[Illustration]

By the third week of September the change was still more marked. Utterly
abandoned by his own mother, all his interest had centred in Norah, and
she had fed and spanked him into an exceedingly well-behaved little
Bear. Sometimes she would allow him a taste of freedom, and he then
showed his bias by making, not for the woods, but for the kitchen where
she was, and following her around on his hind legs. Here also he made
the acquaintance of that dreadful Cat; but Johnny had a powerful
friend now, and Pussy finally became reconciled to the black, woolly
interloper.

As the Hotel was to be closed in October, there was talk of turning
Johnny loose or of sending him to the Washington Zoo; but Norah had
claims that she would not forgo.

When the frosty nights of late September came, Johnny had greatly
improved in his manners, but he had also developed a bad cough. An
examination of his lame leg had shown that the weakness was not in the
foot, but much more deeply seated, perhaps in the hip, and that meant a
feeble and tottering constitution.

He did not get fat, as do most Bears in fall; indeed, he continued to
fail. His little round belly shrank in, his cough became worse, and one
morning he was found very sick and shivering in his bed by the post.
Norah brought him indoors, where the warmth helped him so much that
henceforth he lived in the kitchen.

For a few days he seemed better, and his old-time pleasure in _seeing