He could make out
where they were.
"Why, of course it's Black's Ridge!" he said. "What an adventure!"
When they were at the top the horse stopped behind a thick pine, as if
to hide. The dean bent forward and pushed aside the branches that he
might see.
The mountain's bald top was there. It was not empty, though. In the
middle of the open space was an immense boulder around which many
wild beasts were gathered. They were having a meeting of some sort.
Near to the big rock he saw bears, so firmly and heavily built that
they seemed like fur-clad figures of stone. They were lying down and
their little eyes blinked impatiently, for they had come from their
winter sleep to attend court and could hardly keep awake. Behind the
bears, in tight rows, were hundreds of wolves. They were not sleepy,
for wolves are more alert in winter than in summer. They sat upon
their haunches, like dogs, whipping the ground with their tails and
panting--their tongues lolling far out of their jaws.
Behind the wolves, the lynx skulked, stiff-legged and clumsy, like
misshapen cats. They hissed and spat when one came near them. The row
back of the lynx was filled with wolverines; they had dog faces and
bear coats. They were not happy on the ground, and they stamped their
pads impatiently, longing to get into the trees.
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