But the animals did not answer. The Circus Bear said that he knew what
the animals were; they were camels.
"How many of them are there?" asked the Circus Bear.
And the little Cub Bear began to count, "One, two, three, four," and so
on, until he had counted twelve camels.
When the camels came to the cave, the Circus Bear told the little Cub
Bear to tell them to come in. The camels came in, but they said they
were not in the habit of living in caves. They lived on the desert.
"How can you live on the desert, when there is no water to drink, and
nothing to eat there?" asked the little Cub Bear.
The oldest of the camels replied that the camel was a very strange and
peculiar animal, and they were made so that they could live on the
desert, where there was nothing to drink and nothing to eat.
Of course, the little Cub Bear wanted to know how it was possible for
an animal to live without anything to eat, and with nothing to drink.
But the camel told him that they had a place to carry water and a place
to carry food. He had ten stomachs for water, and four stomachs for
food.
The little Cub Bear thought a while, and then said that it seemed to
him that if the camels could live so long on the desert, it would be
easy for them to get to that new place where the Jimmie Bear lived.
The old camel said that it would be very easy, and that the camels
could take not only themselves, but that they could carry some of the
other animals, for they were used to carrying big loads. That was
why the men wanted them. They used the camels instead of the freight
trains. So it was agreed that the little Cub Bear, and some of the
other animals, should ride on the camels' backs, and that they would
take turns riding. They would start at once, as soon as the camels had
a good chance to take a big drink of water, and fill all four of their
stomachs with food.
But the camels said, "You must be sure that you do not stick your sharp
claws into our backs."
The bears all agreed with the animals that they would be very careful,
and not dig their claws into the camels.
So they soon started. All of the animals ate and drank all that they
could hold. The little Cub Bear was to ride all of the time, for he was
so small and so weak. The three-legged bear, too, was to have a ride
most of the way, for he was very tired, and had come so long a journey
with only three legs. The lion said that he thought he could walk most
of the way. He was used to the desert. And the camel said he was very
glad that the lion was going to walk, for his claws were very sharp,
and he was afraid that the lion might forget and stick his sharp claws
into his back.
Well, you would have laughed to see the little Cub Bear try to get on
the camel. The sly old camel knew that the little Cub Bear could not
climb up, but the little fellow was in such a hurry to start, that the
camel let him try to get on the best way he could.
Finally, the little fellow said, "Dear old camel, please tell me how to
get on your back."
Then the camel said, "Why didn't you ask me before? There is only one
way that you can get on the back of a camel. I will kneel down and show
you."
But as soon as the camel knelt down, the little bear saw at once that
he could get on his back, and he scrambled up and said:
"Get up, get up, Mr. Camel."
The camel got up, but it was a very funny way that he did it. When the
camel straightened out his hind legs, the little Cub Bear nearly fell
off; then the camel gave his hind legs another hump, to get them real
straight, and what do you suppose happened to the Cub Bear?
He fell off, and got a great bump on the ground, but it did not hurt
him very much, and the camel tried it again. This time the little Cub
Bear managed to stick on.
The tiger, the kangaroo, the two rats, the ant-bear, and the leopard
all got on the camels.
The hippopotamus tried to get on a camel, and he looked so odd that
all of the animals laughed, and told him that he would have to walk
anyway, because he was too big to ride on the back of a camel. The
hippopotamus said that he thought he would stay in the lake the beaver
had made; that he could not go far from water, for he liked to live in
the water all of the time. The beaver said that he was going to stay,
too, and that if any of the men came, the hippopotamus could hide under
the water, and he could go into his little house and stay there out of
sight until the men had gone away. So they had to leave the beaver and
the hippopotamus behind. But they all said that some time they would
come again, to see the hippopotamus and the beaver. The badger, the
giraffe, and all of the other animals started on their long journey to
that land where the wife and the little cubs of Jimmie Bear lived.
That night they were all very tired, and they had to lie down to sleep
without anything to eat or any water to drink. All except the little
Cub Bear, who had some berries in a pail that he had carried on the
camel's back.
Little Cub Bear wanted them all, but he thought, "Poor papa has walked
all day, and has had nothing to eat or to drink, and the way was very
hard."
The little Cub Bear was very hungry and very thirsty--hungrier and
thirstier than you have ever been; but he said, very sweetly and very
politely, "Papa, you may have some of my berries."
But the Papa Bear said that he would not take any of them. Then the
little Cub Bear offered some of the berries to the Mamma Bear, but she
would not take any of the berries. He offered some to the Circus Bear,
and the Circus Bear would not take any. Then he offered some to Jimmie
Bear, and Jimmie Bear took just one. Then the little Cub Bear offered
some to all of the animals, but no one would take any, except the baby
kangaroo.
I rather think that the baby kangaroo would have taken all of them, but
his mamma would let him have only three. So the little Cub Bear had all
the rest of the berries, and they tasted ever so much better than they
would have tasted if he had not been willing to share them with the
other animals. Don't you think they did?
The next morning the animals started and traveled all day. That night,
just as it was getting dark, they came to the edge of the terrible
desert, and they saw a little stream of water and plenty of things to
eat, and there they stayed that night. In the morning they started
again, and soon came to the most beautiful trees, and grass, and
flowers that they had ever seen, and Jimmie Bear pointed up to a cave
on the mountain side where his wife and little bears were. And right
there were three of the cutest little bears that you ever saw playing
in the sun. What a noise they made when they saw their papa and all of
the other animals. The Mamma Bear ran to the mouth of the cave, and how
happy she was to see Jimmie. The animals were all as happy as could
be in the beautiful forest, and what do you think the little bears of
Jimmie Bear called the little Cub Bear? They called him "Uncle Cub."
That night the Cub Bear teased the Circus Bear to tell him stories. "I
want you to tell me a story about the time you took a ride in a great
boat."
And the Circus Bear said, "I will tell you a story about the time we
crossed the great ocean and went over to another land."