"Say!" he shouted. "Why, I say that you are a boy after my own heart! We'll start at once! I'll take you to a place to-night where there are lots of blackberries and honey, and to-morrow we will set forth on our travels. Here's my hand as a guarantee of safety as long as you keep your agreement. You mean to do so, don't you?"
"Oh, yes," said Bo.
"And now for camp. We can play and sing as we go."
As the little boy took Horatio's big paw he ceased to be even the least bit afraid. He had at last found a strong friend, and was going forth into the big world. He had never been so happy in his life before.
"All right, Ratio!" he shouted. "One, two, three, play!"
And Ratio gave the bow a long, joyous scrape across the strings, and thus they began their life together—Bosephus whistling and the Bear playing and singing with all his might the fascinating strains of "The Arkansaw Traveller":—
"Oh, there was a little boy and his name was Bo,
Went out into the woods when the moon was low,
And he hadn't had his supper and his way he didn't know,
So he didn't have a bite to eat nor any place to go.
Then he heard the ridy-diddle of Horatio and his fiddle,
And his knees began to tremble as he saw him standing there;
Now they'll never, never sever, and they'll travel on forever—
Bosephus, and the fiddle, and the Old—Black—Bear."