by Alfred Elwes
PROGRESS.
The fair of Caneville was like fairs in most other parts of the world,and contained the usual elements of fun and wickedness, toys and dirt,sweets and other messes. As all these various ingredients looked best atnight, when the broad sun was withdrawn and an artificial light veryfeebly supplied its place, it was towards evening that the fair began tofill, and doubtful characters to ply their various vocations. It wasmatter of remark that there was much more quarrelling and ill-humour inthe fair this particular year, than there had been for several previousperiods; and it was also observed that a tall and powerful bear--noother than our hero Bruin--was ever in the midst of it, either as aninstigator or a principal. This circumstance made the authorities morethan usually alert, and caused Master Bruin to be closely watched.
It was at the close of the last day, after many scenes of evil which itis not necessary to describe, that a serious disturbance arose in thepart of the field where Bruin had his stand. Blows soon followed angrywords; the contending parties flew at each other with great ferocity;growl followed growl, and bite succeeded bite, so that a good deal ofblood was shed--ill blood; so, perhaps, better out than in;--and asBruin's sticks were conveniently at hand as weapons of offence, theywere soon seized upon, and used so indiscriminately, that almost everythrow told. Many were stretched on the ground, and one of themastiff-police was thought to be killed. This was a serious offence,indeed, and those who knew the penalty attending such a calamityinstantly took to flight. They were as instantly pursued; and when aboutto be captured, with one voice denounced Bruin as the culprit; though,in fact, it was not he who had struck the blow, and they knew it: butsuch was his known ferocity and ill-temper, that to shield themselvesthey were ready to give up the wrong beast, whom no one loved, and whomevery one would have suspected as the author of the calamity. So thebear, in spite of his protestations of innocence, and in spite too of amost furious resistance, in the course of which he got more than onesavage bite from some small animal he had injured, he was dragged off toprison.
The place used for this purpose was a portion of a ruined castle,standing in the centre of the town, on the banks of the rivulet beforespoken of; the ruin itself being of great antiquity, and having beenevidently erected by a very different class of beings to that whichformed the present population of Caneville. Several compartments wereadapted for the purpose, all more or less secure; but the square stonechamber into which Bruin was thrust was the strongest of them all. Thedoor opening outwards was closed on him, and secured by a heavy mass ofrock, which the united efforts of several of the police rolled againstit; and having thus deposited the prisoner in safety, a couple mountedguard at the entrance, in case by any chance the great strength of thebear should succeed in removing the fastening. Bruin seemed, however, inno humour to make the experiment. Sore and worn out, he crawled into acorner and was soon fast asleep, resuming in his dreams some of his oldavocations. He woke at daylight, and immediately rose to examine hisprison. The door he sniffed at, but passed by; the window was at sogreat a height from the floor that he could not reach it upon tiptoe,but he remarked that a very delicious puff of fresh air came down anaperture originally used as a chimney. He moved hastily towards it, andmany feet above observed the blue sky, and the large branch of a treewaving over the aperture. Had Messieurs the Police been aware of Bruin'sclimbing propensities, they would scarcely have left this pointunguarded; as it was, the bear proceeded immediately to take advantageof it. With a spring he caught hold of an opening formed by a missingstone, and drawing his body up to his paw, he stuck his foot into thehole and pressed his broad back against the opposite side; a projectingbrick gave him a second hold, and then the difficulty was over, for thechimney narrowing he managed to get up by the simple pressure of hisknees and back, and the use of his broad and muscular paws. A fewseconds sufficed for him to reach the top, on which he sat with hisheels dangling in the air, to enjoy the prospect and take breath, whilehe deliberated on his farther proceedings.
Meanwhile an inquiry had been entered upon by the authorities ofCaneville concerning the riot, in which one of the police was alleged tohave been killed, but as the object of the inquiry limped into theassembly during the sitting, it was not considered worth while to hearevidence as to the authors of his death; and as he, moreover, distinctlystated that the beast who struck the blow was not a bear, it was orderedthat the bear who was in custody on the charge should be liberatedforthwith. Great was the surprise of his guards, however, on proceedingto his prison, to find that he had anticipated the verdict and had takenthe liberty of setting himself free; in what way was pretty clear, as,on looking up the chimney, they were no less amused than astonished tosee him just in the act of swinging himself on to the projecting branchof the tree and disappear from their view. They ran round into thecourt to mark the end of Bruin's manoeuvres, but he had been too quickfor them; not knowing of his being again a free bear, and apprehensiveof being pursued, he had descended the tree with the utmost velocity,climbed over a ruined wall, and dropping, not lightly, into the stream,with a few bold strokes reached the opposite shore, where he immediatelyclimbed a leafy oak, with the intention of waiting till the hue and crywas over.
He kept his position very quietly all day, rather surprised that nocommotion should be visible in and about the prison, of which hecommanded a good view; and as evening was falling he resolved todescend, and, recrossing the stream higher up, seek refuge in some oneof his late haunts. Just as he was about putting this resolution intoeffect he heard voices beneath the tree, and lay quite still to listen.But what was his astonishment, as they drew nearer, to perceive that oneof the two foxes from whom the sounds proceeded, was his former stewardand factotum! His interest in their movements was of course increased,and he listened, with his ears and eyes bent down, to catch their everysyllable and look. The stranger fox, it appeared, was about crossing thebrook to the city, and the other one had accompanied him thus far, butrefused to enter the town. On this, the following words reached Bruin'sear:--
_Stranger._--I have noticed more than once, cousin, that you avoid thetown; and yet I have known you to declare that no one but a cow couldlive in the country.
