of himself. After a time one of the cubs 

 left his brothers playing and went back to 

 tfjllfle Brother t i ie chestnut tree by the same way that he 

 h ac } C0 me, following every turn and winding 

 of the back trail as if there were a path there 

 as there probably was, to his eyes and nose, 

 though mine could not find any. He climbed 

 the tree as if he were after something, and 

 disappeared into the knot hole, where I could 

 hear the little fellow whining and scratching 

 his way down inside the tree. In a moment 

 he reappeared with something in his mouth. 

 In the dusk I could not make out what it 

 was, but as he came back and passed within 

 ten feet of where I was hiding I had my 

 field-glasses upon him and saw it plainly 

 a little knot of wood with a crook in 

 it, the solitary plaything which you will 

 find, all smooth from much handling, in 

 almost every house where the Little Brother 

 to the Bear has lived. 



He carried it back to where the young 

 coons were playing, lay down among them, 

 and began to play by himself, passing the play- 

 thing back and forth through his wonderful 



