And as it would not do at all to throw a rural establishment into a state of wild confusion by leading a bear up to its door, I conducted Orso to the side of the road and chained him to a fence-post.

He was perfectly satisfied and lay down, his nose upon his fore-paws.
[Illustration: "TO MY LEFT I SAW A LINE OF TREES"] I found three women in the little house.

They were in a side kitchen eating their dinner, and I wondered what the bear would have done if he had smelled that dinner.

They told me that I was not on the main road, and would have to go back more than half a mile in order to regain it.
When I was out on the road again I said to myself that if I could possibly make Orso step along at a little more lively pace I might get to the hotel in time for a very late luncheon, and I was beginning to think that I had not been wise in declining portable refreshment, when I heard a noise ahead of me.

At a considerable distance along the road, and not far from where I had left the bear, I saw a horse attached to a vehicle approaching me at a furious speed.