ver said another word about noses. He just changed the subject.
He said, "Let's all slide down at once."

Koko and Menie sat down on the sled. Monnie sat on Menie. Then they
gave a few hitches to the sled and off they went.

Whiz! How they flew!

The pups came running after them. In some places where it was very
slippery the pups coasted, too! But they did not mean to. They did not
like it. The sled was almost at the end of the slide when it struck a
piece of ice. It flew around sideways and spilled all the children in
the snow.

Just then Nip and Tup came sliding along behind them. They couldn't
stop, so there they all were in a heap together, with the dogs on top!

Menie rolled over and sat up in the snow. He was holding on to the end
of his nose. "Iyi, iyi!" he howled, "I bumped my nose on a piece of
ice!"

Monnie sat up in the snow, too. She pointed her fur mitten at Menie's
nose and laughed. "Don't you know you haven't much nose?" she said.
"You ought to be more careful of it!"

Koko kicked his feet in the air and laughed at Menie, and the little
dogs barked. Menie thought he'd better laugh, too. He had just let go
of his nose to begin when all of a sudden the little dogs stopped
barking and stood very still!

Their hair stood up on their necks and they began to growl!

"Hark, the dogs see something," said Menie.

Monnie and Koko stopped laughing and listened. They could not hear
anything. They could not see anything. Still Nip and Tup growled. The
twins and Koko were children of brave hunters, so, although they were
scared, they crept very quietly to the side of the Big Rock and peeped
over.

Just that minute there was a dreadful growl! "Woof!" It was very loud,
and very near, and down on the beach a shadow was moving! It was the
shadow of a great white BEAR!

He was looking for fish and was cross because everything was frozen,
and he could not find any on the beach.

The moment they saw him, the twins and Koko turned and ran for home as
fast as ever their short legs could go! They did not even stop to get
the precious sled. They just ran and ran.

Nip and Tup ran, too, with their ears back and their little tails stuck
straight out behind them!

If they had looked back, they would have seen the bear stand up on his
hind legs and look after them, then get down on all fours and start
toward the Big Rock on a run.

But neither the children nor the little dogs looked back! They just ran
with all