eating nuts, and--and honey, and----"

"Buns!" suggested Jackson.

"I can't forget them," said Herrick. "It's going to haunt me,
to-morrow, when I'm back in the woods; I'll think of those poor
beasts capering in a hot theatre, when they ought to be out in
the
open as God meant they----"

"Well, then," protested Kelly, "take 'em to the open. And turn
'em
loose! And I hope they bite YOU!"

At this Herrick frowned so deeply that Kelly feared he had gone
too
far. Inwardly, he reproved himself for not remembering that his
friend lacked a sense of humor. But Herrick undeceived him.

"You are right!" he exclaimed. "To-morrow I will buy those bears,
take them to the farm, and turn them loose!"

No objections his friend could offer could divert him from his
purpose. When they urged that to spend so much money in such a
manner was criminally wasteful, he pointed out that he was
sufficiently rich to indulge any extravagant fancy, whether in
polo
ponies or bears; when they warned him that if he did not look out
the bears would catch him alone in the woods, and eat him, he
retorted that the bears were now educated to a different diet;