nd afraid of running foul of him in the dark. No,
no, better let him alone!'

'Howbeit, I over-persuaded him. We managed to get hold of a bit of chain
fastened to his collar, bent a line on to it, gave him reasonable scope,
belayed the bight, and knocked off one end of his box. Out he bolted! It
was a change from that dark den to the glaring tropical sunshine, the
blue sea foaming under the trades, the rolling masts, and the hundreds
of curious eyes that surrounded him. Sensible to the last, he tried to
go aloft, but the line soon brought him up. Down he came, and steered
for'ard. The cooks and stewards, their hands on the combing, filled the
fore-hatch. He made a dive for them, and they tumbled ignominiously down
the hatchway. We laughed consumedly. Then he cruised aft, the
dress-circle considerately widening. He came up to me, as if knowing his
benefactor by instinct, looking curiously about him, and curling and
retracting his flexile snout and lip, after the manner of his kind. Now,
I had often dealt with bears, tame and semi-tame, had 'held Sackerson by
the chain,' as often as Master Slender, had known them sometimes to
strike or hug, (which they always do standing,) but had never known one
to bite. So I didn't take the trouble to move, and--the first I
knew--the villain had me by the leg!'

'Sarved yer right, for lettin' on him out,' interposed that grim utilist
Jonas, our hired man. He had entered, pending the narrative, and stood,
_arrectis auribus_, by the door.

'Mercy on us! didn't it hurt?'

'Yes; but not more than might easily be borne. It didn't seem like
biting--more like the strong, hard grip of a vice than any thing
else--puncture quite lost in constriction. My viznomy, I am told, was a
study: supreme disgust, tempered with divine philosophy.'

'And how on earth did you get away from him?'

'By not trying to; kept as still as a mouse, till he had bitten all he
wanted to, which took about a minute. Then he let go, and walked quietly
off, to see if he couldn't bite somebody else. I afterward improved our
acquaintance by giving him sugar-cane and a licking or two; but he was
always an ill-conditioned brute, not amenable to reason, and when we
came to New York, gave no end of trouble, by getting over the side and
running up the North River on the ice--I dare say he scented the
Catskills--the whole waterside whooping and hallooing in chase after
him. Ah! I could tell you a better story than that, of a w