[Into the tub of water he jumped with a splash.]
Dido, even yet, did not know all the man said, of course, but the little bear cub found he could not get away, so he sat down and looked around. It was good to be out of doors, anyhow. Then the man moved a sort of little house, like a dog kennel, up near Dido. This was for the bear to sleep in nights, or go in out of the rain. The little house was in the shade, but Dido’s chain was long enough so he could walk over in the sun to get dry after his bath.
“Yes, I think I shall like it here,” said Dido to himself, in the way bears have of talking. “I used to have lots of fun with my brothers in the woods, but we never had as many nice things to eat as I have here, and I have a little house all my own. Yes, I think I shall like it here, and I will not run away from the man.”
Dido was getting very tame, you see.
Dido had been living out of doors for about a week, chained to a post, going in his little house nights, and in that time several other men came to look at him. They talked with Dido’s keeper, and one man told about a big bear he had caught in the woods.
“My! I wonder if that could be my father or mother?” thought Dido, who, by this time, could understand man-talk a little better. But there was no way of knowing whether or not it was his father or mother who had been caught.
One day Dido’s master brought out some sweet buns, and said:
“Now I think it is time you learned to dance. Come, Dido, let me see if you know how. When I blow a tune on my horn lift up your paws and dance around. Come now!”