50 BOOK OF A HUNDRED BEARS 



heart of anything but a mother bear with a cub. 

 The cinnamon charged him instantly and drove 

 him to the thick woods. By and by he came 

 steahng in from a different quarter. But, alas for 

 Billy! he came out upon a corral where a brindle 

 cow guarded her calf. She charged him, horns 

 down. Billy gave one despairing look at her 

 and climbed a tree. For a half-hour Brindle 

 brandished her horns under him, threatening 

 evisceration if he dared to descend, till called off for 

 feeding and milking. Bill descended supperless. 

 Forlorn and empty he wandered away. In the 

 night I was awakened by him, twice, rubbing 

 against my bed. It was just against the wall of 

 the tent and in the half-light his bulk showed who 

 it was. The second time I kicked him hard and 

 he gave the same protesting little whine and went 

 away. 



The next morning at early breakfast I looked 

 out the back door of the dining tent and there was 

 Bill, straddling the swill barrel, holding by its edge 

 with three paws and fishing for breakfast with the 

 other. Mind you, ten feet from us. When his 



