Charley s Wonderful Journeys. 



13 



Charley and the little bear embraced and 

 began whirling round too. 



"Now stop your fooling," shouted one of 

 the oldest bears, "and select your partners 

 for a country dance ; keep time to the music 

 and dance gracefully and decorously." The 

 sets were formed ; the old bear retired to a 

 corner, and with no other instruments than 

 his own pipes started the tune. 



It was not a very soft or sweet music, 

 something like the bagpipes, perhaps, but 

 it was a very good tune for bears to dance 

 to, and Charley went through the figures, 

 and entered into the spirit of the fun with 

 as much zest as any of them. 



During the dance, Charley noticed that 

 besides the musical bear in one corner, there 

 was another bear in another corner, who 

 never danced, but stood looking quite miser- 

 able with his hand to his head. 



Charley knew at once that this must be 

 the bear with a sore head, but all the same, 

 he wanted to ask him, and when the first 

 dance was over, and the bears linked arms 

 and strolled about chatting to each other, 

 Charley approached the solitary bear, and 

 asked him why he did not dance. 



"Oh, I never dance," said he ; "I'm the 

 bear with the sore head." 



"I thought so," said Charley, "but how 

 did you come to get a sore head ?" 



"You needn't come asking such ques- 

 tions as that," said the bear, "nobody ever 

 asked such a thing before, and that's two 

 questions you've asked me already." 



" But how do you know you've got a sore 

 head?" persisted Charley. 



"I give it up," said the bear ; "now tell 

 me." 



" I can't tell you," said Charley, " because 

 I don't know." 



" Don't know !" snarled the bear, furi- 

 ously, " then what did you come asking such 

 puzzlers for? You must know and you've 

 got to tell me. Come here, all of you," he 

 shouted, "and make him tell me." 



"What is it?" asked all the bears in cho- 



rus, as they came runnmg at his summons. 



The little bear caught Charley and 

 whisked him out of the crowd, while the 

 bear with the sore head was telling his 

 story. 



" Oh, if you gave it up, he must tell," they 

 all cried in a breath. "Where is he?" 



"Here, eat this quickly," said the little 

 bear, thrusting a nut in Charley's mouth. 

 He ate another himself, and the next mo- 

 ment they were both turned into squirrels, 

 and ran up one of the fence trees, and turned 

 round to see the fun. 



You should just have seen the look of 

 astonishment on the bears' faces when 

 Charley and his partner suddenly disap- 

 peared from before their eyes. They stop- 

 ped, looked at each other, and five or six 

 of them couldn't help asking, "Where is 

 he ?" " I give it up, I give it up," cried the 

 others all in a breath, "and now you've got 

 to tell us." 



The bears who had asked the question 

 made a rush for the fence, but the others 

 were on them in an instant; the next mo- 

 ment they were rolling over and over, 

 biting, growling, clawing, and making 

 things lively in general. 



" I told you they'd make a bear garden 

 of it before they'd done," said the squirrel, 

 laughing. Now let's be off home, it must 

 be getting late." * * * 



"A pretty time of night to be coming 

 home," said the squirrel's wife as they 

 reached the nest. "I think you might stay 

 at home with your family, and not keep me 

 sitting up here until after midnight." 



" I should have been home long ago,'* 

 said the squirrel, "but I found this poor fel- 

 low here running into danger, and just 

 came in time to save him from being torn 

 to pieces by bears." 



"Well, what business was it of yours if 

 he chose to run into danger? You're very 

 fond of doing good for people you know 

 nothing about, and neglecting your own 

 family. Let everybody mind their own 



