2ia BOOK OF A HUNDRED BEARS 



.tramped the hundred and sixty miles of the Park 

 roads, had seen more than you and I would see in a 

 hundred and sixty days, and was now on her way 

 back to sorting seeds and writing addresses, 

 entirely satisfied with her summer's outing. 



I had just parted from her when I witnessed a 

 tragedy, all unwittingly. I was coming up a little 

 slope; a sergeant and two troopers were riding 

 over the next. The troopers turned down the 

 hill and rushed to a group of willows bordering 

 the river. Two young men, mere boys, clad in 

 civilians' clothes, emerged and, after a moment's 

 parley, came up to the road with the soldiers. I 

 rode on and spoke to the sergeant, something 

 about the grey lady. He replied briefly, 

 preoccupied with the two men Avhom I took to be 

 laborers. 



I galloped away and, looking back, saw the two 

 men walking, a soldier on each side, the sergeant 

 in the rear. 



I thought I had a seeing eye, but I did not grasp, 

 at all, that tragedy of those two broken lives. One 

 had stolen from a comrade, the other from the 



