Part 5

But the Circus Bear said, "You know that owls eat rats, and mice, and little birds, and things of that kind; but this owl is a very good, kind owl, and I am surprised that he would harm one of the white rats from the circus; but I guess he is very hungry, because he has been sitting up there a long while with nothing to eat."

Then the Cub Bear said, "We are going to try to build a house big enough for all the animals, so if they come to see us, we will have a place for them to stay. We think there is a large cave, large enough for us all, back of this cave, but we don't know. Can you help us?"

Then the muskrat said, "I should be very glad to help you if I can, because your brother was very good to me when we were in the circus."

And the little Cub Bear said, "What can you do?"

And the muskrat said, "I can climb through this round hole here and see what there is in there."

So he scampered through the hole where the giraffe had looked, and was gone a long, long while, and they all waited and wondered why he didn't come back. Finally the muskrat did come back, but he was all wet, and all the animals wondered why.

The little Cub Bear said, "What did you find?"

The muskrat said: "I found the most beautiful cave in the whole world. It has a level, smooth floor, and is nice and clean, and there are beautiful columns that come down from the roof to the floor of the cave, just like the pillars in a great palace, and away back in the back part of the cave there is a beautiful stream of clear, cold water. I had a fine swim in it. This cave is large enough for all the animals in the circus. There is one place back in the cave that is big enough for all the circus tents of the circus we used to be in."

And the Circus Bear said, "My! That is grand," because he knew how large the tents were.

And the little Cub Bear said, "My! That is grand," because his brother had said the same thing, and he knew it must be so.

Then the animals began to plan how they could get into this cave. Finally they all agreed that if they could make the opening of the den large enough for the elephant to get in, and if the rhinoceros should come with his great horn, and some more of the animals would come, that they surely could get into this cave.

So that night the elephant worked as hard as he could with his tusks and his trunk, and all the bears worked carrying out rock and stones, and digging out roots with their claws; and the monkey scampered around and carried out small rocks, and pulled out small roots, and helped some; but he kept pulling the elephant's tail every once in a while, and was more bother than he was help; just like some boys that you know. But finally they got the mouth of the den large enough so the elephant could come in. He came in and sat down, and then there was hardly room enough for any other animal.

The poor little Cub Bear and the Circus Bear were squeezed up tight against the wall, and Papa and Mamma Bear had to get way back, in the back part of the cave; and the monkey had to hang to a root way up on the top of the cave. But by turning around slowly, the elephant found that he could use his tusks and trunk to move some of the rocks.

They all worked hard until they were tired, and were nearly through into the cave, and had made the room so much larger, that they all had room to sit down and talk.

The next morning early the little Cub Bear heard the "Bang, bang!" of the beaver's tail, and rushed to the mouth of the cave, and there he saw a very large animal, with two horns on the end of his nose, and a funny looking skin, hard and horny. He knew at once that the animal was the rhinoceros the lion had told about the night before.

The owl said, "Who-o-o? who-o-o-o?" and the animal answered with a terrible snort and r-o-a-r. Then the rhinoceros came to the mouth of the cave, and the little bear said:

"I am very glad that you came, because we are trying to build a house that will be large enough to hold all of the animals that used to live in the circus, and the giraffe tells us that there is a large cave back of this cave, and if we can only break through, we will have a house that will be big enough for us all."

Then the rhinoceros said, "What can I do? For I would like to help. Your brother was very good to me when we were in the circus, and I would be very glad to do anything that I can."

The little Cub Bear said, "I think that with that great horn of yours you could help to tear out some of the dirt and rocks, and the monkeys and the bears could then carry them out. Perhaps the elephant could be hitched to the chariot, and we could carry out some of the dirt and rocks in it."

The rhinoceros said that he would be very glad to do this.

