there was a sudden _clank_, and one of his paws was caught in a strong,
steel Beaver-trap.

Wahb yelled and jerked back with all his strength, and tore up the stake
that held the trap. He tried to shake it off, then ran away through the
bushes trailing it. He tore at it with his teeth; but there it hung,
quiet, cold, strong, and immovable. Every little while he tore at it
with his teeth and claws, or beat it against the ground. He buried it in
the earth, then climbed a low tree, hoping to leave it behind; but still
it clung, biting into his flesh. He made for his own woods, and sat down
to try to puzzle it out. He did not know what it was, but his little
green-brown eyes glared with a mixture of pain, fright, and fury as he
tried to understand his new enemy.

[Illustration]

He lay down under the bushes, and, intent on deliberately crushing the
thing, he held it down with one paw while he tightened his teeth on the
other end, and bearing down as it slid away, the trap jaws opened and
the foot was free. It was mere chance, of course, that led him to
squeeze both springs at once. He did not understand it, but he did not
forget it, and he got these not very clear ideas: 'There is a dreadful
little enemy that hides by the water and waits for one. It has an odd
smell. It bites one's paws and is too hard for one to bite. But it can
be got off by hard squeezing.'

For a week or more the little Grizzly had another sore paw, but it was
not very bad if he did not do any climbing.

[Illustration: ]