The Arkansaw Bear: A Tale of Fanciful Adventure

Transcriber's Note: Lines of music can be played as midi files by clicking on the music image.
BOSEPHUS AND HORATIO
NEW YORK: R. H. RUSSELL LONDON: KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRÜBNER & CO. MDCCCXCVIII
COPYRIGHT, 1898, BY ROBERT HOWARD RUSSELL Printed in the United States of America
DEDICATION TO MASTER FRANK VER BECK, FOR WHOSE BEDTIME ENTERTAINMENT THE ARKANSAW BEAR FIRST PERFORMED

Oh, 'twas down in the woods of the Arkansaw, And the night was cloudy and the wind was raw,
And he didn't have a bed and he didn't have a bite, And if he hadn't fiddled he'd a travelled all night.
BOSEPHUS paused in his mad flight to listen. Surely this was someone playing the violin, and the tune was familiar.
He listened more intently.
But he came to a cabin and an old gray man, And says he, 'Where am I going? Now tell me if you can——'
It was the Arkansaw Traveller and close at hand. The little boy tore hastily through the brush in the direction of the music. The moon had come up, and he could see quite well, but he did not pause to pick his way. As he stepped from the thicket out into an open space the fiddling ceased. It was bright moonlight there, too, and as Bosephus took in the situation his blood turned cold.