_Fox._--True enough, my dear fellow; but since I left _his_ service, youknow, I don't care to run the risk of meeting him.
_Stranger._--Ha! ha! I see. You are rather apprehensive he should seizeyou by the throat, and exclaim, "_My_ money or _your_ life!"
_Fox._--Hush! hush! who knows what ears may be listening? Enough that Ihave a comfortable competency, and don't choose to run the risk oflosing it.
_Stranger._--Well, well, cousin, I say no more; but remember, yourgrandfather and mine never left his home for fear of meeting with a wolfwho owed him a grudge, and was found dead in his bed, having beenmurdered by the very wolf after all. Come! you needn't look so downabout it, old fellow; nothing half so bad, I hope, will come toyou.--Ta! ta!
So saying, the stranger fox took leave of his cousin, and was soon onthe opposite shore.
Fox waited till he saw him land, and then slowly turned to retrace hissteps.
Scarcely, however, had he taken half-a-dozen paces, than a rushing noisesmote his ears; and before he could raise his head a heavy body struckhim between the shoulders, with a violence which dashed him flat on tothe ground. He neither moved nor uttered a cry: his neck was broken.With a savage howl, Bruin--for it is easy to guess that it was he--puthis heavy paw upon the other's chest; but finding all still, he examinedhis clothes, whence he took all the valuables. He paused in his work tochide his own precipitancy; for had he followed the Fox he might,perhaps, have learnt his dwelling and regained great part of hisproperty. It was too late now; so, giving a savage kick on the face ofthe unfortunate animal, he heaped it over with leaves, and pursued hisoriginal intention of regaining the city, and before night was once morebeneath the roof of a late associate.
He remained for several days perfectly quiet and inactive; but findingno search was instituted for him, he, li
ttle by little, resumed his oldhabits, and, as many knew to their cost, his old overbearing temper.
SELLING THE NATIVES.]
Among the tastes prevailing to an immense extent in the community ofCaneville, a great love for those dainties which we call oysters hadalways been remarkable. It occurred to Bruin, as he had now sometrifling capital, that he would invest a portion in such articles asmade up the fixtures and stock-in-trade of an oyster-merchant: theformer expression is, however, a misnomer, for the stall and tubsincluded under the term fixtures would be more properly described asmoveables. This was soon effected; and Bruin having chosen asemi-respectable thoroughfare, where he would have a chance of acustomer or two from the upper, and would not be too far removed fromthe lower class of Caneville society, he planted his stall, arranged histubs, spruced up his own person with the addition of a most formidablecollar and a most doubtfully clean apron, and vociferated his "Penny alot, pups! penny a lot!" in a way which greatly edified the bystanders.The bystanders were, however, soon induced to become purchasers, forvery few of them could resist oysters, if they had the wherewithal topurchase them; and Bruin's natives were so fine and fresh, and he had soclever a knack of opening them, that it was really worth the money tosee him do that, and many actually went there for the purpose: so thatit really seemed he had at last hit upon a business for which he wasentirely suited, which met also the public views, and that a short timewould enable him, with prudence, to save provision for his old age.
But, alas, the perversity of bears! No sooner did anything like a smilefrom Fortune's face alight upon him, than he seemed resolved, by hisuncompromising temper, to turn it to a frown! As long as the businesswas new to him, he took pleasure in performing the duties belonging toit in a proper manner; a little roughly, it may be, but still--properly.Directly it grew familiar, he became careless; and he had a most wilfulhabit of aggravating his customers, which could not, of course, continuewithout seriously injuring his trade. For instance, when some pert youngpuppy would come forward, and civilly enough request his "one or twopenn'orth of natives," Bruin would first insist on having the money paiddown, and would then tantalise his customer by offering him the openedoyster and hastily withdrawing it just as the impatient jaws were aboutto close on the desired morsel, and so on to the end, to the vastirritation of many an irascible little animal.
And a day came when this same spirit caused the upset of his trade, andset a veto upon his "selling the natives," at least in Caneville, forthe future. A fox and a young terrier had both paid their money, andwere eagerly waiting for their oysters, disturbing by their clamour agrave old dog who was licking the shell of his last penn'orth, when adomestic from a wealthy family, arrayed in a superb livery cloak, cameup to order a lot for his master. The usual game--if it can be calledso, when all the fun was on one side, was being played--three distinctefforts had been made by Terrier to get his second instalment, when, inthe struggle which ensued, the vinegar-bottle was knocked over, the corkcame out, and the perfidious liquid, highly adulterated with vitriol(for, to their shame be it spoken, the dogs of distillers did nothesitate to endanger the lives of the inhabitants by such practices),poured in full volume over the rich livery-cloak of the servant, whichwas completely spoiled. The master, who was as powerful as he wasavaricious, made a formal complaint against Bruin and his stall as anuisance; and as it was impossible even in Caneville to obtain perfectjustice, the report, without other inquiry, was taken as correct, andBruin, boiling with rage, had the mortification of seeing his tubssmashed, his stall destroyed, and his "natives" scattered all abroadwithout being able to strike a blow in their defence.