THE FIRST PERFORMANCE
[Illustration: Music]
"Oh, 'twas down in the woods of the Arkansaw
I met an Old Bear with a very nimble paw;
[Illustration: Music]
He could dance and he could fiddle at the only tune he knew,
And he fiddled and he fiddled, but he never played it through."
BO was awake first, and Horatio still lay sound asleep. As the boy
paused the Bear opened one eye sleepily and reached lazily toward his
fiddle, but dropped asleep again before his paw touched it. They had
found a very cosy place in a big heap of dry leaves under some spreading
branches, and Horatio, though fond of music, was still more fond of his
morning nap. Bosephus looked at him a moment and began singing again, in
the same strain:--
"Then there came a little boy who could whistle all the tune,
And he whistled and he sang it by the rising of the moon;
And he whistled and he whistled, and he sang it o'er and o'er,
Till Horatio learned the music he had never learned before."
The Bear opened the other eye, and once more reached for his fiddle.
This time he got hold of it, but before his other paw touched the bow he
was asleep again. Bo waited a moment. Then he suddenly began singing to
the other part of the tune:--
[Illustration: Music]
"Yes, he learned it all so neatly and he played it all so sweetly
That he fell in love completely with the boy without a home;
[Illustration: Music]
And he said, 'No matter whether it is dark or sunny weather
We will travel on together till the cows--come--home.'"
Before Bosephus finished the first two lines of this strain Horatio was
sitting up straight and fiddling for dear life.
"Once more, Bo, once more!" he shouted as they finished.
They repeated the music, and Horatio turned two handsprings without
stopping.
"Now," he said, "we will go forth and conquer the world."
"I could conquer some breakfast first," said Bo.
"Do you like roasting ears?"
"Oh, yes," said Bo.
"Well, I have an interest in a little patch near here--that is, I take
an interest, I should say, and you can take part of mine or one of your
own if you prefer. It really doesn't make any difference which you do
just so you take it before the man that planted it is up."
"Why," exclaimed the boy as they came out into a little clearing, "that
is old Zack Todd's field!"
"It is, is it? Well, how did old Zack Todd get it, I'd like to know."
"Why--why I don't know," answered Bo, puzzled.
[Illustration: "ONCE MORE, BO, ONCE MORE"]
"Of course not," said the Bear. "And now, Bosephus, let me tell you
something. The bears owned that field long before old Zack Todd was ever
thought of. We're just renting it to him on shares. This is rent day. We
don't need to wake Zack up. You get over the fence and hand me a few
of the best ears you can get quick and handy, and you might bring one of
those watermelons I see in the corn there, and we'll find a quiet place
that I know of and eat it."
Bo hopped lightly over the rail fence, and, gathering an armful of green
corn, handed it to Horatio. Then he turned to select a melon.
"Has Zack Todd got a gun, Bosephus?" asked the Bear.
"Yes, sir-ee. The best gun in Arkansaw, and he's a dead shot with it."
"Oh, he is. Well, maybe you better not be quite so slow picking out that
melon. Just take the first big one you see and come on."
"Why, Zack wouldn't care for us collecting rent, would he?"
"Well, I don't know. You see, some folks are peculiar that way. Zack
might forget it was rent day, and a man with a bad memory and a good gun
can't be trusted. Especially when he's a dead shot. There, that one will
do. Never mind about his receipt--we'll mail it to him."
Bo scrambled back over the fence with the melon and hastened as fast as
he could after Horatio, who was already moving across the clearing with
his violin under one arm and the green ears under the other.
"Wait, Ratio," called the little boy. "This melon is heavy."
"Is that a long range gun, Bo?" called back the Bear.
"Carries a mile and a half."
"Can't you move up a little faster, Bo? I'm afraid, after all, that
melon is bigger than we needed."
The boy was fat and he panted after his huge companion.
Suddenly there was a sharp report, and Bosephus saw a little tuft of fur
fly from one of his companion's ears. Horatio dodged frantically and
dropped part of his corn.
[Illustration: CONQUERING THE WORLD.]
