rough
the hoops, Ikey runs to the stage-box and grabs a pound of caramels out
of a girl's lap-and swallows the box. And in St. Paul, if the trombone
hadn't worn a wig, Ikey would have scalped him. Say, it was a scream!
When the audience see the trombone snatched bald-headed, and him trying
to get back his wig, and Ikey chewing it, they went crazy. You can't
learn a bear tricks like that. It's just genius. Some folks think I
taught him to act like he was intoxicated, but he picked that up, too,
all by himself, through watching my husband. And Ikey's very fond of
beer on his own account. If I don't stop them, the stage hands would be
always slipping him drinks. I hope you won't give him none."

"I will not!" said Herrick.

The bears, Ikey in one cage and Bruno and Clara in another, travelled
by express to the station nearest the Herrick estate. There they were
transferred to a farm wagon, and grumbling and growling, and with
Ikey howling like an unspanked child, they were conveyed to the game
preserve. At the only gate that entered it, Kelly and Jackson and a
specially invited house party of youths and maidens were gathered to
receive them. At a greater distance stood all of the servants and farm
hands, and as the wagon backed against the gate, with the door of Ikey's
cage opening against it, the entire audience, with one accord, moved
solidly to the rear. Herrick, with a pleased but somewhat nervous smile,
mounted the wagon. But before he could unlock the cage Kelly demanded to
be heard. He insisted that, following the custom of all great artists,
the bears should give a farewell performance.

He begged that Bruno and Clara might be permitted to dance together. He
pointed out that this would be the last time they could listen to the
strains of the "Merry Widow Waltz." He called upon everybody present to
whistle it.

The suggestion of an open-air performance was received coldly. At the
moment no one seemed able to pucker his lips into a whistle, and some
even explained that with that famous waltz they were unfamiliar.

One girl attained an instant popularity by pointing out that the bears
could waltz just as well on one side of the fence as the other. Kelly,
cheated of his free performance, then begged that before Herrick
condemned the bears to starve on acorns, he should give them a farewell
drink, and Herrick, who was slightly rattled, replied excitedly that
he had not ransomed the animals only to degrade them. The