My Strange Rescue — How Wilberforce Brennan Visited White Bear Castle

*HOW WILBERFORCE BRENNAN VISITED

WHITE BEAR CASTLE.

* "Wilby!

Wilby!

come here; I want you," called a woman's shrill voice at the foot of the stairs.

And down from the little attic room came the answer promptly,-- "All right, mother; I'm just coming."

A minute later a stout, hearty lad of fifteen presented himself before his mother, and dutifully awaited her commands.

"Why, Wilby," said she, "I was just thinking I had better send you over to Aunt Matilda's to tell her that your father was going to town to-morrow.

She's pretty sure to want him to do something for her, and he goes so seldom nowadays she'll be disappointed if we don't let her know."

"Well, mother," replied the boy, looking rather doubtfully out of the window, from which a vast expanse of desolate, snow-covered fields could be seen, "it's not just the best kind of an afternoon to be going away over to aunty's. There's a heap of snow on the ground, it's awfully cold, and the wind's rising."

"Tut!

what does a big strong boy like you care for the cold?

Besides, you can put on your snow-shoes, and take the short cut through the wood-lot.

You won't feel the wind in the woods.

I really must send Aunt Matilda word, and father won't have time to go over himself."

"Very well, mother, if I must I must, I suppose; but, all the same, I wish it could wait till to-morrow."

So saying, Wilby, with a sigh of resignation, went off to get ready for his tramp.

It was no trifling affair, this errand over to Aunt Matilda's, I can tell you.

She lived six good miles away by the road, and even taking the short cut through the pasture and wood-lot, it was not less than four miles.

Of course, with fine weather and good going, four miles was not much of a task for Wilby's sturdy legs, and he never failed to get so warm a welcome and such delicious cake at his aunt's that generally he was only too glad to go.

But in mid-winter, with four feet of snow on the ground, the thermometer right down to zero, and the wind cutting like a knife, it seemed a very different matter.

However, Wilby, as his mother called him for short (Wilberforce being kept for company or for when she wanted to be very emphatic), was quite as plucky as he was obedient, and a quarter of an hour after his mother first called him he started out on his errand, muffled up to the eyes, with his snow-shoes well strapped to his feet, and his good dog Oscar trotting along beside him.

It was well for him that he did have wise old Oscar, as we shall presently see.

Bending his head low, so as to protect his face as much as possible from the keen wind, and swinging his arms to and fro in time with his stride, Wilby went swiftly down the hillside, across the river, and up the other slope, until he reached the shelter of the woods, where the wind bothered him no longer, and he could take things more quietly.

Oscar ran soberly along at his heels, and Wilby was glad of his company, for the short winter day was already drawing to a close, and the lonely wood-lot was not the most cheerful place in the world to be in at that time.

Wilby was a great boy for books, and had just finished reading Colonel Knox's delightful story, "The Voyage of the _Vivian_," of which the most interesting part to him had been that relating to the polar bears; and now, as he trudged steadily along through the silent woods, he fell to thinking about these bears, and wondering what he should do supposing he should meet one.

Of course, he knew well enough that the nearest white bear was at least a thousand miles away, and that even an ordinary black bear had not been seen in that neighbourhood for years; but, all the same, he could not get those cruel white monsters out of his thoughts.

In fact, he became quite nervous over them, and would peer eagerly ahead and anxiously around, just as if one of them might rush in upon him at any minute.

At length his nervousness got so much the better of him that walking seemed altogether too slow, and he started off on the hard run.

Only two miles of the distance to Aunt Matilda's was left at this time, and one of these soon disappeared as Wilby hurried onward, with Oscar bounding joyfully beside him.

Ten minutes more at the farthest, and they would be safe at their destination.

Already Wilby thought he could catch through the trees a gleam of light from the kitchen window, when suddenly something unfortunate happened.

It had been hard work keeping to the wood path, so buried was it under the snow; and he must have strayed a little from it, for he found his way barred by a huge tree-trunk, which certainly ought not to have been there.

The wisest thing, of course, would have been to retrace his steps a bit;

but instead of that, Wilby rashly tried a running leap over the obstacle, and it was not a success.

