The mother paid no attention to this elimination of her offspring, and still lovingly smelled noses with Thor.  Muskwa, however, thought this was the preliminary of another tremendous fight, and with a yelp of defiance he darted down the slope and set upon Pipoonaskoos with all his might.

Pipoonaskoos was “mother’s boy.”  That is, he was one of those cubs who persist in following their mothers through a second season, instead of striking out for themselves.  He had nursed until he was five months old; his parent had continued to hunt tidbits for him; he was fat, and sleek, and soft; he was, in fact, a “Willie” of the mountains.

On the other hand, a few days had put a lot of real mettle into Muskwa, and though he was only a third as large as Pipoonaskoos, and his feet were sore, and his back ached, he landed on the other cub like a shot out of a gun.

Still dazed by the blow of Thor’s paw, Pipoonaskoos gave a yelping call to his mother for help at this sudden onslaught.  He had never been in a fight, and he rolled over on his back and side, kicking and scratching and yelping as Muskwa’s needle-like teeth sank again and again into his tender hide.

Luckily Muskwa got him once by the nose, and bit deep, and if there was any sand at all in Willie Pipoonaskoos this took it out of him, and while Muskwa held on for dear life he let out a steady stream of yelps, informing his mother that he was being murdered.  To these cries Iskwao paid no attention at all, but continued to smell noses with Thor.

Finally freeing his bleeding nose, Pipoonaskoos shook Muskwa off by sheer force of superior weight and took to flight on a dead run.  Muskwa pegged valiantly after him.  Twice they made the circle of the basin, and in spite of his shorter legs, Muskwa was a close second in the race when Pipoonaskoos, turning an affrighted glance sidewise for an instant, hit against a rock and went sprawling.  In another moment Muskwa was at him again, and he would have continued biting and snarling until there was no more strength left in him had he not happened to see Thor and Iskwao disappearing slowly over the edge of the slope toward the valley.

Almost immediately Muskwa forgot fighting.  He was amazed to find that Thor, instead of tearing up the other bear, was walking off with her.  Pipoonaskoos also pulled himself together and looked.  Then Muskwa looked at Pipoonaskoos, and Pipoonaskoos looked at Muskwa.  The tan-faced cub licked his chops just once, as if torn between the prospective delight of mauling Pipoonaskoos and the more imperative duty of following Thor.  The other gave him no choice.  With a whimpering yelp he set off after his mother.

Exciting times followed for the two cubs.  All that night Thor and Iskwao kept by themselves in the buffalo willow thickets and the balsams of the creek-bottom.  Early in the evening Pipoonaskoos sneaked up to his mother again, and Thor lifted him into the middle of the creek.  The second visual proof of Thor’s displeasure impinged upon Muskwa the fact that the older bears were not in a mood to tolerate the companionship of cubs, and the result was a wary and suspicious truce between him and Pipoonaskoos.