Best of all, in this outing, Lad's two deities, the Mistress and
the Master, were never busy at desk or piano, or too much tangled
up with the society of silly outsiders, to be his comrades and
playmates. True, sometimes they hurt his supersensitive feelings
most distressingly, by calling to him: "No, no, Laddie. Back!
Watch camp'" when he essayed to join them as they set forth with
rods over their shoulders for a half-day's fishing; or as, armed
with guns, they whistled up the bored but worthy setter for a
shooting trip. But, for the most, Lad was close at their sides,
during these two wonderful weeks. And he was very happy.
Once, during a solitary ramble, before the humans had awakened in
the morning, Lad caught an odd scent; and followed it for a
quarter mile down the mountainside. It waxed stronger and ranker.
At last, a turn around a high boulder brought him face to face
with its source. And he found himself confronting a huge black
bear.
The bear was busy looting a bee-tree. It was the season when he
and his like are stocking up, with all the fatmaking food they
can gorge, in preparation for the winter's "holing-in.
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