It was only an instant, but to Cuffy it seemed a
long, long time before he could breathe again. And now, to his great
surprise, he found that he was swimming as well as his father.

Now, little bears are different from little boys and girls. They don't
have to _learn_ to swim. Cuffy didn't know it. But his father did. That
was why Mr. Bear told him to jump. He knew that as soon as Cuffy found
himself in the water he could swim as well as anybody.

In another minute Cuffy and his father were safe on the bank, and in
another second after that they were running toward home as fast as Cuffy
could go, so they wouldn't take cold, you know.

Cuffy had to go to bed for the rest of the day, as a punishment. And as
he lay on his little bed he could hear his father and mother laughing in
the next room. He didn't see how they could laugh. But you know, Cuffy
didn't realize how funny he had looked, floating down the river on the
cake of ice.

IX

A SURPRISE

One day Cuffy Bear and his little sister Silkie had been making sand
pies. And now, having grown tired of that, they were squatting down on
the ground and had covered their legs with the clean white sand. Perhaps
they would have heaped the sand all over themselves, if Silkie had not
spied her father as he came climbing up the mountain. When they noticed
that he was carrying something they both sprang up and ran to see what
Mr. Bear was bringing home.

Mr. Bear's mouth was stretched quite wide in what Silkie and Cuffy knew
to be his most agreeable smile. You and I might not have felt so
comfortable if we had looked past Mr. Bear's great white teeth into his
big red mouth. But it was different with Cuffy and Silkie. They saw at
once that their father was feeling very pleasant.

"What's that?" Silkie asked. As for Cuffy, he had not stopped to ask any
questions. He was already smelling of the small white animal his father
had, and he poked it gently with his paw. He had not forgotten about the
porcupine. But this strange animal seemed quite harmless. It was covered
with things that looked a little bit like quills, only they were ever so
much shorter and smaller. And Cuffy found that they were much softer,
too, for they did not prick him at all.

"What is it?" This time it was Cuffy who asked.

"You'll see," Mr. Bear said again.

"Is it a new kind of rabbit?" Silkie inquired.

"Huh! A rabbit!" Cuffy laughed. "Of course it isn't a rabbit," he said.

"Well--it'