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Read Ebook: The Arkansaw Bear: A Tale of Fanciful Adventure by Paine Albert Bigelow Ver Beck Frank Illustrator
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Ebook has 619 lines and 24600 words, and 13 pages
Horatio scowled fiercely at first, and then once more grew quite pensive. He played listlessly as he replied:--
"Ah," he said, "my teacher was--was unfortunate. He taught me to play the first part of that tune. He would have taught me the rest of it--if he had had time."
Horatio drew the bow lightly across the strings and began to sing, in a far-away voice:--
"Oh, there was an old man, and his name was Jim, And he had a pet bear who was fond of him; But the man was very cruel and abusive to his pet, And one day his people missed him, and they haven't found him yet."
"Oh!" said Bo; "and w-what happened, Horatio?"
Horatio paused and dashed away a tear.
"It happened in a lonely place," he said, chewing reflectively, "a lonely place in the woods, like this. We were both of us tired and hungry and he grew impatient and beat me. He also spoke of my parents with disrespect, and in the excitement that followed he died."
"Oh!" said Bo.
"Yes," repeated Horatio, "he died. He was such a nice man--such a nice fat Italian man, and so good while--while he lasted."
"Oh!" said Bo.
Horatio sighed.
"His death quite took away my appetite," he mused. "I often miss him now, and long for some one to take his place. I kept this fiddle, though, and he might have been teaching me the second part of that tune on it now if his people hadn't missed him--that is, if he hadn't been impatient, I mean."
"Oh, Ratio!" said Bo, "I will teach you the tune all through! And I will never be the least bit impatient or--or excited. Are you ready to begin, Ratio?"
"All ready! Play."
"Oh, it's fine to be the teacher of a kind and gentle creature Who can play upon the fiddle in a very skilful way, And I'll never, never grieve him, and I'll never, never leave him, Till I hear the rooster crowing for the break--of--day."
"That was very nice, Bo, very nice indeed!" exclaimed Horatio, as they finished. "Now, I am going to tell you a secret."
"Oh!" said Bo.
"I have a plan. It is to start a colony for the education and improvement of wild bears. But first I am going to travel and see the world. I have lived mostly with men and know a good deal of their taste--tastes, I mean--and have already travelled in some of the States. After my friend, the Italian, was gone, I tried to carry out his plans and conduct our business alone. But I could only play the first part of that tune, and the people wouldn't stand it. They drove me away with guns and clubs. So I came back to the woods to practice and learn the rest of that music. My gymnastics are better--watch me."
Horatio handed Bo his fiddle and began a most wonderful performance. He stood on his head, walked on his hands, danced on two feet, three feet, and all fours. Then he began and turned somersaults innumerable. Bo was delighted.
"It wasn't because you couldn't play and perform well enough!" he cried, excitedly. "It was because you went alone, and they thought you were a crazy, wild bear. If I could go along with you we could travel together over the whole world and make a fortune. Then we could buy a big swamp and start your colony. What do you say, Ratio? I am a charity boy, and have no home anyway! We can make a fortune and see the world!"
At first Ratio did not say anything. Then he seized Bo in his arms and hugged him till the boy thought his time had come. The Bear put him down and held him off at arm's length, joyously.
"Say!" he shouted. "Why, I say that you are a boy after my own heart! We'll start at once! I'll take you to a place to-night where there are lots of blackberries and honey, and to-morrow we will set forth on our travels. Here's my hand as a guarantee of safety as long as you keep your agreement. You mean to do so, don't you?"
"Oh, yes," said Bo.
"And now for camp. We can play and sing as we go."
As the little boy took Horatio's big paw he ceased to be even the least bit afraid. He had at last found a strong friend, and was going forth into the big world. He had never been so happy in his life before.
"All right, Ratio!" he shouted. "One, two, three, play!"
And Ratio gave the bow a long, joyous scrape across the strings, and thus they began their life together--Bosephus whistling and the Bear playing and singing with all his might the fascinating strains of "The Arkansaw Traveller":--
"Oh, there was a little boy and his name was Bo, Went out into the woods when the moon was low, And he hadn't had his supper and his way he didn't know, So he didn't have a bite to eat nor any place to go. Then he heard the ridy-diddle of Horatio and his fiddle, And his knees began to tremble as he saw him standing there; Now they'll never, never sever, and they'll travel on forever-- Bosephus, and the fiddle, and the Old--Black--Bear."
THE FIRST PERFORMANCE
"Oh, 'twas down in the woods of the Arkansaw I met an Old Bear with a very nimble paw;
He could dance and he could fiddle at the only tune he knew, And he fiddled and he fiddled, but he never played it through."
BO was awake first, and Horatio still lay sound asleep. As the boy paused the Bear opened one eye sleepily and reached lazily toward his fiddle, but dropped asleep again before his paw touched it. They had found a very cosy place in a big heap of dry leaves under some spreading branches, and Horatio, though fond of music, was still more fond of his morning nap. Bosephus looked at him a moment and began singing again, in the same strain:--
"Then there came a little boy who could whistle all the tune, And he whistled and he sang it by the rising of the moon; And he whistled and he whistled, and he sang it o'er and o'er, Till Horatio learned the music he had never learned before."
The Bear opened the other eye, and once more reached for his fiddle. This time he got hold of it, but before his other paw touched the bow he was asleep again. Bo waited a moment. Then he suddenly began singing to the other part of the tune:--
"Yes, he learned it all so neatly and he played it all so sweetly That he fell in love completely with the boy without a home;
And he said, 'No matter whether it is dark or sunny weather We will travel on together till the cows--come--home.'"
Before Bosephus finished the first two lines of this strain Horatio was sitting up straight and fiddling for dear life.
"Once more, Bo, once more!" he shouted as they finished.
They repeated the music, and Horatio turned two handsprings without stopping.
"Now," he said, "we will go forth and conquer the world."
"I could conquer some breakfast first," said Bo.
"Do you like roasting ears?"
"Oh, yes," said Bo.
"Well, I have an interest in a little patch near here--that is, I take an interest, I should say, and you can take part of mine or one of your own if you prefer. It really doesn't make any difference which you do just so you take it before the man that planted it is up."
"Why," exclaimed the boy as they came out into a little clearing, "that is old Zack Todd's field!"
"It is, is it? Well, how did old Zack Todd get it, I'd like to know."
"Why--why I don't know," answered Bo, puzzled.
"Of course not," said the Bear. "And now, Bosephus, let me tell you something. The bears owned that field long before old Zack Todd was ever thought of. We're just renting it to him on shares. This is rent day. We don't need to wake Zack up. You get over the fence and hand me a few of the best ears you can get quick and handy, and you might bring one of those watermelons I see in the corn there, and we'll find a quiet place that I know of and eat it."
Bo hopped lightly over the rail fence, and, gathering an armful of green corn, handed it to Horatio. Then he turned to select a melon.
"Has Zack Todd got a gun, Bosephus?" asked the Bear.
"Yes, sir-ee. The best gun in Arkansaw, and he's a dead shot with it."
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