-morrow. He don't want to miss it."

"It's due now," replied the station-agent, and even as he spoke, the
shrill whistle of the freight sounded in the distance.

A little later Black Bruin heard a distant rumbling and clanging which
was like nothing that he had ever heard before. Then there was a
vibration of the solid floor under him, and the long, heavily loaded
freight thundered down upon the little station.

As the hideous, clanging, shrieking, hissing monster rushed down upon
them, coming seemingly straight for the wooden crate, Black Bruin sprang
against the bars with such violence that he nearly tipped it over, and
gave his captors a great scare.

In a very few minutes, however, the crate, together with the other
freight, was hustled into an empty car, and the train pulled out and went
thundering away into the darkness.

At first the motion made Black Bruin very uneasy, and he walked to and
fro continually; but finally this was succeeded by his being car-sick,
and he was soon glad to lie down and keep very still for the rest of the
journey.

This was his first night upon a freight train, but it was not his last,
for ahead of him was a strange and turbulent existence. He was going to
the great city to join the circus, to be a part of that astonishing
procession which annually parades the streets of our large cities, and
which draws crowds, such as does no other entertainment.

Toward morning, after having made several stops, the car in which Black
Bruin was a passenger was side-tracked, and a large, gilded wagon, known
to the small boy as a circus-van, was backed up to it. Then the crate
was placed against the cage on the van, and both doors were opened.

The new prison looked much more fragile than that in which Black Bruin
was. The bars were very small and might be easily broken. It was
lighter, too, than his present abode, so after a little poking and
punching, the captive went into the other prison, and a moment later,
when he turned about to look for the doorway by which he had entered, it
was closed and the wooden crate was being taken away. Man had again
outwitted him, but the manner in which he was now confined seemed very
insecure to Black Bruin. He would soon either find a way out, or else
make one. With this in view, he went about the cage several times,
sniffing and poking his nose between the bars. He put his powerful arms
between two of the bars and strained upon them with all his e