ENDS AMERICANS

Many, many moons before the White man came, a little Indian boy was left
in the woods. It was in the days when animals and men understood each
other better than they do now.

An old mother bear found the little Indian boy.

She felt very sorry for him. She told the little boy not to cry, for she
would take him home with her; she had a nice wigwam in the hollow of a
big tree.

Old Mother Bear had two cubs of her own, but she had a place between her
great paws for a third. She took the little papoose, and she hugged him
warm and close. She fed him as she did her own little cubs.

The boy grew strong. He was very happy with his adopted mother and
brothers. They had a warm lodge in the hollow of the great tree. As
they grew older, Mother Bear found for them all the honey and nuts that
they could eat.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

From sunrise to sunset, the little Indian boy played with his cub
brothers. He did not know that he was different from them. He thought he
was a little bear, too. All day long, the boy and the little bears
played and had a good time. They rolled, and tumbled, and wrestled in
the forest leaves. They chased one another up and down the bear tree.

Sometimes they had a matched game of hug, for every little bear must
learn to hug. The one who could hug the longest and the tightest won the
game.

Old Mother Bear watched her three dear children at their play. She would
have been content and happy, but for one thing. She was afraid some harm
would come to the boy. Never could she quite forget the bear hunters.
Several times they had scented her tree, but the wind had thrown them
off the trail.

Once, from her bear-tree window, she had thrown out rabbit hairs as she
saw them coming. The wind had blown the rabbit hairs toward the hunters.
As they fell near the hunters, they had suddenly changed into rabbits
and the hunters had given chase.

At another time, Mother Bear tossed some partridge feathers to the wind
as the hunters drew near her tree. A flock of partridges went whirring
into the woods with a great noise, and the hunters ran after them.

[Illustration]

But on this day, Mother Bear's heart was heavy. She knew that now the
big bear hunters were coming. No rabbits or partridges could lead these
hunters from the bear trail, for they had dogs with four eyes.
(Foxhounds have a yellow spot over each eye which makes them seem
double-eyed.) These dogs were never know