CHAPTER XVI

THE TWINS TAKE TO A TREE

Run while you may, nor hesitate

Lest you should prove to be too late.

Mother Bear.

Mother Bear is a very wise mother. One of the first things she taught the twins was that safety is the first and most important thing. Then she taught them that it is better to run away from possible danger than to wait to make sure of the danger.

“No harm comes of running away,” said she, “but if you wait you may discover your danger too late to run. It is[93] better to run away a hundred times without cause than to be too late once in time of real danger.”

So when the twins suddenly came face to face with Buster Bear for the first time, they did just the right thing. For a second or two they stared at him in frightened surprise, then they turned and ran.

Do you think it queer¹ that the twins didn’t know their own father? And do you think it even more queer that Buster Bear didn’t know his own children? Just remember that they had never seen him and he had never seen them before. For more than three months after they were born[94] they hadn’t been out from under that great windfall in the Green Forest. When they did come out, Buster Bear had been in another part of the Green Forest. Mother Bear had warned him to keep away from that windfall, and Buster had obeyed. So Boxer² and Woof-Woof had known nothing about their father and Buster had known nothing about the twins.

Now when Buster saw those cubs³, not knowing they were his own, he was filled with sudden anger. He didn’t want any more Bears in the Green Forest. He wanted the Green Forest just for himself and Mrs. Bear. Those young Bears were likely to make[95] a great deal of trouble. Anyway, they would need a lot of food, and this would mean that it would be just so much harder for him to get enough to satisfy his own big appetite. So after the first surprised stare Buster growled⁵. It was a grumbly-rumbly growl⁴ deep down in his throat. The twins heard it as they started to run, and it was the most awful sound they ever had heard.

Straight to the nearest tall tree ran the twins, and up they scrambled⁶. Chatterer the Red Squirrel⁷ could hardly have gone up that tree faster. Somehow they felt safer in a tree than on the ground. Buster Bear walked[96] over to the foot of the tree and looked up at the cubs. They were fat, were those cubs. They were very fat.

“They look good enough to eat,” thought Buster, as he stood up at the foot of the tree, looking up at Boxer and Woof-Woof. “They would make me a very good dinner. They have no business here, anyway. I’ve been living on roots and such things so long that a little fresh meat would taste good. If I go up after them, I can do two things at once, rid the Green Forest of a pair of troublesome youngsters⁸ who are bound to make trouble, and get a good dinner. I believe I’ll do it.”

[97]Of course this was very dreadful⁹, but you know Buster didn’t know that those cubs were his own. They meant no more to him than did Peter Rabbit, and you know he wouldn’t have hesitated an instant to gobble up Peter if he had had the chance.

Buster looked all around to make sure that no one saw him. Then he dug his great claws into that tree and started to climb up.