It was strange to watch the adoration, the worship on that small face,
and at the same time to behold the grotesqueness toward which it was
directed. Bella was listening with her lowered eyes and tightened
lips. She was interested in spite of herself; and Pete's inscrutable
face followed the story with absorption.
"Well, in he rolled with a splash and went rattling down the current,
turning over and over. Like a fool, I threw away my hides, ran down
the bank and jumped in after him--that is, I meant to hold on to a
branch and stand out in the water and catch him as he went by. But
the nymph I told you about had her own plans. She wrapped her arms
round me, and away we went, bear all. Oh, yes, I'd caught the cub
all right, and he was about half drowned by that time--no fight left
in him.
"Well, for a bit it was a question whether the world wouldn't be
quickly and well rid of us both, but we tumbled up against a root
and scrambled out, and when I'd rested, I picked up limp and trembling
Master Bear and went back for my hides. And while I was collecting
them, I heard a sort of grumpy, grumbling sound, and I looked up--and,
by Jove, Mother Bear was coming across that log with the longest steps
you ever saw.
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