ff with one
of the cubs; while the other Indian with his bow shot the cub which had
remained with his father.

"I was eager to exhibit my prowess, so followed the retreating bears,
hoping to kill the cub with my stick. Fortunately they took the way
near the camp, when the squaws, seeing me, ran out and caught hold of
me, telling me that as surely as I had killed the cub the mother would
have turned round and torn me to pieces. Though I still wished to go,
they held me tight till the bears were out of sight. I believe fully
that they saved my life, and certainly it was pleasanter supping on a
bear than making a supper for one.

"At last we reached Pentanquishine, and so thankful was I to get there
that I gave the honest Indians two dollars instead of one and a-half. I
fear that they spent the greater part, if not the whole of the sum, at
the grog shop before they left the settlement.

"`What! who are you, you little ragamuffin?' exclaimed my father when he
saw me, for by that time so torn had become my garments by the thorny
shrubs, that they literally were in shreds. `You are no child of mine;
get out with you, you little ill-conditioned cub.' I ought not to have
been surprised at this greeting, though it was not pleasant to my
feelings.

"I had considerable difficulty in persuading him who I was, and of the
truth of my statement as to the cause of my leaving. At last he did
believe me, and declared that he would break Dick's head and stop his
allowance for the following half. Dick, when he came home for the
holidays, made me beg him off, not the getting his head broke, for that
he laughed at, but the having his allowance stopped, which he guessed
might be done.

"When I went back at the commencement of the next half, the Doctor took
no notice of what had occurred, and from having been the most ragged, I
became one of the best dressed boys in the school. This was not always
to last. My elder brothers went home to begin life, leaving me and
Arthur. We were very glad when they went, for they bullied us terribly.
A year passed, and then came a letter with a black seal, and we heard
that our father was dead. Dick, who had come of age, inherited his
property, and it seemed had the power of doing with us just what he
liked. It arose thus: our poor father had been seized with the desire
of having his eldest son a gentleman of fortune, and thinking that by
leaving him all his property he could do so, he begga