f with his
capture. A third time the noose was laid, but having seen how clever the
bear was, the sailors buried the rope beneath the snow, and laid the
bait in a deep hole dug in the centre. The bear once more came back, and
the sailors thought they were now sure of success. But bruin, much wiser
than they expected, after snuffing about the place for a few moments,
scraped the snow away with his paws, threw the rope aside once more, and
again escaped unhurt with his prize.

[Illustration]

VII

MAKING SURE

During the war between Augustus Caesar and Mark Antony, when all the
world stood wondering and uncertain as to which one Fortune would favor,
a poor man at Rome, in order to be prepared for making, in either event,
a bold move for his own advancement, hit upon the following clever plan.
He set himself to the training of two crows with such great care, that
at length he had taught them to pronounce with great distinctness, the
one a salutation to Caesar, and the other a salutation to Antony.

When Augustus returned the conqueror, the man went out to meet him with
the proper crow perched on his fist, and every now and then it kept
calling out, "_Salve_, _Caesar_, _Victor Imperator!_" "Hail, Caesar,
Conqueror and Imperator!" Augustus, greatly amused and delighted with so
novel a greeting, bought the gifted bird of the man for a sum which was
so large that it made him rich.

[Illustration]

VIII

THE BEAR AND THE CHILD

Leopold, Duke of Lorraine, had a bear called Marco, of whose sagacity we
have this remarkable story. One cold winter day, a boy, almost frozen
with the cold, entered Marco's hut, without thinking of the danger which
he ran in thus exposing himself to the mercy of the animal which was in
there. Marco, however, instead of doing the child any injury, took him
between his paws, and warmed him by pressing him to his breast until the
next morning, when he let him go. The boy came back to the hut in the
evening, and was received with the same affection. For several days he
had no other home, and it added not a little to his joy to see that the
bear always saved part of his food for him. A number of days passed in
this way without the servants knowing anything of what was going on. At
length, when one of them came one day, rather later than usual, to bring
the bear his supper, he was greatly surprised to see the huge animal
roll his eyes in a furious manner, and act as if he wished hi