That night, after the animals were through with their work, the little Cub Bear, who was the greatest fellow for stories that you ever saw, began to tease his papa for another story about the "Little-Club-Foot-Bear-that-would-not-mind-his-papa." Finally, the Papa Bear said that he would tell a story, if the little Cub Bear would promise to go right to bed as soon as he was through with the story. Of course the little Cub Bear said that he would, so Papa Bear told him the story of:

THE "LITTLE-CLUB-FOOT-BEAR-THAT-WOULD-NOT-MIND-HIS-PAPA" AND THE DYNAMITE

"You know that little cub bears like to eat," said the Papa Bear to his little Cub Bear. "But the 'Little-Club-Foot-Bear-that-would-not-mind-his-papa' once found a tallow candle, and he ate it all up, and it tasted as good to him as a stick of candy does to a little boy, and so always after that he was looking for tallow candles.

"Not far from where the little bear lived, there was a mine, where miners were digging in the rock to see if they couldn't get out some gold; and the miners had candles to use, so that when they were away in the mine, where it was dark, they could light a candle and see to work. One time the little Club-Foot-Bear found a whole box of candles, and he took eight or ten candles out, and carried them home and ate them. And when his papa found it out, he told him not to go there any more, because he might get hurt. The 'Little-Club-Foot-Bear-that-would-not-mind-his-papa' stayed away from the mine for a long time.

"But one day, after he had eaten all the candles up, he thought he would like to go back again and see if he could not find some more. So he went and he found another box of candles, as he thought. They looked almost like the other candles, but they were not so white; they were yellow and covered with paper. If the little Club-Foot-Bear could have read as little boys can, he would have seen these letters on the box: 'D-y-n-a-m-i-t-e.' Just as he got his arms full of these candles, as he thought, he heard the men coming, and he ran over to a tree and climbed the tree as fast as he could, with his arms full of these yellow candles. He got nearly to the top of the tree on a big limb, and there he sat and waited. The men came out, but they went back into the mine. The little Club-Foot-Bear took a big bite, but the very first chew he took, he found that it did not taste right at all. So he spit it out, and then he thought he would throw the rest down, because he did not like them, and wanted to get home as fast as he could. So he threw the whole armful of yellow sticks right down on to a rock. And when it struck the rock, what do you suppose happened?

"'Bang!'

"A bigger noise than all the firecrackers in the world put together would make, and the rocks began to fly through the air, and the tree jumped right out of the ground and began to fall down, down, down, the side of the mountain. The bear hugged the tree as tightly as he could, but it kept falling. And finally it fell 'kersplash!' right into the river.

"The little bear was terribly frightened, and was nearly drowned, but he scrambled out on to the tree as fast as he could and you never saw a little bear run so fast in your life. He could not have run faster, if all the dogs you ever saw had been running after him. And when he got home to his den, he ran to the very darkest part, and there he covered his eyes and his ears with his paws, but all the time he could hear a great ringing in his ears, and the terrible, 'Bang! bang! bang!' That night, after the little Club-Foot-Bear finally went to sleep, he suddenly made a great jump, and jumped clear over his Papa Bear, and pretty nearly out of the den. After that you never could get that 'Little-Club-Foot-Bear-that-would-not-mind-his-papa' to eat candles."

After the Papa Bear had finished the story of the "Little-Club-Foot-Bear-that-would-not-mind-his-papa," he said, "Little Cub Bear, what do you think of that story?" And the little Cub Bear scratched his head and said, "I am glad the little bear wasn't killed." And the little Cub Bear ran off and went to sleep.

During the night he dreamed, and several times he gave a jump, just as though he were going to jump out of bed. Can you guess what he was dreaming about?

The next morning the little Cub Bear said to his papa that he had noticed a box marked just like the box from which the "Little-Club-Foot-Bear-that-would-not-mind-his-papa" had eaten the things that looked like candles. The box had been left by some miners away back in the woods, and had in big letters on it the word "D-y-n-a-m-i-t-e."

