The Story of Freginald (2 page)

He was walking along slowly, still listening to the wind, and wondering why it sang a different song in the leaves of each different kind of tree, when he heard a queer noise that wasn't the wind. It sounded a little like the motor-boats that occasionally came up the river, but it wasn't steady—it sounded, he thought, like a very distant motor-boat that had gone to sleep and was snoring. But the noise wasn't on the river; it was in the woods; and he followed it up and presently came out in a little open glade. And in the middle of the glade was a big yellowish animal such as he had never seen before. The animal's eyes were shut and it seemed to be snoring gently.

Louise sat down and watched it quietly for a few minutes, and then he got impatient and coughed gently.

The animal opened its eyes. “Hello, bear,” it said.

“Hello,” said Louise. And added politely: “I'm sorry I disturbed you when you were asleep.”

“Asleep?” said the animal. “Who's asleep?”

“I—you were snoring,” said Louise, “so I thought you were asleep.”

“I was
not
asleep!” said the other indignantly. “I was purring.”

“Oh,” said Louise. “Excuse me. But you're not a cat.”

“I'm a lion,” said the animal. “I'm the chief of the cat family and the king of all the animals.” He tossed his mane self-consciously.

“Oh,” said Louise again.

“My name is Leo,” said the lion.

Louise nodded thoughtfully. “Leo,” he repeated. “Think of that! How do you do, Leo?”

“Very well, thank you,” said Leo. “And what might your name be?”

The little bear looked embarrassed. “Well, I—that is—well, it's Louise,” he stammered.

But the lion didn't laugh. Instead he sat up suddenly. “Louise!” he exclaimed. “Well, dye my hair! Why, that's amazing! Amazing? It's magnificent! By George, what a find for Mr. Boomschmidt! There's a drawing card for you! A bear named Louise!” And he began to purr again, so loud that the near-by branches trembled.

“You mean—you mean that you don't think it's a funny name?” asked the bear.

“Funny!” exclaimed Leo. “It's—” He waved a paw hopelessly. “I haven't the words for it! But good gracious!” he added, getting up; “you must come along with me at once and meet Mr. Boomschmidt.”

Louise was rather bewildered. “But I don't understand,” he said. “I don't know what you are talking about.”

The lion frowned impatiently, then his face cleared and he sat down again. “Well, well,” he said, “perhaps I should explain. You see, I'm with a circus. We travel around the country giving shows. Mr. Boomschmidt is the owner of the circus. But we haven't been doing very well this season. Mr. Boomschmidt is quite discouraged. He says that the trouble is that the menagerie is weak. He says you can't succeed with a weak menagerie. Only a few people come to the shows, and they say: ‘Oh, we've seen all these lions and tigers and elephants and monkeys before. Why don't you get some different animals? We'd come to your shows if you had something new, something novel.' Now most of them stay away. Mr. Boomschmidt says we've got to get something different to show the people, but we haven't been able to think of anything different. We tried dressing up the monkeys in fancy costumes and advertising them as members of the wild African tribe of the Bwango-Bwango, but the people saw through the disguise. They said: ‘Aw, they're just monkeys dressed up!'

“But now you come along! Just in the nick of time! A bear named Louise! I bet they never saw anything like that before I Come along and meet Mr. Boomschmidt. He'll be delighted.”

Louise didn't know whether to go along or not. He thought it would be fun to be in a circus. He had often thought of going traveling, but if he did so, he wanted to leave his name behind him. That was the chief reason for going away—to be able to change his name. But if he went with this circus not only would he keep his name, but it would be the most important thing about him.

“I—I don't know,” he began hesitantly. But the lion clapped him on the back.

“Oh, come along,” he said. “See Mr. Boomschmidt anyway. You'll like him. A great card, Mr. Boomschmidt is. You don't have to decide until you've talked to him.”

So Louise said all right, he'd go see Mr. Boomschmidt.

The lion led the way down through the woods toward the river, and when they came out on the bank, Louise saw that a big tent had been put up in one of the fields on the other side of the water, and a number of little tents were going up around it, and a lot of people and animals were running in and out and talking and halloing and being very busy. They waded the river, which was shallow at this point, and walked up toward the tents.

When they had nearly reached them they passed a number of very beautiful circus wagons all painted in red and gold, and the lion stopped in front of one that had LEO, KING OF THE BEASTS, painted on it in big letters. “That's my wagon,” he said proudly.

“My, it's handsome!” said Louise.

“You'll have one like it if you come with us,” said Leo.

They went on between the tents, picking their way round ropes and tent pegs. Louise would have liked to stop and watch the men at work and stare at the animals, for there were zebras and monkeys and tigers and buffaloes and many others that he had never seen before, but Leo hurried him on.

An ostrich passed them and Leo stopped and said: “Hello, Oscar. Where's the boss?”

But the ostrich said haughtily: “I don't know, I'm sure,” and stalked off.

