But Adams was as firm as adamant and as resolute as a lion. Among the thousands who saw him dressed in his grotesque hunter's suit, and witnessed the apparent vigor with which he "performed" the savage monsters, beating and whipping them into apparently the most perfect docility, probably not one suspected that this rough, fierce-looking, powerful demi-savage, as he appeared to be, was suffering intense pain from his broken skull and fevered system, and that nothing kept him from stretching himself on his deathbed but that most indomitable and extraordinary will of his. After the exhibition had been open six weeks, the Doctor insisted that Adams should sell out his share in the animals and settle up all his worldly affairs; for he assured him that he was growing weaker every day, and his earthly existence must soon terminate. "I shall live a good deal longer than you doctors think for," replied Adams, doggedly; and then, seeming after all to realize the truth of the Doctor's assertion, he turned to me and said: "Well, Mr. B., you must buy me out." He named his price for his half of the "show," and I accepted his offer. We had arranged to exhibit the bears in Connecticut and Massachusetts during the summer, in connection with a circus, and Adams insisted that I should hire him to travel for the summer, and exhibit the bears in their curious performances. He offered to go for $60 per week and traveling expenses of himself and wife. I replied that I would gladly engage him as long as he could stand it, but I advised him to give up business and go to his home in Massachusetts; "for," I remarked, "you are growing weaker every day, and at best cannot stand it more than a fortnight." "What will you give me extra if I will travel and exhibit the bears every day for ten weeks?" asked old Adams, eagerly. "Five hundred dollars," I replied, with a laugh. "Done!" exclaimed Adams. "I will do it; so draw up an agreement to that effect at once. But mind you, draw it payable to my wife, for I may be too weak to attend to business after the ten weeks are up, and if I perform my part of the contract, I want her to get the $500 without any trouble." I drew up a contract to pay him $60 per week for his services, and if he continued to exhibit the bears for ten consecutive weeks I was then to hand him, or his wife $500 extra. "You have lost your $500!" exclaimed Adams on taking the contract; "for I am bound to live and earn it." "I hope you may, with all my heart, and a hundred years more if you desire it," I replied. "Call me a fool if I don't earn the $500!" exclaimed Adams, with a triumphant laugh. The "show" started off in a few days, and at the end of a fortnight I met it at Hartford, Connecticut. "Well," says I, "Adams, you seem to stand it pretty well. I hope you and your wife are comfortable?" "Yes," he replied, with a laugh; "and you may as well try to be comfortable too, for your $500 is a goner."