130 WILD BROTHER 
feet. He must have weighed something more than 
four hundred pounds. Though he was never put 
on the scales after he left Belmont, his size and 
weight could be estimated approximately by 
comparing him with other animals whose weight 
was definitely known. 
I took the last photograph of him when he was 
seven years old. At the time he was playing with 
a rake-handle held by a friend of mine, a man of 
average height. It will be seen by comparing the 
two figures in the picture that Bruno was an 
animal of prodigious size. As he grew older, I went 
to see him less frequently, until, during the latter 
period of his life, I seemed to grow out of his 
recollection. 
With his keeper, a man who had a special apti- 
tude for handling animals, Bruno was a great favor- 
ite. But, notwithstanding the fact that he recog- 
nized this man as his master and seemed to have a 
fondness for him, there came a day when the cir- 
cumstance that I had been warned against hap- 
pened. The keeper was cleaning the cage, and was 
using a broom and a shovel. The latter he had left 
on the floor, while he employed himself with the 
broom. Just as the man was finishing his work, 
Bruno picked up the shovel and began to play 
with it. Being in a hurry, the keeper grasped the 
handle and violently jerked it away. In a flash 
