When Mr. Bear had gone off down the mountain, “to
see a bear,” as he explained to his wife, little
Cuffy sneaked away from the house. His mother
was making the beds, and Silkie was pretending to help
her. Now, nobody sneaks unless he knows
he is doing something wrong. Cuffy knew that
his parents would not let him go down into the valley
alone, so he went without asking. And when he
did at last come to the river there was ice along
both banks; but between them ran a broad stream of
swift water.
“The ice must have gone out in the night,”
Cuffy said to himself. And he looked about in
the hope of finding some fish on the banks. But
not one fish could he find.
He was disappointed. And he crept out onto the
ice as far as he could go and peeped over the edge
into the water. He thought maybe he could at
least catch a fish with his paw.
Cuffy lay quite still for a long time. And then
at last to his delight he saw a fish right before
him. He made a quick reach for it. And then
there was a sharp crack! The ice tipped and
Cuffy clung to it with all his claws to keep from
falling into the river. He backed away from the
edge and looked around. The bank was moving past
him. He had never seen such a thing and he was
surprised.
Then he gave a cry which sounded in his throat like
"Oug!" and ended with "I-s-s-s!" through
his nose. It meant that Cuffy was frightened.
For he saw that the ice he was on had broken away and
was floating rapidly down the stream.
He had not caught the fish, either. But he forgot
all about that now.
CUFFY LEARNS TO SWIM
Yes! Cuffy Bear was floating down the river on
a cake of ice! How he wished he had been a good
little bear and stayed at home, instead of running
away to the river all alone! He was huddled up
in a little black heap in the center of the cake,
and crying as if his heart would break. For Cuffy
thought he would never see his mother and father and
Silkie again. If only he knew how to swim, like
his father! But he didn’t; and there he
was, being swept away down the valley, right toward
Farmer Green’s house. It certainly was
enough to make anybody weep.
When Cuffy thought about Farmer Green he was more
frightened than ever and he began to scream.
He remembered all the dreadful things he had heard
about men and the things they do to little bears.
Pretty soon Cuffy saw something move up on the bank
ahead of him. And he stopped screaming.
He was afraid that it was Farmer Green himself and
he thought he had better keep still. Then perhaps
Farmer Green wouldn’t see him. But to his
dismay the big black thing began to slide down the
steep bank right toward the river.
Cuffy’s heart seemed to stand still. He
shut his eyes tight and tried to make himself as small
as he could. And he hardly breathed.
