The Story of Ben 19 



snap from Jim, Ben would stand off a few feet and look 

 apologetic. Then, if nothing more happened, he would 

 approach the dog with a kind of experimental briskness; 

 only, however, to turn a back somersault in his haste 

 to get out of the reach of Jim's teeth. A few minutes 

 later, after Jim had lain down and was apparently 

 asleep, Ben would steal up quietly and, very gently, 

 with just the tip of his paw, would touch his old play- 

 fellow to find out if he really meant that the romp was 

 off. And it was the deep growl that always greeted 

 this last appeal that seemed to settle the matter in 

 Ben's mind. He would then keep out of Jim's way 

 until the latter felt like having another play. 



Ben was very quick to learn and we only had to show 

 him a few times to have him catch on to a new trick. 

 He continued to enjoy cartwheeling down the old root, 

 and one of the other things he took to with the most 

 zest was a sort of juggling act with a ball. This trick, 

 like the other, we discovered by accident, and then 

 worked up into a more elaborate performance. We 

 finally made him a large ball out of a length of rope, 

 sewed it up in a gunny-sack to keep it from unwinding, 

 and he would lie on his back and keep the thing spin- 

 ning with his four feet by the hour. 



Early in July the weather finally became settled. 

 The new snow had melted away, the old snow banks 

 were fast disappearing, the little open park on the side 

 of the mountain above our camp was green with young 



