t we found a crack close to the ground through which our noses would
almost touch, and that was some consolation.

I stayed there as long as I dared, and told her all that had happened
since she was taken away--of the fight with the strange bear, and how I
had been in the town alone looking for her night after night; and she
told me her story, parts of which I could not believe, though now I can
understand them better.

What puzzled me, and at the time made me thoroughly angry, was the way
in which she spoke of the man whom I had seen playing with her, and who
had dragged her into the pen. She was afraid of him in a curious way--in
much the same way as she was afraid of father or mother. The idea that
she could feel any affection for him I would have scouted as
preposterous; but after the experiences of the last few nights nothing
seemed too wonderful to be true, and it was plain that all her thoughts
centered in him and he represented everything in life to her. Without
him she would have no food, but as it was she had plenty. He never came
to her without bringing things to eat, delightful things sometimes; and
in particular she told me of pieces of white stuff, square and rough
like small stones, but sweeter and more delicious than honey. Of course,
I know now that it was sugar; but as she told me about it then, and how
good it was, and how the man always had pieces of it in his pockets,
which he gave her while they were playing together, I found myself
envying her, and even wishing that the man would take me to play with,
too.

But as we talked the day was getting lighter, and promising to come
again next night, I slipped away in the dawn into the woods.

Night after night I used to go and speak to Kahwa. Sometimes I did not
go until it was nearly daylight, and she was already in her pen.
Sometimes I went earlier, and watched her with the men before the door
of the building, and often I saw the man who was her master playing with
her and giving her lumps of sugar, and I could tell from the way in
which she ate it how good it was. Many time I had narrow escapes of
being seen, for I grew careless, and trotted among the houses as if I
were in the middle of the forest. More than once I came close to a man
unexpectedly, for the man-smell was so strong everywhere that a single
man more or less in my neighborhood made no difference, and I had to
trust to my eyes and ears entirely. Somehow, however, I managed always
to ke