or the pig, but even then the
neighbor was much put out, and promised to try the effect of a rifle
upon the thief the next time he should appear.

The marauder did not return to the farmhouse all that day, but came
slinking home late in the evening and went at once to his den in the
wood-shed. Again he was chained to the maple in the front yard, and
forced to live the life of a prisoner. But he was now getting so
strong that any ordinary collar would not hold, and he soon broke away
and again went upon a foraging expedition. This time his choice was
mutton, and his master had to pay for a pet sheep that he had taken
from a neighbor's back yard.

This was getting serious, and the bear's master was thinking of
corresponding with the keeper of a zoo or menagerie, to see if he could
give his troublesome pet away, when Pedro Alsandro appeared upon the
scene, and the whole tenor of Black Bruin's life was changed.

Pedro was an Italian peddler, carrying two large packs. He was a small
man with a swarthy olive-colored skin, and dark beady eyes, set rather
too close together.

He appeared one warm April morning, and in the usual lingo of his kind,
invited the good people at the farmhouse to "buy something."

When his pack had been overhauled and a few small purchases concluded,
the peddler noticed Black Bruin, and he at once took his fancy. His
greed was also appealed to by seeing the bear perform his tricks.
Pedro had once owned a dancing-bear, but it had run away from him to
escape harsh treatment.

"Why should I lug these heavy packs about," he thought, "when I could
make twice the money, merely by leading this bear from town to town?"

So the Italian set to work to gain the confidence of the bear and as he
had had considerable experience with his kind, it was not long before
he had petted and bribed his way into Black Bruin's good-will.

"You buy someting me, I buy someting, this bear," he finally said to
the farmer.

This proposition was greeted by some neighbors' children with a chorus
of wails and the housewife too objected, but to the farmer, who was
much perplexed to know what to do with the bear, it seemed like quite a
Providential opening.

"What you do with him, Pedro?" he asked, for he was as much attached to
the rogue as he would have been to a dog that he had raised from
puppyhood.

"I make heem one fine dancing-bear," replied Pedro, "I teach heem lots
treeks. He jes walk long, eat lots, sleep