The Berenstain Bear Scouts and the Evil Eye
Page 4
“Not really, sir,” said the butler. “I just haven’t been sleeping well lately.”
Hmm, thought Papa. Just like Lady Grizzly. Maybe it’s catching.
They entered the front hallway that led to the main spiral staircase. As the cubs admired a suit of armor that stood before several life-size portraits of Grizzly forebears, Reeves went to an intercom and pressed a button. “The cubs have arrived, Miss Bonnie,” he said.
Bonnie waved as she came skipping down the stairs. “Hi, guys,” she said. “How about a tour of the mansion?”
“Great,” said Brother. “I’ve never been upstairs. Can we go up and look around?”
“Sure,” said Bonnie, taking his hand. “Let’s go.”
Once upstairs, Bonnie led the cubs down a long hallway lined with portraits.
“Wow,” said Sister. “How many forebears do the Grizzlys have, anyway?”
“Dozens,” said Bonnie. “The family goes back centuries.”
Brother stopped in front of one of the portraits. It was of a very old white-haired bear who looked out from the canvas with dark beady eyes. The eyes had an odd gleam in them. Brother had a hunch that the gleam was a greedy one.
“Who’s this old guy?” he asked Bonnie. “I don’t think I like the looks of him.”
“Funny you should say that,” said Bonnie. “That’s old Farnsworth Grizzly, Uncle Squire’s great-grandfather. He built Grizzly Mansion, you know. And he was definitely not a nice bear.”
“What did he do that wasn’t nice?” asked Sister.
“He was a dishonest gambler—a swindler. He cheated bears out of tons of money.”
“Kind of an old-time Ralph Ripoff,” said Brother.
“But much, much worse,” said Bonnie. “Farnsworth Grizzly made Ralph look like an honest citizen. Ralph still lives in that run-down houseboat, but Farnsworth Grizzly swindled his way into a mansion.”
“I never knew your uncle’s family had such a bad apple in its barrel,” said Brother.
“It wasn’t just Farnsworth,” said Bonnie. “The old-time Grizzlys were a bad lot. Farnsworth was the last of the bad ones, but he was far from the worst.”
“Who was the worst?” asked Cousin Fred.
“Follow me and I’ll show you,” said Bonnie.
She led them to the very end of the hall, where a large portrait hung high on the wall. It was a painting of a very mean-looking bear dressed in what might have been pirates’ clothes. He wore a black wide-brimmed hat with a feather in it and a black waistcoat with huge gold buttons. In one side of his belt was tucked an old-fashioned pistol; in the other was an antique dagger. Across his eyes stretched a black mask, and his mouth was twisted into a snarl.
“Is that a Grizzly?” asked Sister, staring up at the portrait.
“The very first one,” said Bonnie. “He was an orphan, and no one knows who his parents were. Have you guys ever heard of Bad Bart Grizzly?”
“The Maniac of Mountain Highway?” said Cousin Fred. “You mean he was related to the squire?”
“That’s the only reason he’s here on the wall,” said Bonnie.
“Who was he?” asked Sister.
“He was a famous highway robber from centuries ago,” said Fred. “He and his band of thieves used to rob stagecoaches along Old Mountain Highway in the Great Grizzly Mountains. It was just called Mountain Highway in those days.”
“Like Robin Bear of Bearwood Forest?” asked Sister.
“Not exactly,” said Bonnie. “Robin Bear robbed from the rich and gave to the poor. Bad Bart robbed from the rich, stole from the poor—and kept everything for himself! He didn’t just rob travelers, either. At night he would break into the cottages of the poor mountain folk, scare them out of their wits, and take everything they owned. That’s why they called him a maniac.”
Sister looked up at the portrait again and shivered. “Can we go back downstairs now?” she said. “It’s kind of creepy up here.”
Cousin Fred groaned. But Brother was feeling protective toward his little sister. “Come on, Sis,” he said. “We’ll go see the ballroom instead.”
As they passed the portrait of Farnsworth Grizzly on their way to the stairs, Brother suddenly felt Sister’s hand on his arm. “What’s wrong, Sis?” he said.
She glanced over her shoulder at the portrait. “Is that a trick painting?” she asked.
“What do you mean?” said Bonnie.
“The eyes followed me as I went past!” said Sister.
Brother chuckled and put his arm around Sister’s shoulders as they went down the stairs. “Isn’t it amazing what your imagination can do when you’re scared?” he said.
About the Authors
STAN AND JAN BERENSTAIN began writing the Berenstain Bears series in 1962, with The Big Honey Hunt. Since then, more than 250 Berenstain Bears books have been published and sales of the series are nearing 300 million. Stan and Jan have left behind a legacy of arguably the best-selling children’s book series ever. Making the books has long been a family affair, with son Mike Berenstain writing and illustrating new stories about everyone’s favorite Bear family. You can visit the Berenstains online at www.berenstainbears.com.
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Copyright
THE BERENSTAIN BEAR SCOUTS AND THE EVIL EYE. Copyright © 1998 by Stan and Jan Berenstain. Berenstain Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition June 2013 ISBN 9780062189103
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
FIRST EDITION
Originally published in 1998 by Scholastic Inc.
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