And Big Bear said, 'Guess what I have got, my children.' And one Little Bear guessed berries, and one Little Bear guessed salmon, and t'other Little Bear guessed porcupine.
Then Big Bear laughed 'Whoof! Whoof!' and said, '_A Nice Big Fat Man_!'" As he listened, recollection avowed itself in his face, and, when she had finished, his eyes wrinkled up and he laughed a peculiar, laughable silent laugh.
"Sure, an' it's well I know ye," he explained; "but for the life iv me I can't put me finger on ye." She pointed into the store and watched him anxiously.
"Now I have ye!" He drew back and looked her up and down, and his expression changed to disappointment.

"It cuddent be.

I mistook ye.
Ye cud niver a-lived in that shanty," thrusting a thumb in the direction of the store.
Frona nodded her head vigorously.
"Thin it's yer ownself afther all?
The little motherless darlin', with the goold hair I combed the knots out iv many's the time?
The little witch that run barefoot an' barelegged over all the place ?" "Yes, yes," she corroborated, gleefully.
"The little divil that stole the dog-team an' wint over the Pass in the dead o' winter for to see where the world come to an ind on the ither side, just because old Matt McCarthy was afther tellin' her fairy stories ?" "O Matt, dear old Matt! Remember the time I went swimming with the Siwash girls from the Indian camp ?" "An' I dragged ye out by the hair o' yer head ?" "And lost one of your new rubber boots ?" "Ah, an' sure an' I do.

And a most shockin' an' immodest affair it was! An' the boots was worth tin dollars over yer father's counter." "And then you went away, over the Pass, to the Inside, and we never heard a word of you.

Everybody thought you dead." "Well I recollect the day.