Johnny Bear 



word they told me, especially when afterward 

 fully indorsed by the Park authorities. 



It seemed that of all the tinned goods on the 

 pile the nearest to Johnny's taste were marked 

 with a large purple plum. This conclusion he 

 had arrived at only after most exhaustive study. 

 The very odor of those plums in Johnny's nos- 

 trils was the equivalent of ecstasy. So when 

 it came about one day that the cook of the 

 Hotel baked a huge batch of plum-tarts, the 

 telltale wind took the story afar into the woods, 

 where it was wafted by way of Johnny's nostrils 

 to his very soul. 



Of course Johnny was whimpering at the 

 time. His mother was busy " washing his face 

 and combing his hair," so he had double cause 

 for whimpering. But the smell of the tarts 

 thrilled him ; he jumped up, and when his 

 mother tried to hold him he squalled, and I am 

 afraid — he bit her. She should have cuffed him, 

 but she did not. She only gave a disapproving 

 growl, and followed to see that he came to no 

 harm. 



With his little black nose in the wind, Johnny 

 led straight for the kitchen. He took the 



177 



