BERT SEES THINGS 105 
sake!’’ we heard, again and again, in a voice shrill 
with terror. 
We rose at once and ran to the tent. There on 
his bed lay Bert, raised on one elbow, his face 
ghastly and his eyes distended and staring straight 
at a dark, ungainly shape which stood swaying up- 
right and groping its laborious way toward his 
bed. In one arm it held aloft a formless figure drip- 
ping blood. By the dim uncanny light the spectacle 
was gruesome enough. We stood transfixed with 
horror as the monstrous thing advanced. 
Suddenly Bert uttered a wilder shriek than all and 
fell over unconscious. At the same moment a ray 
of moonlight shining through a hole in the roof of 
the tent showed us O’Brien’s bear, Teddy, with one 
of those fiendish hogs, evidently just killed, clutched 
firmly in his forepaws. 
As Bert’s yells ceased the bear promptly squatted 
down and began to eat the slaughtered animal. 
Our first terror vanished, but we still hesitated about 
endeavouring to influence Teddy’s actions, much as 
we desired his absence. Nor did we wish to shoot 
him, since O’Brien had told us he was harmless if 
left alone. We were finally forced to send for his 
master, who tied a rope around his neck and led him 
home, apologising in the meantime for the trouble 
he had caused. 
It was some time before Bert came to. He imme- 
diately swore never to touch another drop of liquor 
as long as he lived. Unlike most such pledges, I be- 
