o lived a few
doors from Aunt Jo's house.

"I don't know," was the answer. "I guess the bear bit somebody though,
and the policeman arrested it."

"No, that wasn't it," said another boy. "The bear broke into a bake shop
and ate a lot of pies. That's why the policeman is going to take it to
the station house."

"Here comes the patrol wagon!" some one else cried, and up the street
dashed the automobile from the precinct station house, its bell clanging
loudly.

"Get in!" the six little Bunkers heard the policeman say to the man with
the red handkerchief around his neck. "Get in, you and the bear! I'll
teach you to come around here!"

"Oh, maybe the bear bit the policeman," half whispered Rose.

"No, my dears," said Aunt Jo, who, with Mother Bunker, had come out to
see what the excitement was about and why the six little Bunkers had run
so fast around the side of the house. "Nothing much at all happened, my
dears," said Aunt Jo. "But in this part of Boston, at least, they don't
allow performing bears in the streets. That is why the policeman is
taking this one away. The man, who is an Italian, led his tame bear
along the street and started to have the animal do tricks. But we don't
allow that in this Back Bay section."

"Will he shoot the bear?" asked Mun Bun breathlessly.

"Oh, no," said Aunt Jo with a laugh. "The poor bear has done nothing,
and his master did not know any better than to bring him here. They will
just make them go to another part of the city, where, perhaps,
performing bears are not objected to. Whether they allow them anywhere
in Boston or not, I can't say. But he will be taken away from here."

The automobile patrol, with the bear and man in charge of the policeman,
rumbled away. The crowd waited a little while, and then, as nothing more
seemed likely to happen, it began to scatter.

"I'm glad we saw it," said Russ, as he turned back into the yard.

"So'm I," added Laddie. "It's 'most as much fun as digging for gold.
Say, Russ, I hope we find some, don't you?"

"I sure do! I wish we were at Cousin Tom's right now. I want to start
digging for that treasure."

"Don't be too sure of finding any," said Mother Bunker, who heard what
her two little boys were saying. "Many persons dig for gold but never
get any."

"Oh, we'll get some," declared Russ, and if you read this book through
you will find out that what Russ said came true.

After supper that evening, when they had finished talking a