Johnny Bear 



was as clean inside as when first it had left the w & v^- 



factory. -^^ « 



A broken mouse-trap seemed to puzzle him. * 



He clutched it between his fore paws, their j^J!-. 



strong inturn being sympathetically reflected in ^» • 



his hind feet, and held it firmly for study. The # 



cheesy smell about it was decidedly good, but 

 the thing responded in such an uncanny way, 

 when he slapped it, that he kept back a cry for 

 help only by the exercise of unusual self-con- 

 trol. After gravely inspecting it, with his head 

 first on this side and then on that, and his lips 

 puckered into a little tube, he submitted it to 

 the same punishment as that meted out to the 

 refractory fruit-tin, and was rewarded by dis- 

 covering a nice little bit of cheese in the very 

 heart of the culprit. 



Johnny had evidently never heard of pto- 

 maine-poisoning, for nothing came amiss. After 

 the jams and fruits gave out he turned his at- 

 tention to the lobster- and sardine-cans, and 

 was not appalled by even the army beef. His 

 paunch grew quite balloon-like, and from much 

 licking his arms looked thin and shiny, as 

 though he was wearing black silk gloves. 



161 



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