60 WILD BROTHER 
him no immediate relief and, still mumbling and 
cursing, he bit all his paws one after another. 
There seemed to be nothing that we could do to 
relieve the situation. We knew that it would 
hardly be safe to take him out of the box in his 
present frame of mind and carry him in our laps, 
so we jounced along, the air filled with smoke and 
general distress. 
Before we reached the smoother road on the 
main highway, Bruno grew a little weary; and as 
we stopped for a few minutes to rest the horses, I 
gathered some ferns and dry moss and endeavored 
to make a bed for him. He accepted it in the spirit 
in which it was given, and a little later, after we had 
bounced out of the wood road, he made the best of 
a bad bargain. Though still murmuring and plain- 
tively complaining, he curled up in a corner and 
went to sleep. 
From Gordon’s camp in Aroostook County to 
my camp is about fifty miles, and late that after- 
noon we put up at a small country hotel. In the 
stable was an unoccupied box-stall. Into it I put 
some hay — and Bruno was furnished with a grand 
apartment for the night. 
It was astonishing how quickly the news of the 
bear’s arrival was passed about. Long before dark 
that evening a crowd of men and boys, and not a 
few women, were besieging the box-stall. The 
