46 WILD BROTHER 



searched for his stick of candy. He did not in- 

 tend to be left out of the family reckoning ! 



Bruno was allowed to go wherever he pleased, 

 but he seldom went out of sight of his foster- 

 mother or the children. Always he wanted to be 

 near Mrs. Weldon. Like a dog, he would follow 

 her about wherever she went ; but he did not care 

 for the big woods, and seemed nervous and timid 

 when alone in the forest. One day Mrs. Weldon 

 went out to gather some spring flowers. On tip- 

 toe, silently she left the cabin, for the cub was 

 sound asleep in his box by the stove ; she was going 

 quite a distance and she did not wish him to follow 

 her. Taking her way along one of the logging 

 roads that zigzagged back and forth up the slope 

 of a hardwood ridge, she stopped now and then to 

 gather a bunch of painted trillium, or to look under- 

 neath the fallen leaves for the fragrant pink blos- 

 soms of the trailing arbutus, which in deeply 

 shaded spots was still in bloom. 



Near the top of the ridge she paused to rest and, 

 sitting on a mossy log, she listened with great de- 

 light to the chanting song of a hermit thrush that 

 came up from the rill down below. On a treetop 

 high above her head a white-throated sparrow now 

 softly called in silvery tones for his lifelong friend, 

 Sam Peabody, Peabody, Peabody. Silently she 

 listened to the joyous music. 



