Johnny Bear 



for Johnny's sake, provided, of course, that it 

 was not a big Grizzly or a Mother Cat. 



This was early in August, but there were not 

 lacking symptoms of change in old Grumpy. 

 She was always reckoned " onsartain," and her 

 devotion to Johnny seemed subject to her char- 

 acteristic. This perhaps accounted for the fact 

 that when the end of the month was near, Johnny 

 would sometimes spend half a day in the top of 

 some tree, alone, miserable, and utterly unheeded. 



The last chapter of his history came to pass 

 after I had left the region. One day at gray 

 dawn he was tagging along behind his mother 

 as she prowled in the rear of the Hotel. A 

 newly hired Irish girl was already astir in the 

 kitchen. On looking out, she saw, as she 

 thought, a Calf where it should not be, and ran 

 to shoo it away. That open kitchen door still 

 held unmeasured terrors for Grumpy, and she 

 ran in such alarm that Johnny caught the in- 

 fection, and not being able to keep up with her, 

 he made for the nearest tree, which unfortunately 

 turned out to be a" post, and soon — too soon — 

 he arrived at its top, some seven feet from the 

 ground, and there poured forth his woes on the 



187 