Leo grunted disgustedly. “I'd claw his tail-feathers out for him, only Mr. Boomschmidt wouldn't like it,” he said. “Those ostriches! Take it from me, young bear, the bigger the bird, the smaller the brain. When you don't know enough to be civil, you're pretty dumb.—Oh, hello, Gus,” he said suddenly, as he caught sight of an elephant who was helping two men haul on a rope. “Where's the boss?”

“Hi, Leo,” said the elephant. “He's over with the snakes. One of 'em's sick. Been eating popcorn again, I guess. Who's your friend?”

“Introduce you to him later,” said Leo. “He's going to join the show.”

Presently they came to a small tent in front of which several men were putting up a big sign which had snakes painted all over it. They looked in the door and saw a small fat round-faced man in a plaid suit with a silk hat crammed on the back of his head. He had two bottles and a spoon in his hands and was looking severely at three snakes who were coiled up on the ground in front of him. The snakes looked rather embarrassed.

“I've told you again and again,” he was saying, “that you must
not
eat popcorn. You get good food and plenty of it, of the right kind. You
know
that popcorn disagrees with you—” He stopped as he saw the lion. “Oh, hello, Leo,” he said. “What am I going to do with these boys? They've been at the popcorn again.”

“Do as you said you would,” said Leo. “Give 'em castor oil—”

“Oh, please!” said one of the snakes. “We
hate
castor oil! And the peppermint will cure our stomach-aches.”

“Yes,” said Leo. “And then you'll go eat some more popcorn. Give 'em the oil, chief.”

“Well,” said the man doubtfully, “maybe the stomach-ache is punishment enough. You boys have got so much stomach that there's more of it to ache.” He hesitated a moment, then poured some of the peppermint onto a lump of sugar. “Peppermint this time,” he said. “But this is the last time. Next time you get oil!”

“It's a mistake, chief,” said Leo grumpily. “It'll be the same thing all over again tomorrow. But look here. I want to introduce you to a friend of mine. Mr. Boomschmidt: Louise.”

Louise put his paw into the hand that Mr. Boomschmidt held out. It was a warm, comfortable sort of hand, and Mr. Boomschmidt smiled a warm, comfortable sort of smile. Louise liked him right away.

“Louise?” said Mr. Boomschmidt. “Did you say Louise?”

“Nothing else, chief,” said Leo.

“My word!” exclaimed Mr. Boomschmidt, smiling delightedly and pushing his silk hat still farther back on his head. “A bear named Louise! That'll bring 'em! Where'd you find him, Leo?”

“Excuse me, sir,” said Louise. “I can't help that name. I think it's just as funny as you do. But—”

“Funny!” interrupted Mr. Boomschmidt. “It's magnificent! You'll join us, of course?”

All this had taken Louise so much by surprise that he didn't know just what to say. It would be wonderful to be with a circus; it would be even more wonderful to be with animals who didn't laugh at his name. But to go right away from home, out into the wide world—“I—I'd like to, sir,” he said. “Of course, I'd have to speak to my parents. But do you really think I'd help the show, sir?”

“Help it!” exclaimed Mr. Boomschmidt. “You'll
be
the show. A bear named Louise! Not a man, woman, or child in the United States has ever seen—yes, or even heard of such a thing. Only of course you'll have to have a few tricks. Is there anything special you can do?”

“I can hop like a rabbit,” said Louise doubtfully.

Mr. Boomschmidt pushed his hat so far back that it fell completely off, and an expression of delighted amazement spread over his round face. “Hop like a rabbit!” he exclaimed. “Oh, my word! Oh, goodness me! Oh, that's too much! Leo, isn't it too much? Oh,
oh
, what a show we'll have!”

“Yes, sir,” said Louise.

“But let's get to business,” said the showman, taking his hat, which one of the snakes had picked up and handed to him. “Go get your parents' consent first, of course. Leo, you go along and explain to them. And then as to terms: a wagon all your own, do as you please and go where you like except during the two daily performances, and three good meals a day of anything you care to order, provided you don't want too much cake and candy. What do you like for breakfast, by the way?”

“Oh, why—anything,” said Louise. “I like everything.”

“Well, well,” said Mr. Boomschmidt. “You're easy to please, I must say. But don't hesitate to ask me for anything you want. We'll do our best to make you comfortable. And now you better go along with Leo and talk to your parents.”

CHAPTER 2

Louise's parents had no objection to his going out to see the world under the guidance of such a large, handsome, and responsible-looking lion, so he went back that same afternoon and joined the show. As Mr. Boomschmidt had predicted, the people flocked from miles around to see a bear named Louise, and when during the performance he came hopping like a rabbit into the ring, the applause was almost deafening. He was a great success.

The show stopped two or three days in each town, and at first Louise was too busy and too much interested in seeing things and talking to other animals to make up any poetry at all. It was different from most shows in one way; all the animals had cages, but the bars, as Mr. Boomschmidt explained, were rather to keep the people out than the animals in, and the lions and tigers and kangaroos and other animals could go in and come out when they wanted to, and mingle with the people, and help the circus men with their work.