^S The Black Bear 



find hay for our horses and where we could spread our 

 blankets for the night. Next morning we paid our bill, 

 and as we left the yard the old lady, who was at the 

 door to see us off, called out to know if all five of those 

 horses were ours. I told her that they were and 

 asked what she meant, and she said that she had only 

 charged us for feed for three. She had, she explained, 

 been so taken up with looking at that fool bear riding 

 a horse that two of the horses had escaped her notice. 



At last we reached Spokane and Ben^s horseback 

 riding came to an end. He had covered more than a 

 thousand miles of mountain and valley and ridden for 

 nearly four months. I fitted up a woodshed for him 

 with a door opening into a small court, where an old 

 partly rotted log was put to remind him of the forest. 

 He soon became a great favorite, and as no one was 

 allowed to tease him he continued to be friendly and 

 gentle. 



This shed in which Ben lived had the earth for a floor, 

 and adjoining it there was a carriage-house with a floor 

 some ten or twelve inches above the ground. One day 

 soon after Ben was placed in the shed I came home and 

 found a large pile of fresh earth and a hole leading down 

 under the carriage-house. I could hear Ben digging and 

 puffing at the bottom of it, and when I called he came 

 out, his silky black coat covered with dirt. I had 

 never seen him dig before, unless it was for a root, 

 or the time I had buried him alive to hush his crying in 



