The National tribune., 1881-10-22

y
that same morning, to her fathers great surprise,
dusty, tired and smiling.
Bless the child" calculated Mr.. Keller
How did You get here? Where's the wagon?"
L didn't come in a wagon, papa" said katri-
ma Il walked"
Walked" cried Mr. Keller. "You? And
five miles?"
grandfather wouldn't bring me until the
week was out" exclaimed Katrina, "and l did so
want to see you and mamma. So got up while
the stars were shining long, long before the day
light came, and walked all the way. But 1 sat
down on the fallen trees to rest And, OH papa
Just by old Opodeldoc's hut saw the bear!"
Involuntarily Mr.. Keller folded his arms
around his little child's slender form, his cheek
paling with terror at the very idea of the peril
she had undergone.
"The bear, darling!' he repeated
"He was standing up on his hind legs, papa"
breathlessly explained little Katrina, land he
carried something white over his shoulder
shouldn't wonder if he had been stealing another
sheep. But sat perfectly still among the bushes,
where had been eating blueberries, and it was
quite dark, all except few stars and he didn't
see me-"
"Were you frightened, child?" gasped the
farmer
eyes, papa, a little" acknowledged Katrina
But [ said Our Father under my breath, and
kept very still, so that not even leaf should
rustic. Papa didn't know that bears walked
on their hind legs before!"
Farmer Keller said nothing, but pulled thought
fully at his thick, red beard.
Chow did he look, Katrina?" he asked, alb
ruptly. "The bear, I mean?"
BLACK and shaggy" said Katrina.
go in to your mother now" said farmer kel-
Ter. "Tell her all your adventures"
And then he went out once more to the sheep
fold and took a second look at the tracks of the
midnight robber who had carried away poor
Katrinas second pet.
They are bear tracks, sure enough he said
to himself But I am almost certain that there
is foul play here, somewhere.
Meanwhile Josey, the hired lad, who had also
listened to Katrinas strange story went quietly
to Mr. JOhnson's on the hill.
"NIr. Johnson" said he, twill you lend me
your bloodhound for about an hour?"
Gelert, the hound wagged his tail and leaped
about, as soon as Josey had the chain in his hand
for blOOdhounds have their partialitieS as well
as men, and Gelert and Josey were great friends.
where are you going, Joe?" called out Mr..
Keller, as he saw the lad 60 by with his huge
four-legged companion.
To old OpodeldOcs hut sir" said Josey
Give been there already" said Keller. Its
all closed up, and no one is there
"Perhaps Gelert can tell better about that than
we can, sir" said Josey.
Not bad idea" said MIR. Keller. reaching
down his hat. I'll 90, too"
Gelert became nearly frantic when they reached
the old Indians rude log-hut, tearing up the
earth with his paws, shutting the ground and ut
tering Short savage hOwls Of rage and eagerneSs
ave must manage to get in somehow" said
Mr.. Keller, and between Them Josey and he
burst open the door, and Gelert rushed in, the
hair standing in bristly scrub down his back
his eyes af1ame, while his red throat looked like
the crater of miniature volcano.
what is he doing?" cried Josey, in astonsh-
ment, as the dog began to tear up the earth from
beneath the old Indians rude bed of straw in the
corner.
LET him alone" said Mr.. Keller. "Let us see
what he will do. Depend on it, he knows what
he is about"
In a second or two Gelert's paws struck some
thing like layer of bark or wood, and he uttered
a howl as if appealing for aid.
Now is the time" Keller shouted ave shall
be at the bottom of this mystery in another five
minutes! If mistake not, the bears den is here
and nowhere else"
He was right. In a sort of carefully -excavated
cellar under the floor of his hut, the crafty old
Indian had hidden the traces of his secret depre-
dations
The carcasses of two newly-killed sheep lay on
the ground in one corner, while in another neatly
folded up, lay the skin of a huge brown bear,
with head and paws attached, so that by walking
on all tours, old Opodeldoc presented a very good
resemblance, in an uncertain light, to the quad
And Mr.. Keller now began to comprehend why
it was that the bear was so much more mschiev-
Gus upon the nights upon which it was old Opo-
deldocs time to watch.
Great was the wrath of the neighborhOod when
they learned the secret of the fatality among their
sheep-folds and calfpens of late, and many were
the vows of vengeance against the sly old Indian,
who had so successfully tricked them, when he
returned to the scene of his knavery
But old OpodeldOc was cunning to the end.
How he knew that he was discovered no one
could tell but certain it was that he never re-
turned to the hut among the cedars, and it fell to
decay under successive winter SHOWS and summer