Jack and Annie passed under the stone gatewaythat led onto London Bridge.
As they started across, Jack was amazed.
The bridge was so noisy and smelly! Wagon wheelsrumbled like thunder over the cobblestones. Potsclinked in carts. Horses neighed. Shopkeepersshouted.
"Good pies!""Hot peas!""New pins!""Shoes! Soap! Salt!"A shopkeeper caught Jack's eye. "What lack you,boy?" he shouted.
"Nothing, thank you," said Jack, and kept walking.
"Watch out!" a cart driver yelled.
Jack grabbed Annie's hand. He pulled her out of theway. The cart rolled past them over the narrowroadway.
"Look!" said Annie. She pointed to a bear in awooden cage in the back of the cart. The bear hadmatted brown fur. His head was down.
As the cart rumbled on, Jack shook his head. "Whatnext?" he said.
"Them," said Annie, looking up.
She pointed at huge black birds sitting hunched atthe edges of the rooftops. The birds sat still as theystared down at all the carts and animals and peoplecrossing London Bridge. Jack shivered and movedquickly past the gaze of the giant silent birds.
Finally he and Annie came to the end of the bridge.
They stepped onto the river bank. There they stoppedand looked around.
"I wonder where those big kids went," said Annie.
Jack studied the crowd heading down the road thatled from the bridge. There was no sign of the group ofragged boys.
Jack took out their research book. He found thepicture of London Bridge. He read aloud:
London Bridge connected London to the south bankof the river, an area where Londoners went forentertainment. The Bear Garden was a popular spot.
"The Bear Garden?" said Annie. "That sounds good.
Where's that?"Jack found a map of the south bank. He pointed to acircle that was labeled BEAR GARDEN.
"Here," he said. He looked up. "And there!" Hepointed to a dark, round building in the distance.
"Great!" said Annie. "I want to see the garden filledwith bears.""Let's read--" started Jack.
"Let's look!" said Annie. She headed toward theBear Garden.
Jack put away their book and followed her. As theygot closer, they heard loud shouting and laughtercoming from inside the round building.
Annie stopped.
"Wait," she said. "I'm getting a bad feeling about theBear Garden. Maybe we should read more about it."Jack opened their book again. He read aloud:
At an arena called the Bear Garden, people watchedbears fight with dogs. Animal fights were a commonsport in old England. They are against the law today.
"Bears fight with dogs? Yuck!" said Annie. "Icouldn't stand to watch that!""Me neither," said Jack. "Forget that place." Hestarted to walk away.
"Hey, Jack! Look over there!" said Annie. Shepointed to a cart nearby. "That's the bear that passedus on the bridge!" |