When the Papa Bear heard this, he began to think and to scratch his head. He was thinking that if the stuff in the box had knocked the big tree down, perhaps it would help them to knock the rocks down, so that they could get into the beautiful cave. The Papa Bear was wondering about it, when he saw the old owl looking so solemn and wise. Then he said to himself, "I will ask the wise old owl. He can't help much digging into the cave, but as he is the wisest bird in the world, maybe he can tell me what to do with this stuff that knocks great trees down."

So the Papa Bear said to little Susie Bear, "Run and tell the old owl that I want to ask him a question."

So Susie Bear ran out as fast as she could and said to the owl, "Papa wants you to come into the cave, so that he can ask a question of you."

And the old owl looked wise and said, "Who-o-o-o? who-o-o-o?"

And Susie Bear said, "You-ou-ou-ou, you-ou-ou-ou-ou."

The old owl solemnly winked his great eyes, and slowly flapped his great wings, and flew to the cave. "Well, we-l-l, w-e-l-l," said the owl; "I am very glad to come into the cave, for you know that the light hurts my eyes, and I usually go out only at night. What can I do for you?"

The Papa Bear then told the owl what he had been thinking about.

The owl said very wisely, "I am sure that the stuff will knock down the rocks, for I have seen miners use it, and it makes the rocks fly so that they have to run a great way off, to keep from getting hurt. I think if you could get some of the stuff, you would find you could soon get into the beautiful cave that we all want to see."

The Papa Bear asked the elephant if he was willing to go with the little Cub Bear to find the box. The elephant Jumbo said that he would be glad to go, because the animals had all been so good to him in the circus.

Jumbo got down on his knees, and the little Cub Bear climbed up on his back, and away they went to find the box that had in it such wonderful stuff. They went a long, long way, and finally the little Cub Bear saw the box and pointed it out to Jumbo, who carefully picked it up with his trunk and with his tusks, just as he had the bales of hay, and carried it back toward the den. When they were coming back, what do you suppose they saw?

The funniest little animal that the little Cub Bear had ever seen. It was nearly as big as a pig, but it looked like a great mouse. Its front legs were very short, like small arms, while its hind legs were very long. Its tail was as large around as a man's arm. And then it had a pocket, only the pocket was in front, as the animal stood up, instead of on the sides as boys' pockets are. And what in the world do you suppose was in this pocket? Another little baby animal just like the big one. All you could see of the little fellow was his head peering out of the pocket.

As they stopped to watch the animals, the little fellow hopped out of the pocket, and took two little hops, and then when he saw the elephant, scampered back as fast as he could. The elephant told the little Cub Bear that this animal was the greatest jumper in the whole world. And while the elephant was telling this to the little Cub Bear, the animal saw the elephant, and was so glad to see his old friend Jumbo, that with two great jumps it reached Jumbo, and with the third, jumped clear over the elephant, bear and all.

Jumbo said, "How do you do, Madam Kangaroo and the little baby kangaroo?"

And the kangaroo said, "Very well, thank you."

Jumbo then told the kangaroo where they were going and what they were going to do.

Madam Kangaroo said, "It is very fortunate that you found me, for when you drop a rock on the stuff to make it go off, you will want some one that can jump out of the way quicker than scat, and no one can jump as well or as fast as I can."

They hurried back to the cave, and here they found all the animals waiting for them. While they were away the alligator had come, but he had gone down to the beaver's dam to stay, because he liked the water so well, and he had not had much to play and to live in while he was in the circus.

The Papa Bear told the elephant to hurry up and put the stuff in the cave, where they were trying to knock the rocks down. The Circus Bear and the monkey rolled the box over and over to the place, and then the elephant reached in with his trunk and put the box just where it should be. Then they found that there was no way to drop a stone on the box so that it would go off and make the rocks come down. The badger said that he would dig a hole straight up and down like a well, right over the box, so that they could drop a stone straight down on the box and make it go off. So he scratched away just as he had scratched when he made the chimney, and before you knew it, the hole was dug and all was ready. The kangaroo took a great stone in her forepaws, and stood over the hole ready to drop it on the box. The owl told them all that they must get as far away as they could, for the rocks would be sure to fly, and might hurt them. Then he told the beaver that as soon as all were ready, he must strike the water with his tail, and the kangaroo would then drop the rock on the box. So the little Cub Bear hid behind a tree, and every one got ready. Then there was a "Bang! Bang!"

