but, like the buckets in the well, when one 

 end was down the other end was up, and still 

 his fat, obstinate body refused to go through 

 with the rest. Still he seemed to be making 

 progress, for every teeter of head and legs 

 worked his uncomfortable dinner into better 

 shape. At the end he wedged himself too 

 tight, and there was a harder scramble to get 

 out than there had been to get in. By a 

 desperate push and kick he freed himself 

 at last and sat, all tousled again, blinking 

 into his doorway, meditating. 



Suddenly he turned and lowered his hind 

 legs into the hole. He was more careful 

 this time, afraid of being caught. When 

 he had dropped through as far as he could 

 go, he sat very still for some moments, sup 

 porting himself with a paw on either side. 

 His jaws opened slowly and full of won- 

 der at a curious twitching motion he was 

 making, I crept near on hands and knees 

 and looked down into his wide-open mouth. 

 There was his dinner, all sorts of flies and 

 night-bugs, coming up little by little and 

 being held in his great mouth as in a basket, 



/fie 

 TafOne 



