The independent-reporter., 1910-07-28
.BRU|N WORKS WELL
IN, THE TRACES
Remarkable Adventure
of Remarkable Boy
Eddie Goes Fishing But Catches
Nothing But q Bear.

surroundings seemed vaguely un-
familiar. He rubbed his eyes, jump
ed up, dressed hastily. and ran out
of-doors Wasn't 1t glorious? My. the
air never had seemed so good Eddie's
vacation had actually begun. Silently
he put bait and fish lines in boat
and rowed off to try his luck.
1t was early In September and Ed
die Whitney had just spent his first
night in sporting camp near Indian
pond. Eddie had had a very hard
years work as mail carrier In the
city of Cornwall. What made 1t es-
pecially hard was the fact that 1t was
new work for him and his muscles
we're not yet toughened to 1t. He had
lust been graduated from High school
the year before and, being a city boy,
had never done any muscular work.
How he had longed for this two
weeks vacation to come. NOW ne was
going to make the most OF 1t.
After fishing for about three hours
Eddie suddenly became aware that
he was completely tagged out. the
sun was beating down on him terri
bly,. too. Looking about him he saw
that he was at least mile or more
from shore but quite near an island.
So he turned the boat and roWed
thither. Pulling the boat up on shore
he went farther up the island and sat
down to rest beneath some trees. The
shade was SO refreshing that he lay
back contentedly for some time. Sud
denly he Sat bolt upright. What
could that noise be? Surely no one
was on that island. The cracking Of
twigs continued. Just then Eddie
caught sight of big bear peering
through some bushes at him and was
almost ready to run. He didn't dare
do this, however, for fear the bear
would Jump for him. Still he sidled
off towards the boat, keeping his eye
on the bear all the time. But there
was no boat to be seen on the shore.
Out there in the pond was his boat
drifting rapidly away. The bear kept
coming nearer. Eddie grabbed big
stick and started for him; but the
bear only lay down and rolled like
a puppy. Surprised at this Eddie put
down his stick and made friends with
the bear. We'll that Is good find,
anyway" said Eddie. Il must get
him to CAMP"
There were no trees on the island
except gray birches and Eddie had
nothing but jack-knife to cut with
but he was determined to make a raft
somehow. 1t was a laborious job but
after several hours work Eddie had
cut down two hundred small birches
and started to weave them together
for a raft. 1t was rather hot, sweaty
work but Eddie never said Cant"
First he laid a row of long birches
side by side and then across them
placed shorter ones and bound both
together with small twigs. After put
ting a few more birches on top he
pushed the raft into the water to test
1t. When he tried to propel the raft
with a pole 1t began to sink under his
weight SO that he had to lie down. 1t
was impossible to get to shore that
way he knew because he could not
guide the raft In that position.
Nothing daunted, however, he sat
down to think up some other scheme
for navigating that mile of water. The
bear rubbed against him playfully de-
manding some caresses. Eddie look
ed at him absent-mindedly when all
at once an extraordinary idea came to
him. SUPPOSE he could do it! Wouldn't
1t be great? He had driven a st. Ber-
nard dog when he was little fellow
and maybe he could drive the bear
too. So he pulled the raft up on the
fiat sandy beach and fastened two
long birches to the end for thills.
Then he led the bear to the raft
and after considerable pushing and
coaxing got him between the thills.
A new difficulty then presented itself
The bear wouldn't seem to go
straight ahead but round In circle
That was perplexing but Eddie took
some long slender branches and bent
them into an oval shape and inter-
wove twigs until they were no longer
transparent. These he fastened with
twigs around the bears neck 30 that
they projected one on each side his
head, beyond his nose. Next they
were fastened to the thills so that
the bear was unable to turn his head
and see through them. These binders
seemed to work all right. Then Ed
uI6 tuTu6u Lu6 DtdT dI0 leu ulm lulO
the shoal water until the raft was
free of the bottom and the bear had
begun to swim. Eddie then swan to
the raft and pulled himself on. Bruin
kept on swimming toward the shore
with long powerful strokes and Eddie
lay down to enjoy himself. 1t was
delightful to lie there In the warm
sun with the gentle breeze blowing
softly on him. On arousing from a
doze later on, he noticed that the
bear appeared to be getting tired out.
The load was too heavy for him. Ed
die slipped of the raft into the water
and swan along beside the bear to
encourage him, but still the load
seemed too heavy. So, regretfully,
untwisted the twigs from bruins neck
and let him swim of free. The bear
kept on directly towards the shore
but he had no intention of leaving
his new friend and when Eddie got
there the bear was standing patiently
waiting for him. This part of the
shore was new to Eddie but the bear
seemed to have no trouble in finding
a path running back to a clearing.
There in the clearing they were met
by much surprised but delighted
man. Hello, Johnny" he cried,
Where have you been so long?" The