The kangaroo dropped the rock on the box, and gave three great jumps out of the way; and there was the greatest "Bang!" you ever heard. It made more noise than all of the firecrackers you ever saw would make, if they should all go off together. My! how the little Cub Bear did jump! And when he looked around, there was the mule, Jenny, kicking and kicking and kicking. She had been hit by a rock. It did not hurt much, but, of course, she had to kick anyway. As soon as it was safe, all of the animals that were there ran down to the cave. The elephant went in, and instead of his tail sticking out of the cave as it had before the stuff went off, he disappeared entirely. The little Cub Bear then ran to the cave, for he thought that the elephant had fallen into a great hole.

He could not see the elephant at all, so he called, "Jumbo, Jumbo, where are you?"

"Here I am," said Jumbo, and his voice sounded far away, for the explosion had opened the way into the great cave, and the elephant was already far back in it. All of the animals came running up, and how glad they were to think they had such a beautiful home. The floor was almost as level as the floor is in your house. It was a long way up to the ceiling or roof. There were great pillars coming down from the roof to the floor, and everything was so clean and nice that almost any little boy or little girl would like to have lived there. Then there was ever so much room in the beautiful new cave. There was room for the great tent, that they all used to live in at the circus, to be put up without touching the roof. There was that little stream of water that the muskrat told them of, where all could drink. The animals went out to get their things, and when they had put them all in the cave, it was dark and time for little bears to go to sleep.

The little Cub Bear soon went to sleep, and what do you think he dreamed about? I do not know. Perhaps it was about heaven, whose streets are paved with gold, and whose gates are of pearl. Perhaps, who can tell?

THE COMING OF THE ANIMAL WITH THE LONG NOSE

The next morning the animals got up early, and the elephant said he thought that they ought to go down where the circus train had been wrecked, and see if there was anything more that they could bring up and put in the cave, as they had plenty of room now.

But while they were talking about the way they would do the work, they heard the beaver's tail go "B-a-n-g, b-a-n-g!" and they all looked up, and what do you think they saw? The queerest kind of an animal.

He looked like a small bear, but he had very long hair on his back and hind legs, and his front legs were much shorter than his hind legs. But that was not the queerest thing.

The little Cub Bear said, "Oh, see his nose! It looks as if he had caught the end of his nose in a trap, and had pulled and pulled until he had stretched his nose like a piece of taffy, and had made it as long as my leg. Did you ever see such a long nose in the whole world?"

The elephant said that he had a very long nose. But the little Cub Bear said that he wasn't talking about trunks that had fingers and thumbs on the end of them, but that he was talking about real noses. Then the Papa Bear and Mamma Bear said they never, never in the world thought that any animal would have such a nose. The Papa Bear asked the Circus Bear what the animal was?

The Circus Bear said, "That is a bear. He is called an ant-bear."

"Oh!" said the Cub Bear, "I have two aunt-bears, and they don't look a bit like that."

"Please don't interrupt me when I am talking," said the Circus Bear. "This is an 'a-n-t'-bear, not an 'a-u-n-t'-bear. He is called an ant-bear because he eats ants."

"Oh, I want to see him eat some of these ants that got into the honey, that papa brought home the other day."

As soon as the ant-bear came near, the little Cub Bear ran to him and asked him to show how he ate the ants. The ant-bear said that he would be very glad to do so, because he had not had a good meal of ants for the longest while. In the circus he said they fed him on meat. The ant-bear said that he liked the taste of ants ever so much better. I would not, would you? Well, the little Cub Bear showed the ant-bear where the ants lived in a hole in the ground. Then he saw why the ant-bear had such strong claws, for he dug into the ground very quickly. Then what do you suppose that ant-bear did? He ran the point of his long nose into the hole where the ants lived, and then stuck out the longest tongue you ever saw, way, way down in the hole, until it was covered with ants that had stuck to it. Then the little Cub Bear saw why the ant-bear had such a long nose, and a long tongue that looked like a pink rope. Do you see why?

