest way to go. Oh, no! He chose the very steepest places to slide down. And as he went slipping down the steepest cliff of all he came upon something that gave him a great surprise. For he saw, built right in the crack of a ledge, a big bird"s nest made of sticks. It was the biggest bird"s nest Cuffy had ever seen; and in it were two great white eggs. They were the greatest white eggs Cuffy had ever seen, too.
How lucky! At least, that was what Cuffy thought then. For he was very fond of birds" eggs, and his climb had made him even hungrier than usual. He stopped then and there and with one rap of the paw he broke one of the eggs and began to eat it.
Cuffy was enjoying his lunch very much. He had almost finished the first egg and was just about to turn to the other when he heard a deafening scream.
Cuffy looked all around. He thought that perhaps there was a pig up there on the mountain. But no! He couldn"t see a thing. Then came that cry again. This time it was louder. And it seemed to come from right over Cuffy"s head. He looked up then. And there was an enormous bird dropping right down on top of him! It seemed to Cuffy that its wings stretched as wide as the branches of the great pine tree in his father"s front-yard. He never even dreamed that there could be as big a bird in the whole world. And during that one instant that Cuffy"s little beady bright eyes were turned upwards he saw that the great bird had a wicked, hooked beak and claws that were as sharp as his own, and ever so much longer.
One look was enough for Cuffy. He turned and tumbled down the steep cliff, head over heels, with the eagle following him.
XI
MRS. EAGLE IS ANGRY
Yes! It was an eagle"s nest that Cuffy Bear had found, And Mrs. Eagle had caught him eating her eggs. It was no wonder that she was wild with rage. And it was no wonder that Cuffy ran for his life.
He landed in a heap at the foot of the first cliff, jumped up like a flash and in a twinkling he was rolling heels over head down another cliff.
Again Cuffy fell in a heap at the bottom. Again he jumped up. And again he started to run. But this time, alas! Mrs. Eagle seized him. She pounced down upon his back; and she sunk her claws right into Cuffy"s neck. Then Mrs. Eagle flapped her wings as hard as she could flap them.
And Cuffy felt himself rising.
Soon the earth was far, far beneath Cuffy. And he was the most frightened little bear you could imagine. He was afraid Mrs. Eagle would drop him, and that he would fall down, down, down onto the rocks below.
And he was afraid that Mrs. Eagle wouldn"t drop him, too. Because if she didn"t Cuffy felt only too sure that she would take him home and that she and Mr. Eagle would eat him for their dinner.
You see, Cuffy Bear was in a sad fix. And for my part, when I first heard of his plight I did not see how he was ever going to get out of it alive.
Well--this was what happened. Mrs. Eagle _did_ intend to take Cuffy home with her and serve him up for dinner that very night At first, after she had seized Cuffy, she mounted higher and higher into the air, so that she could at last swoop down on the top of the mountain, right beside her nest. But Cuffy was a very fat little bear. And soon Mrs.
Eagle found that she had a heavy load. And it was only a few minutes before she discovered that she couldn"t fly up any higher with Cuffy. In fact, she began to sink, little by little. Yes, Cuffy was so heavy that as Mrs. Eagle grew tired his weight dragged her down toward the earth again.
Mrs. Eagle saw what was happening. But she didn"t want to let Cuffy go.
So she flew far out from the side of the mountain, hoping that she would soon feel stronger. But all the time she kept growing weaker and weaker.
And all the time she kept falling faster and faster, until all at once Mrs. Eagle was afraid that she would lose her balance and go tumbling down onto the ground herself.
She was still very angry. And she hated to lose the fine dinner she had been counting on. But she saw nothing else to do but let go of Cuffy Bear. So she gave one last scream of rage; and the next instant Cuffy felt himself dropping through the air like a stone.
Now, Cuffy had shut his eyes tight, just as he did when he was drifting down the river on the cake of ice; so he did not see what was happening.
But as luck had it, when Mrs. Eagle let him go she was flying right over the top of a big fir-tree. And as Cuffy fell, he dropped _plump!_ into the branches, and down he went, crashing through the soft, springing boughs.
Cuffy clutched wildly at the branches. And though he tumbled through them one after another, at last he managed to hold tight to a big limb.
And then, after he had caught his breath again, he crept carefully down to the ground.
He wondered where he was. The place had a strangely familiar look. It seemed to Cuffy that he must have been there before. And then, as he peered cautiously around, what should he see but the door of his father"s house, right in front of him! Yes! Mrs. Eagle had dropped Cuffy right in his father"s door-yard! And Cuffy wasn"t even late for dinner.
As he grew older Cuffy often went to the top of Blue Mountain. But never, so long as he lived, did he get home again so quickly.
XII
CUFFY BEAR GOES TO MARKET
"Mother! When is my birthday?" Cuffy asked, a few days after his father had brought home the little pig.
"Why, your birthday comes on the day the wild geese begin to fly south,"
Mrs. Bear said.
"Is that soon?" Cuffy asked.
"Bless you, no! Not for months and months!" his mother said.
"And when is Silkie"s?" he continued.
"The day of the first snow," she told him.
Cuffy knew that that was a long way off--not until summer had come and gone.
"And Father"s?" he inquired once more.
Mrs. Bear shook her head.
"Your father hasn"t many birthdays," she said. "He was born on the day of the great forest fire. It may be a long time before he has another birthday. I hope so, anyhow," she added, "for a great forest fire is a dreadful thing."
Now you see, having a birthday like that is a good deal like being born on the twenty-ninth of February, when you have a birthday only once in four years. Yes--it"s a good deal like that, only worse. For you may have to wait years and years before another great fire comes. You understand, of course, that having no clocks or calendars or anything like that, the wild animals can keep track of birthdays only by remembering things that happen.
All this made Cuffy Bear feel very sad. He had been hoping that some member of the family would have a birthday soon, and then perhaps his father would bring home another little pig for another nice feast. But now he saw that there was no chance of that happening for a long, long time.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Mrs. Eagle Rose Higher and Higher]
Cuffy went out of doors then and thought and thought and thought. I"m almost ashamed to have to say it--he was planning to go down to Farmer Green"s and get another fat, tender, little pig like the one his father had brought home.
Now, when a very young bear starts out to steal a pig there are many things to think of. In the first place, there was Farmer Green, and Farmer Green"s boy Johnnie, and Farmer Green"s hired man. Cuffy knew that he must be very, very careful not to meet them.
To his great relief, when he had gone down into Pleasant Valley Cuffy saw all three ploughing in a field. They did not see him at all. And so he felt very brave as he went on toward the farm buildings.
Farmer Green"s pig-pen was in a little, low building next the cow-barn.
Cuffy had no trouble in finding it. And he walked inside quite boldly and before you could have winked, almost, he had seized a little, white pig in his mouth and was loping off across the barnyard.
The pig had looked very small to Cuffy when he first saw and seized it.