34 WILD BROTHER 



to buy him. I would n't any more sell Bruno than 

 I would sell my baby, and you must know that I 

 would n't sell my baby." 



Just to try her, I took twenty-five dollars from 

 my pocket and asked her to accept it, remarking 

 that I had understood that it was for sale, and in 

 fact I had been told before I left Boston that it had 

 been sold. 



"No, sir, it is not for sale," she emphatically re- 

 plied: "not for twenty times twenty-five dollars. 

 You could n't carry enough money in your pockets 

 to buy this bear, Mr. Underwood." 



This seemed quite final, but I inquired further 

 about the letter that I had received telling me of 

 the sale. And this is the story that I was told, first 

 by Mrs. Weldon, and afterward by some of the men. 



The first time Gordon, the boss of the camp, 

 went out to the settlement and told about the 

 little bear, some commercial traveling men, hear- 

 ing the story, offered to buy the cub. They thought 

 that they might make some money by exhibiting 

 a bear which had been brought up in such an un- 

 usual way. To bind the bargain and make sure of 

 their prize, they gave the boss a check. A few 

 days later, Gordon went back into the woods to 

 get the cub, but the woman refused to give it up. 

 It was her bear, she had saved its life, and no one 

 was going to take it from her. 