As soon as the ant-bear had eaten all of the ants, the little Cub Bear said, "The ants are such little things, I should think you would not get enough to eat."

But the ant-bear said, "Down in South America, where I came from, the ants are larger; they are as big as the big red and black ants, and they live in houses that are as large as a haycock. I dig into these with my strong claws, and eat up bushels and bushels of ants at a time."

While they were talking they heard the beaver go "B-a-n-g, b-a-n-g!" several times, and each time the solemn old owl would say, "W-h-o? w-h-o-o-o-o? w-h-o-o-o-o?"

The little Cub Bear counted four times, and thought that there must be four animals coming, and sure enough, when they came to the den, there were four new animals.

There was the raccoon with his striped tail. He was always washing his face. There was a great striped tiger almost as large as a lion, and quite as fierce looking. There was a leopard, that looked something like the tiger, but was not quite so large, and instead of stripes, he was covered with black spots.

Then, over in a corner, was a little thing that looked like a soft and beautiful round ball. It looked so nice that the little Cub Bear ran right over to play with it, and before the Circus Bear could stop him, the little Cub Bear had given the little ball quite a hard slap. "Ouch! Ouch!!" How the little bear did scream and cry. And his poor little foot was full of stickers. The Circus Bear scolded the Cub Bear.

"Didn't you know that that was a porcupine, and that he was covered with quills, on purpose to stick into people that touched him? You ought to have known better."

But the little Cub Bear did not see how he could have known better, for no one had ever told him before, and he had never seen a porcupine before, and it looked like a nice ball for little Cub Bear to play with.

So the little Cub Bear thought to himself, "I hope my papa will tell me about all of the things that hurt little bears, so that I will not get hurt so badly again. I am afraid that papas sometimes forget to tell their little cubs about the things that hurt. How am I going to get these awful quills out, anyway? I've tried as hard as I can, and I can not get hold of the little slippery things with my clumsy claws."

The Papa Bear came and tried, and he could not get the quills out. Then the Mamma Bear tried, and she worked ever so much longer than the Papa Bear, but she could not get the quills out of the little Cub Bear's foot. The Mamma Bear was very angry with the "miserable little porcupine," and wanted to give him a hard slap; but she knew that she would get her foot full of the quills, and that would be worse than ever.

The porcupine did not care at all, for he said to himself, "If they don't want to get hurt, let them leave me alone."

But I do not think that was right, do you? Of course, they did not want to get hurt.

Not long after, the monkey came and said, "What is the matter?"

The little Cub Bear then told the monkey how he had just touched that mean old porcupine and had got his foot full of quills, that no one in the whole world could ever get out.

But the monkey said, "I can get them out all right, for you know that I have two hands with fingers on them, just like a little boy."

So the monkey pulled out all of the quills, and after that the little Cub Bear could walk all right.

But he said to himself, "After this I will let other people alone, until I get acquainted with them."

I think that is a good rule, don't you?

That evening, after dark, the little Cub Bear heard the beaver go "Bang, bang!" and he rushed to the mouth of the cave to see who was coming. He saw a very strange looking animal coming up the path.

He said, "I see an animal that is about the size of a rhinoceros, only he has no horns on the end of his nose, and he has the biggest nose I ever saw. It is not a long nose, but it is a short, stubby nose, about the size of the seat of a chair; the two big nostrils in the nose are almost as big around as a base ball. I can't see why the nose is so big. Oh, yes, I can, too, for he has just yawned, and he has the longest and largest teeth of any animal in the whole world, I guess. They are as big around as the leg of a chair. His mouth is so large that a little bear could sit inside of it. His legs are almost as big around as an elephant's legs, only they are very short."

Just then the owl said, "Who-o-o-o? who-o-o-o?" The animal did not say a thing, but he gave a great snort.