hem
in his bunk at the little cabin which he called his own.

He tried to waken the furry balls by pulling their ears and rolling them
over and over, but they snoozed on as peacefully as if cuddled by their
old mother's paws.

Mike had been gone from camp two days, and the children were not yet
aware of his presence, but Cookee saw him lope across the clearing and
enter his cabin.

"Cookee, give us some crackers?" asked Don, as Dot and he rushed into
the kitchen after the cook.

"Crackers! what fer? to feed Mike?" teased Cookee.

"Mike? No, for ourselves. Wish Mike was back, though, 'cause Paul said
the other old bear might kill him."

"Mike's back--I saw him go in his cabin a few minutes ago," said Cookee,
turning to take some crackers from a jar.

He turned again to hand them to the twins but laughed when he found
them gone--running for all they were worth to Mike's cabin.

"Funny lil' critters! An' don' they just love Mike!" said the cook to
himself, as he started to roll out the biscuit dough.

"Hello, Mike! when did you get back?" cried both Don and Dot as they
rushed into the cabin.

Without waiting for an answer, both children saw the two furry balls on
the bunk and stepped softly over, to see what they were.

"Oh, the cuties! what are they, Mike?" cried Dot.

"Cubs; old bear's babbies!" said Mike, smiling at the twins as they
hugged and cuddled the cubs.

"Oh, Mike! _they_ will never grow up to hurt anyone, will they?" asked
Dot, doubtfully.

"No siree! 'cause we are goin' to keep 'em and train 'em to be as good
as a Newfoundland dog," said Don.

"But they are Mike's bears," said Dot.

"But Mike will give 'em to us, if we love 'em," replied Don.

"Dat's what dey for!" said Mike.

"Oh, oh! Look Mike, see this little one stick out his tiny pink tongue,"
shouted Dot, excitedly.

"Him hungly! Mike git dinner!"

So, leaving Don and Dot to watch the cubs, Mike went to the cook's cabin
and hunted for a bottle with a slender neck. With a red-hot wire he
bored a small hole through a cork and, after filling the bottle with
diluted condensed milk and oatmeal gruel, he drove the cork into the
neck. He wrapped the bottle inside his coat and hurried over to the
cabin with it.

The ladies and the other children had been called to the exhibition by
Don, after Mike went to the kitchen, and all of them were delighted over
the dear little fur-balls. Lavinia held one of the soft, velvety paws in
her han