"Run zigzag, Bo!" he called, "and don't drop the melon. Run zigzag. He
can't hit you so well then," and Horatio himself began such a
performance of running first one way and then the other that Bo was
almost obliged to laugh in spite of their peril.
"Is this what you call conquering the world, Ratio?" Then, as he
followed the Bear's example, he caught a backward glimpse out of the
corner of his eye.
"Oh, Ratio," he called, "the whole family is after us. Zack Todd, and
old Mis' Todd, and Jim, and the girls."
"How many times does that gun shoot?"
"Only once without loading."
"Muzzle loader?"
"Yep," panted Bo. "Old style."
"Good! Hold on to that melon. We'll get to the woods yet."
But Horatio was mistaken, for just as they dashed into the edge of the
timber, with the pursuers getting closer every moment, right in front of
them was a high barbed-wire fence which the Todd family had built around
the clearing but a few days before. The Bear dropped his corn, and the
boy carefully, but with some haste, put down the melon. Then they
turned. The Todd family was just entering the woods--old Zack and the
gun in front. He had loaded it and was putting on the cap as he ran.
"What shall we do, Bo, what shall we do now?" groaned Horatio.
The situation was indeed desperate. Their pursuers were upon them, and
in a moment more the deadly gun would be levelled. Suddenly a bright
thought occurred to Bo.
"I know," he shouted; "dance! Horatio! dance!"
[Illustration: "DANCE! HORATIO, DANCE!"]
Horatio still had his fiddle under his arm. He threw it into position
and ran the bow over the strings. In a second more he was playing and
dancing, and Bo was singing as though it were a matter of life and
death, which indeed it was:--
[Illustration: Music]
"Oh, there was a fine man and a mighty fine gun
And a Bear that played the fiddle and a boy that couldn't run,
[Illustration: Music]
And the boy was named Bosephus and Horatio the Bear,
And they couldn't find a bite to eat for breakfast anywhere."
The Todd family stood still at this unexpected performance and stared at
the two musicians. Old man Todd leaned his gun against a tree.
"Now they couldn't buy their breakfast for their money all was spent,
So they dropped into a cornfield to collect a little rent;
But they only took a melon and an ear of corn or so,
And were going off to eat them where the butter blossoms grow."
The Todd family were falling into the swing of the music. Old Mis' Todd
and the girls were swaying back and forth and the men were beating time
with their feet. Suddenly Bosephus changed to the second part of the
tune.
[Illustration: Music]
"But the old man got up early with a temper rather surly,
And he chased them with his rifle and to catch them he was bound;
[Illustration: Music]
Till he heard the ridy-diddle of Horatio and his fiddle,
Then he shouted, 'Hallelujah, girls, and all--hands--'round!'"
The first line of this had started the Todd family. Old Zack swung old
Mis' Todd, and Jim swung the girls. Then all joined hands and circled
to the left. They circled around Bosephus and Horatio, who kept on with
the music, faster and faster. Then there was a grand right and left and
balance all--every one for himself--until they were breathless and could
dance no more. Horatio stopped fiddling and when old man Todd could
catch his breath he said to Bo:--
"Look a-here; that Bear of yours is a whole show by himself, and you're
another. Anybody that can play and sing like that can have anything I've
got. There's my house and there's my cornfield; help yourselves."
Bo thanked him and said that the corn and the melon already selected
would do for the time. To oblige them, however, he would take up a
modest collection. He passed his hat and received a silver twenty-five
cent piece, a spool of thread with a needle in it, a one-bladed
jack-knife and two candy hearts with mottoes on them--these last being
from the girls, who blushed and giggled as they contributed. Then he
said good-by, and the Todd family showed them a gate that led into the
thick woods. As the friends passed out of sight and hearing Bosephus
paused and waved his handkerchief to the girls. A little later Horatio
turned to him and said, impressively:--
"That is what I call conquering the world, Bosephus. We began a little
sooner and more abruptly than I had expected, but it was not badly done,
and, all things considered, you did your part very well, Bosephus; very
well indeed."