that I dug out of Mr. Man's garden."

"_I'm_ in," Mr. Crow called back. "I found a beefsteak that Mr. Man had
hung out to freeze. I'll cook it with Mr. 'Coon's parsnips. Why, is
anything the matter?"

[Illustration: MR. 'POSSUM CAME PUFFING UP THE STAIRS]

Mr. 'Possum came puffing up the stairs to the big room, and sat down
before the fire, and took off his shoes and warmed himself a little, and
lit his pipe, and said:

"Well, there _may_ be, if we don't keep that prop pretty firmly against
the down-stairs door. I met Mr. Robin while I was out, and he tells me
that a new Mr. Bear has moved over into the edge of the Big Deep Woods,
into that vacant cave down there by the lower drift. His name is
Savage--Aspetuck Savage--one of those Sinking Swamp Savages, and he's
hungry and pretty fierce. They've had a harder winter in the Swamp than
we have had up here, and when Aspetuck came out of his winter nap last
week and couldn't find anything, he started up this way. Mr. Man has
shut up all his pigs, and Mr. Robin thinks that Aspetuck is headed now
for the Hollow Tree. Somebody told him, Mr. Robin said, that we manage
to live well and generally come through the winter in pretty fair order,
though I can tell by the way my clothes hang on me that I've lost
several pounds since Mr. Man built that new wire-protected pen for his
chickens."

Mr. 'Coon said the news certainly was not very good, and that while his
condition was not so bad for such a hard season, he didn't propose to
let Mr. Aspetuck Savage use him in the place of pork, if he could help
it. Mr. Crow said he didn't feel so much afraid on his own account, as
Aspetuck would not be apt to have much taste for one of his family,
unless his appetite was extremely fierce, though, of course, it was
safer to take no chances. So then they all went down-stairs and put
still another prop against the door, and piled a number of things behind
it, too, to make it safe. Then they went up and Mr. Crow cooked the nice
steak and put some fried parsnips with it, and Mr. 'Possum said if it
wasn't for thinking of Aspetuck he could eat twice as much and get his
lost weight back; and Mr. 'Coon and Mr. Crow told him he had better keep
right on thinking of Aspetuck, so there would be enough to go around. By
and by they all sat before the fire and smoked, and got sleepy, and Mr.
'Coon and Mr. 'Possum went up to their rooms to bed, but Mr. Crow said
he would nap in his chair, so that if Mr.