might get eaten by a bear!
I'll take a certain mixup lad, He's small, but does his share, And I'll watch him close, cause I'd be sad, If the boy got eaten by a bear!
I'll take along this barrister, With lofty learned air, And I'll make of him a forester, So he won't get eaten by a bear!
Behold this noble river rat, With brag so fine and rare! He's as dangerous as a mountain cat, He will not get eaten by a bear!
Now off we go, where'er we please. We're heroes, so we dare, To defy mosquitoes, wasps, and fleas, And we won't get eaten by a bear!
They reached the main road and Peggy turned right, heading north, while the men took their horses south. She waved from the driver's seat, but did not look back. Alvin stopped to watch her, just for a moment, just for a lingering moment, as Arthur Stuart behind him shouted, "Now I get to sing the last part that I made up all by myself! I get to!"
"So sing it," said Alvin. So Arthur Stuart sang.
Grizzly bear, grizzly bear, Run and hide, you sizzly bear! We'll take away your coat of hair, And roast you in your underwear!
Alvin laughed till tears streamed down his face.
Chapter 19 - Philadelphia
When Calvin's and Honor‚'s ship arrived in New Amsterdam, the newspapers were full of chat about the inauguration, which was only a week away in Philadelphia. Calvin remembered Harrison's name at once - how many times had he listened to the tale of the massacre at Tippy-Canoe? He remembered meeting the bloody-handed bum on the streets of New Amsterdam, and told the tale to Honor‚.
"So you created him."
"I helped him make the best of his limited possibilities," said Calvin.
"No, no," said Honor‚. "You are too modest. This man created himself as a monster who killed people for political gain. Then this Red prophet destroyed him with a curse. Then, from the hopeless ruin of his life, you turned his path upward again. Calvin, you finally impress me. You have achieved, in life, that infinite power which is usually reserved to the novelist."
"The power to use up enormous amounts of paper and ink to no avail?"
"The power to make people's lives take the most illogical turns. Parents, for instance, have no such power. They can help their children along, or, more likely, shatter their lives as someone's mother once did with her casual adultery even as she abandoned her child to the tender mercies of the boarding school. But such parents have no power then to heal the child they have injured. Having brought the child low, they cannot raise the child up. But I can bring a man low, then raise him up, then bring him low again, all with a stroke of the pen."
"And so can I," said Calvin thoughtfully.
"Well, to a degree," said Honord. "To be honest, however, you did not bring him low, and now, having raised him up, I doubt you can bring him low again. The man has been elected president, even if his domain consists primarily of trees and tree-dwelling beasts."
"There's several million people in the United States," said Calvin.
"It was to them that I referred," said Honor‚.
The challenge was too much for Calvin to resist. Could he bring down the president of the United States? How would he do it? This time there could be no scornful words that would provoke him into self-destruction, as Calvin's words had helped the man resurrect himself from shameful oblivion. But then, Calvin had learned to do much more subtle things than mere talk in the many months since then. It would be a challenge. It was almost a dare.
"Let's go to Philadelphia," said Calvin. "For the inauguration."
Honor‚ was perfectly happy to board the train and go along. He was amused by the size and newness of the tiny towns that Americans referred to as "cities," and Calvin constantly had to watch out for him as he practiced his feeble English with the kind of rough American who was likely to pick up the little Frenchman and toss him into a river. Honor‚, armed only with an ornate cane he had purchased from a fellow-voyager, had fearlessly walked through the most wretched immigrant districts of New Amsterdam and now of Philadelphia. "These men aren't characters in novels," said Calvin, more than once. "If they break your neck, it'll really be broken!"
"Then you'll have to fix me, my talented knackish friend." He