Without snow-shoes he might have cleared it easily; but with these encumbrances on his feet, he not only made a very poor attempt, but in some way or other they got entangled together, and in a violent effort to keep his balance, he sprained his right ankle so badly that, to his great dismay, he found he could no longer bear any weight upon it.

Here was a pretty state of affairs indeed!

A whole mile from Aunt Matilda's, not yet clear of the woods, not a living soul within reach of his voice, his right leg utterly useless and hurting awfully, and the cold growing more intense every minute!

It did not take poor Wilby long to realize that he was in no little danger.

As he could do nothing with his snow-shoes, he took them off, and tried to get along without them; but the snow was so dry and soft that he sank right into it, and could make no advance at all.

His only hope seemed to be to shout at the top of his voice on the small chance of somebody hearing him.

So he called for help with all his might.

Oscar was much puzzled by his master's conduct, and circled impatiently around him, as if to urge him onward.

For quite a long time Wilby shouted, until what between cold and weariness there was no more shout left in him.

Presently he felt an intense longing to sleep stealing over him.

He strove desperately hard to shake it off, for he knew well what it meant; but in spite of all his efforts the deadly drowsiness crept steadily and surely over his senses, and he was just lapsing into unconsciousness when there was a crashing in the underbrush ahead, and before he had time to ask himself what it could be, the small trees in front of him parted violently, and out stepped a great white bear.

"What do you mean by all this shouting?"

he demanded rather crossly.

Curiously enough, Wilby was not quite so terrified as he expected he would be if a white bear happened along, and found courage to say very humbly,-- "Please, Mr. Bear, I hope I didn't disturb you.

But, you see, I've sprained my ankle badly, and I was shouting for some one to come and help me."

"Ho, ho!

you are hurt, are you?"

was the reply, in rather a gentler tone.

"Well, I'll look after you."

And so saying, the bear picked the big boy up in his arms as though he had been a little baby, and marched off with him through the woods at a rapid rate.

Wilby knew resistance was vain, so he just made up his mind to take things as quietly as possible; which, under the circumstances, was a very wise thing to do.

After about five minutes' walking, his captor came to a large tree which had been torn up by the roots.

Under this he quickly dodged, and entered what seemed to be a long, dark passage.

In spite of his good resolution, Wilby could not help a kind of groan at this.

"Shut up!"

growled the bear, giving him a by no means gentle cuff on the side of the head.

Wilby did shut up, and for a time nothing was to be heard save the soft thump, thump, thump of the bear's broad feet on the hard floor of the passage.

At last they stopped.

The bear gave something a kick, a door flew open inward, and then there burst upon the bewildered Wilby such a sight as he had never even dreamed of in his life before.

He found himself in a large room, flooded with light and warmth from a glorious wood fire that was crackling away in a huge fireplace at one end.

At first he thought the whole place had just been newly whitewashed, but soon discovered his mistake.

Everything in and about that room was marble--white marble--pure and glistening as the snow outside.

Floor, walls, ceiling, tables--they were all marble alike, and they looked wonderfully fine, with the firelight flashing upon them.

But before Wilby had time to take much more in, he heard a deep bass voice asking,-- "Hallo, Major!

what have you got there?"

And turning his head, he saw a splendid white bear, a good deal bigger than his rescuer, coming toward them from the far end of the room.

"Some farmer's son, Max," answered the Major, at the same time gently depositing his load on a couch near the fire.

"I found him 'most frozen to death in a snow-drift..

I guess we can make him all right again."

"Of course we can," exclaimed another voice, much livelier in tone than the first speaker's, and a third bear, quite as white but not so tall as either of the others, emerged into the firelight from a dark corner, where he had been attending to some household duty.

"Of course we can, if you say so, Minor," growled the one called Max, good-humouredly.

"We'll begin by giving him a good dinner, at all events."

By the way, I forgot to mention that the full names of Wilby's new friends were Ursa Minor, Ursa Major, and Ursa Maximus, but for convenience' sake they called one another simply Minor, Major, and Max.

Feeling surprisingly at his ease, in view of his strange surroundings, Wilby stretched himself out on his comfortable couch, and almost forgot the pain from his sprained ankle in his delight at his novel experience.

"What a lot I'll have to tell them at home!"

he said exultingly to himself.

"They won't believe one-half of it, I know."

Maximus was evidently head of the household, and superintended in a dignified way, while Major and Minor bustled about getting dinner ready.

