"Bateese dropped his lines into Harold's hands and almost with a bound reached the other sleigh. Then the two men commenced at once to rub the frozen noses with snow, much to the disgust of the women. But opposition was useless. It was the right thing to do, and at the same time a rare joke to the Frenchmen who continued to jabber their patois.
"'Be quiet now, Femme Bond,' cried Bateese. 'You no want your nose drop off.'
"'Ardman never look at 'im femme again wid big hole in him face," yelled the other. ''Old steel I say.'
"The women realized the truth and slowly the white ivory hardness of the two noses disappeared, and they became red and soft again.
"Dey must cover de face wid wraps all de rest of de day" was Bateese's parting injunction as he left them to return to his own sleigh.
"We are lucky in having Bateese for a driver. He is usually so amusing with his stories. At first we used to believe all he said. Now we discriminate, and laugh at his tales about bears and things as heartily as he does himself. Speaking of Bruin reminds me that I saw wild bears for the first time yesterday. Harold was with me. The Colonel's sleigh, as usual, was just in front of ours; and as our horses slowly ascended a steep hill on the curve, we saw a big black bear, with two little cubs some months old, sitting on her haunches right in the road—a most unusual thing, for bears as a rule hibernate during the winter.
"Sir George's horses reared, while the men in his sleigh picked up their guns and fired. The old bear dropped, but the little ones were not hurt, and instead of running away they cuddled beside their dead mother. Such a pitiful sight! Some of the men clamored to keep the cubs for mascots; and the habitants declared that the journey would be lucky if they did. I was glad when the Colonel gave his consent, for I hated the idea of killing the cunning little things; and if left without their mother they would surely die. So some stayed behind to skin and dress the bear, for it was so much added to our larder; and also to fix a box to put the little cubs in. Funny, too, that this should happen on what they call 'Bear-day.'
"And last night we had roast bear for supper. It has a strong taste, but as I am getting well, and hungry again, I relished it as a change from our regular diet.
"Harold was telling me afterwards that one of the cubs is a male and the other a female; and that the two companies are to have one apiece. The funniest part of it is that they christened them both with singaree—one to be called Helen and the other Manning. I knew the officers were very kind, but I never suspected that the soldiers cared a button for me. Pshaw! There's a tear on my paper. I wonder where it came from?"