"Oh, ye-yes, sir!" said Bo, hastily.
"See that you don't forget it!" grunted the Bear. "I don't like familiarity in my guests. But I am clear away from the song I was singing when you came tearing out of that thicket. Seems like I never saw anybody in such a hurry to see me as you were.
"Now the old man sat a-fiddling by the little cabin door,
And the tune was pretty lively, and he played it o'er and o'er;
And the stranger sat a-list'ning and a-wond'ring what to do,
As he fiddled and he fiddled, but he never played it through."
Bo was very fond of music, and as Horatio drew from the strings the mellow strains of "The Arkansaw Traveller" he forgot that both he and the Bear were hungry. He could dance very well, and was just about to do so as the Bear paused.
"Why don't you play the rest of that tune, Horatio?" he asked, anxiously.
"Same reason the old man didn't!" growled the Bear, still humming the air,
"Oh, raddy daddy dum—daddy dum—dum—dum—
"Why!" continued Bo, "that's funny!"
"Is it?" snorted Horatio; "I never thought so!