In a little while all the preparations were complete, and Major, who seemed to feel especially responsible for Wilby, brought him a steaming bowl of something which the hungry boy was not long in sampling.

And it proved to be such delicious rabbit-stew that he could not help exclaiming,-- "My sakes, but this is fine!

Mother couldn't make a better stew herself,"--which compliment pleased Minor, who had prepared the stew, so much that he filled Wilby's bowl up again before it was fairly empty.

Besides the stew there were roast partridges and baked potatoes, and also apples and nuts, so that Wilby had just about as much as he could comfortably eat--in fact, perhaps a little more.

At all events, his waistband began to remind him it was there.

Dinner over, the dishes were cleared away and the room set in order again, Wilby watching everything with the liveliest interest, determined to have such a story to tell as would make him the hero of the country-side for a whole month at least.

He was particularly struck with the deftness with which the bears went about their work.

Although their big paws looked clumsy enough, the dear knows, they did things as handily as Wilby himself could have done them.

When every sign of the dinner had vanished, Max, Major, and Minor drew up their chairs (for they each had a big arm-chair) in front of the fire, and sat down to talk over the events of the day, quite ignoring the addition to their family,--who, indeed, was very well pleased at being left alone, as he much preferred using his eyes to his tongue, when everything around him was so delightfully novel.

The bears' voices were so low and deep that Wilby could not make out one-half they were saying.

Besides, what with the warmth of the room and his own weariness, he began to feel very sleepy again, especially as the couch was extremely comfortable.

In fact, he had just about dozed off, when he was awakened by Maximus jumping up from his chair, and saying in a loud tone,-- "Come, fellows, let us have a song, and then we'll turn in."

Whereupon the three of them stood up together around the fire, and sang very heartily the following song, the words of which, so far as he heard them, Wilby had no difficulty in remembering, although the tune went completely out of his head.

He had not much of an ear for music, any way.

"Three jolly white bears are we, Who can sing right merrily.

For our hearts are light and free From any care.

We have always lots to eat, And we keep our house so neat That it's really quite a treat To be a bear.

"Yes, indeed, we're happy bears, Since nobody knows our lairs, Where we mind our own affairs So quietly.

Of course we have to work, But none of us ever shirk;

For who'd be a lazy lark, Don't you see?

"When the snow is on the ground, We go hunting all around For the bunnies which abound Among the trees.

And when summer-time is here, How the berries disappear Down our throats--" But Wilby never heard the end of the third verse, for the simple reason that sleep overcame him just then, and song, singers, and marble palace alike faded away into nothingness.

He had no idea how long he slept, but when he awoke he was both surprised and disappointed to find himself on the sofa in Aunt Matilda's very plain, though cozy, sitting-room, instead of on his couch in White Bear Castle, while now not only his ankle but his whole body gave him pain--every nerve tingling, and face and hands smarting dreadfully.

Minor, Major, and Maximus were all gone too, and in their place dear old Aunt Matilda and kind Uncle Lemuel were bending over him, with faces full of relief at his return to consciousness.

"O Wilby dear, how glad I am to see you open your eyes again!"

exclaimed Aunt Matilda joyfully.

"You were so long coming to that I began to fear that it might be all over with you."

"Yes, Wilby, my boy," added Uncle Lemuel, "you've had a close shave.

But for Oscar there would not be much life left in you by this time."

Wilby was too dazed for some time to understand it all, but later on his uncle explained the matter.

It seemed that wise old Oscar, as soon as Wilby lost his senses, scampered off to Uncle Lemuel's as hard as he could go, and by barking and scratching at the door soon let them know he was there.

Then by signs whose meaning they were not long in guessing, he persuaded them to go back with him, until poor Wilby was found where he had fallen beside the big tree.

Oscar capered about, wild with delight, when his master was carried off to the house, and Uncle Lem could not say enough about his cleverness.

Wilby felt very grateful to Oscar and to his uncle also, and thankful that he had not lost his life.

Yet he could not help a twinge of regret at the thought of never seeing his white bear friends again, seeing how kindly they had treated him in spite of their character for cruelty.

However, it was no small consolation to have such a rattling good story to tell, and tell it he did very graphically many a time, much to the enjoyment of his hearers.