ve
our dear Mr. 'Possum. We hunted nights and we hunted days, to keep him
in chicken-pie with dumplings and gravy, but that beautiful appetite of
his seemed to grow and grow until we couldn't keep up with it, this hard
year, and one day our noble friend said:

"'Don't try any more--the more I eat, the more I want--good-by.'"

Mr. Crow wiped his eyes again, while Mr. Bear grumbled to himself
something about a nice state of affairs; but pretty soon he seemed to
listen, for Mr. 'Possum was smacking his lips, thinking of those chicken
pies Mr. Crow had described, and Mr. Bear has very quick ears.

"Mr. Crow," he said, "do you think Mr. 'Possum is really as dead as he
might be?"

"Oh yes, Mr. Bear--at least twice as dead, from the looks of him" (for
Mr. 'Possum had suddenly fainted again). "We're just waiting for the
ground to thaw to have the funeral."

"Well, Mr. Crow, I think I'll just come up and take a look at the
remains, and visit _you_ a little, and maybe say a word to poor Mr.
'Coon."

When Mr. 'Coon and Mr. 'Possum heard that they climbed out of their beds
and got under them, for they didn't know what might happen next.

And they heard Mr. Crow say: "I'm awfully sorry, Mr. Bear, but the
down-stairs door is locked, and bolted, and barred, and propped, and all
our things piled against it, for winter; and I can't get it open until
Mr. 'Coon gets strong enough to help me."

"Oh, never mind that," said A. Savage Bear, "I can make a run or two
against it, and it will come down all right. I weigh seven hundred
pounds."

[Illustration: FLUNG HIMSELF AGAINST THE DOWN-STAIRS DOOR WITH A GREAT
BANG]

Mr. 'Coon and Mr. 'Possum had crept out to listen, but when they heard
that they dodged back under their beds again, and got in the darkest
corners, and began to groan, and just then Mr. Bear gave a run and flung
himself against the down-stairs door with a great bang, and both of them
howled, because they couldn't help it, they were so scared, and Mr. Crow
was worried, because he knew that about the second charge, or the third,
that door would be apt to give way, and then things in the Hollow Tree
would become very mixed, and even dangerous.

Mr. Crow didn't know what to do next. He saw Mr. Savage Bear back off a
good deal further than he had the first time, and come for the
down-stairs door as hard as he could tear, and when he struck it that
time, the whole Hollow Tree shook, and Mr. 'Coon and Mr. 'Possum howled