Charles G. D. Roberts

“ Most cubs, and some older bears, would have relinquished the adventure at this point; for, as a rule, it takes a wise old bear to handle a bee-tree successfully. But Teddy Bear was no ordinary cub, let me tell you,—or we would never have called him ‘Teddy.’ He lay nursing his anger and his nose till he had made up his mind what to do. And then he set out to do it.
“Hauling himself up softly from branch to branch, he made no more noise than a shadow. As soon as he was right behind the bees’ hole, he reached around, dug his claws into the edge of it, and pulled with all his might. ”

“ The boat reached the raft, bumped hard upon it, and the baby’s mother leaped out, while the man, with his boat-hook, held the two craft close together. The woman, thrusting the cub angrily aside, clutched the baby to her breast, sobbing over her, and threatening to punish her when she got her home for giving so much trouble. The baby did not seem in the least disturbed by these threats, to which the man in the boat was listening with a grin, but when her mother started to carry her to the boat, she reached out her arms rebelliously for the cub. ”

“ He was tired, moreover, and wanted to go to sleep. So he snuggled his glossy, roguish face down into the baby’s lap, and shut his eyes. And the baby, filled with delight over such a novel and interesting plaything, shook her yellow hair down over his black fur and crooned to him a soft babble of endearment.
“The swollen flood was comparatively quiet now, rolling full and turbid over the drowned lands, and gleaming sullenly under a blaze of sun. ”

“ He fished out a letter from his pocket, rolled himself a cigarette as thick as his finger with his heavy pipe tobacco, and fell to puffing such huge clouds as would discourage other bees from prying into the thicket. Then he remarked consolingly:
“It is n’t always, by any means, that the bees get the best of it this way. Mostly it ’s the other way about. This bear was a fool. But there was Teddy Bear, now, a cub over in the foot-hills of Sugar Loaf Mountain, and he was not a fool. When he tackled his first bee-tree—and he was nothing but a cub, mind you—he pulled off the affair in good shape. ”

“ Moreover, there did not seem to be so many bees buzzing about the hole.”
The Babe’s eyes grew so round with inquiry at this point that Uncle Andy felt bound to explain. °
“You see, as soon as the bees got it into their cunning heads that their enemy was going to succeed in breaking into their storehouse, they decided that it was more important to save their treasures than to fight the enemy. It was just as it is when one’s house is on fire. At first one fights to put the fire out. When that ’s no use, then one thinks only of saving the things. That’s the principle the bees generally go upon. ”

“ For a whole day he moped, roaming restlessly about the high slopes and refusing to eat; till, at last, he got so hungry that he just had to eat. Then he began to forget his grief a little, and devote himself to the business of finding a living. ”

“ The distracted bees paid him no more attention. They were too busy filling their honey-sacks.”
The Babe smacked his lips. He was beginning to get pretty hungry himself.
“Well,” continued Uncle Andy, “Teddy Bear chewed and chewed, finally plunging his whole head into the sticky mess,—getting a few stings, of course, but never thinking of them,—till he was just so gorged that he could n’t hold another morsel. Then, very slowly and heavily, grunting all the time, he climbed down the bee-tree. He felt that he wanted to go to sleep. ”

“ A raft was so much more convenient than a boat or a canoe, when the water was still and one had to make long, delicate casts in order to drop one’s fly along the edges of the lily-pads. But the Child was not making long, delicate casts. ”

“ The woman whipped round and stared at him in amazement. She was accustomed to having people defer to her; and Jim Simmons, in particular, she had always considered such a mild-mannered man.
“‘Git in!’ reiterated the man, in a voice that she found herself obeying in spite of herself.
“‘D’ ye want to see Baby et up afore yo’r eyes?’ he continued sternly, hiding a grin beneath the sandy droop of his big mustaches. And with the baby kicking and wailing, and stretching out her arms to the all-unheeding cub, he rowed rapidly away, just as the old bear dragged herself up on the raft. ”

“ But if they find that he is going to succeed in breaking in and burglarizing the place, then they fling themselves on the precious honey which they have taken so much pains to store, and begin to stuff their honey-sacks as full as possible. All they think of, then, is to carry away enough to keep them going while they are getting established in new quarters. ”

“ But that cub had just naturally a level head. He knew that if he let go with even one paw, he would fall to the ground, because the trunk of the tree, at that point, was so big he could not get a good hold upon it. So he just dug his smarting nose into the bark, and clawed himself around to the other side of the tree, where the branches that were still green sheltered him a bit.
“Luckily, here the bees did n’t seem to notice him. He kept very still, listening to their angry buzz till it had somewhat quieted down. ”

“ Well, I believe,’ said Uncle Andy, seating himself on the bank and getting out his pipe, “that at last the unexpected has happened. I believe, in other words, that you are right. I once knew of a couple of youngsters who might have saved themselves and their parents a lot of trouble 1f they could have made some such sound as you did, at the right time. ”