“That is so I will not get lost,” said the other. “You see I am a tame bear, and do tricks, and my master has this ring in my nose, and leads me around by it so I will not go away. And he feeds me buns and popcorn. Oh, it’s nice to be a trained bear!”
“A trained bear, eh?” said Neddie. “Are you like a train of cars that I got for Christmas?”
“No, I am trained to do tricks,” said the tame bear. “See, I will show you,” and he stood on his head and turned a somersault, and then waltzed around in a circle. “Would you not like to learn to do those things?” he asked Neddie.
“Maybe,” said the little bear boy, who was not quite sure.
“Then come with me,” invited the tame bear.
But just then there was a rustling in the bushes and out came a real man with a long pole and a brass horn. And he took hold of the tame bear’s nose chain and looked at Neddie, the man did. And as Neddie had been taught to be always afraid of men, the bear boy ran home through the woods as fast as he could, and told all that had happened to him.
“It was a narrow escape for you,” said his papa. Then supper was ready and Neddie and Beckie, his sister, ate as much as was good for them, and not a bit more, I do assure you.
And in the next story, if the raisins in the rice pudding don’t all hop out and leave it as full of holes as a Swiss cheese sandwich, I’ll tell you about the little Stubtails running away.
“What are you thinking of, Neddie?” asked Beckie Stubtail, the little bear girl, one Saturday morning when there was no school and when she and her brother were out in front of the cave-house brushing up the dried leaves to make a bonfire.
“Oh, I’m not thinking of much,” said Neddie, with a look through the woods to see if he could see his Uncle Wigwag trying to play any tricks on him.
“Oh, but you must be thinking of something,” insisted Beckie. “For I have had to speak to you twice before you answered, and when mamma asked if you didn’t want to scrape out the frosting dish when she was making a cake, you said: ‘I would if I didn’t have to have a ring in my nose.’ What in the world did you mean, Neddie?”
“Hush!” exclaimed the little bear boy, looking all around. “Not so loud. Some one may hear you!”
“Well, what if they do?” asked Beckie in surprise. “I only said what you said about having a ring in your nose——”