its behavior.  As a matter of fact, the flood was now sweeping the raft over what was, at ordinary times, a series of low falls, a succession of saw-toothed ledges which would have ripped the raft to bits.  Now the ledges were buried deep under the immense volume of the freshet.  But they were not to be ignored, for all that.  And they made their submerged presence felt in a turmoil that became more and more terrifying to the two little passengers on the raft.

“There was just one point in the raft, one only, that was farther away than any other part from those dreadful, seething-crested black surges—­and that was the very center.  The little bear backed toward it, whimpering and shivering, from his corner.

“From her corner, directly opposite, the baby too backed toward it, hitching herself along and eyeing the waves in the silence of the terror.  She arrived at the same instant.  Each was conscious of something alive, and warm, and soft, and comfortable—­with motherly suggestion in the contact.  The baby turned with a sob and flung her arms about the bear.  The bear, snuggling his narrow black snout under her arm as if to shut out the fearful sight of the waves, made futile efforts to crawl into a lap that was many sizes too small to accommodate him.

“In some ten minutes more the wild ledges were past.  The surges sank to foaming swirls, and the raft once more journeyed smoothly.  The two little voyagers, recovering from their ecstasy of fear, looked at each other in surprise—­and the bear, slipping off the baby’s lap, squatted on his furry haunches and eyed her with a sort of guilty apprehension.

“Here it was that the baby showed herself of the dominant breed.  The bear was still uneasy and afraid of her.  But she, for her part, had no more dread of him whatever.  Through all her panic she had been dimly conscious that he had been in the attitude of seeking her protection.  Now she was quite ready to give it—­quite ready to take possession of him, in fact, as really a sort of glorified Teddy Bear come to life; and she felt her authority complete.  Half-coaxingly, but quite firmly, and with a note of command in her little voice which the animal instinctively understood, she said:  ‘Turn here, Teddy!’ and pulled him back unceremoniously to her lap.  The bear, with the influence of her comforting warmth still strong upon him, yielded.  It was nice, when one was frightened and had lost one’s mother, to be cuddled so softly by a creature that was evidently friendly, in spite of the dreaded man smell that hung about her.  His mother had tried to teach him that that smell was the most dangerous of all the warning smells his nostrils could encounter.  But the lesson had been most imperfectly learned, and now was easily forgotten.  He was tired, moreover, and wanted to go to sleep.  So he snuggled his glossy, roguish face down into the baby’s lap and shut his eyes.  And the baby, filled with delight over such a novel and interesting plaything, shook her yellow hair down over his black fur and crooned to him a soft, half-articulate babble of endearment.