ce to the house, concluded that they had no further
business there, and slunk off to their respective kennels.

The people, too, scattered, and only a few patient loiterers hung about
the street door, hoping for fresh developments. It seemed useless to
Paul to wait until these provoking fellows should take themselves away.
They were obviously prepared to make a night of it, and time was no
object to them.

It was then that Paul, in his despair, resolved upon a daring stratagem.
Mr. Broby's house was in the same block as that of the Misses Hansen,
only it was at the other end of the block. By creeping along the
roof-trees of the houses, which, happily, differed but slightly in
height, he could reach the Broby house, where, no doubt, Miss Clara was
now waiting for him, full of impatience.

He did not deliberate long before testing the practicability of this
plan. The tanner Thoresen's house was reached without accident, although
he barely escaped being detected by a small boy who was amusing himself
throwing snow-balls at the chimney. It was a slow and wearisome mode of
locomotion--pushing himself forward on his belly; but, as long as the
streets were deserted, it was a pretty safe one.

He gave a start whenever he heard a dog bark; for the echoes of the
ear-splitting concert they had given him were yet ringing in his brain.

It was no joke being a bear, he thought, and if he had suspected that it
was such a serious business, he would not so rashly have undertaken it.
But now there was no way of getting out of it; for he had nothing on but
his underclothes under the bear-skin.

At last he reached the Broby house, and drew a sigh of relief at the
thought that he was now at the end of his journey.

He looked about him for a trap-door by which he could descend into the
interior, but could find none. There was an inch of snow on the roof,
glazed with frost: and if there was a trap-door, it was securely hidden.

To jump or slide down was out of the question, for he would, in that
case, risk breaking his neck. If he cried for help, the groom, who was
always ready with his gun, might take a fancy to shoot at him; and that
would be still more unpleasant. It was a most embarrassing situation.

Paul's eyes fell upon a chimney; and the thought flashed through his
head that there was the solution of the difficulty. He observed that
no smoke was coming out of it, so that he would run no risk of being
converted into smoked ham