THE START OF THE TRAIL Bi 
men, some villagers, Comrade, and I, enjoying the 
warmth of the room, discussing the weather, and 
telling stories of the woods and the lumber-camps. 
“Say, Bill,” asked the agent, “have yer heard 
about the doings out at Gordon’s Camp? No? 
“Wal, yer know that woman, the wife of the cook 
that Gordon hired last fall. Wal, they say she’s 
bringing up a bear with her baby; sleep together, 
they say, in the same cradle. 
“Yer don’t believe it?” he inquired of me, as he 
saw the incredulous look on my face. “Wal, you 
walk up the road to the store. Gordon’s father, he 
keeps it. You ask him. Young Gordon was out day 
before yesterday and told the old man about it. 
He’ll tell you it’s the truth.” 
We had a long wait before train-time, and the 
incident was so unusual that I bundled into my big 
overcoat and went out seeking information. The 
storekeeper was locking up for the night when I 
arrived ; but as soon as he learned my errand, he 
let me in and gladly told me all he knew about the 
bear that was being brought up as a child. 
“Jim was in a hurry when he come out the other 
day,” said he. “Took No. 37 down river to Bangor. 
He did n’t have time to say more’n that they’d 
found a bear’s den with a cub in it. A cute little 
feller; Jim said it beat all how small he was. He 
cried just like a baby when they hauled him out on 
