from any place, and was going to turn her into the pasture, your papa
always wanted to do it himself, so I would give him the end of the
halter, and let him lead her through the lane to the bars. He could drop
down the ends of the bars, for they were only poles, and then Jenny
would hold her head so that he could slip off the halter.

"Well, one time it was near night when I came home, and your papa was
gone to the bars as usual, so it was growing dark when I saw him coming
back."

"'What took you so long?' I asked. 'Didn't Jenny hold her head down
good?'

"'Oh, yes,' he said; 'but I saw a black calf out there in the bushes,
and I thought I'd put the halter on him and lead him home.'

"'There's no calf in the pasture,' I said.

"'Yes, there was,' he persisted--'a funny-looking black calf! I went up
to him and tried to put on the halter, but he wouldn't hold his head
down when I told him to; and then he turned around and went off into the
woods, so I came home.'

"I remembered then that a bear had been seen not far from us a few days
before, and I wondered if my little boy had been trying to put a halter
on a bear!

"I called the hired man, and got my gun, and we went over there. It was
not so dark but that we could see the bear's tracks in the mud about the
rock, and right among them were the tracks of your papa's little shoes!"