Meanwhile his friend, whom he always called Whitie, even up to the very last time that he saw him just as he had when he had been a fuzzy cub, was also experiencing changes. He was driven away to the very heart of the city where a man who knew all about bears, or at least thought he did, came and inspected him. He was delighted with the huge, white beast and set to work at once to make a den for him. This was completed in two or three days, so when Eiseeyou and Oumauk finally visited the park where they were told that their friend was to live, they found him in fine quarters. That is, the men who had built them thought them fine. Whether the White Czar thought them fine or not, who shall say? But I am inclined to think that he simply made the best of them and bided his time, just as do most wild animals which are captured when full grown and taken into captivity.
His den was made in the side of a hill. The foundation was concrete. The entire den was twenty-five feet by twelve. The den was equally divided between a swimming pool and a platform of rocks, upon which the Czar could stretch himself when he was tired of the water.
He at once recognized Eiseeyou and Oumauk, and came out of the pool to greet the boy. The keeper of the park was amazed to see the small, dark boy stick his fingers through the bars to the great brute. He cried out for him to stop. But Eiseeyou told him in his quaint English that they were old friends.
Finally the keeper himself became convinced that Oumauk was master of the situation and he was persuaded to open the small door where the bear's food was pushed in to him, in order that Oumauk might pet Whitie more freely.
A curious crowd of white children had gathered about the outer fence of the cage to view, with awe in their hearts and their eyes, this strange scene of the small boy fondling the great head of the white bear as fearlessly as he would have a large dog. The keeper took special pains to explain to them that the bear had been the boy's pet when he was small, and so knew him. But he warned all the white children to keep well away from the den.
So each day Eiseeyou came to the hospital to visit Oumauk.
Later on the two went to the park to see the White Czar. This was always the first place that they visited.