Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-09-14
DREAMLAND
ADVENTURES
"HOME OF THE BEARS"
ny DADDY
CHAPTER II.
thA TnnaaI

CHAPTER II.
Through tho Tunnel
Yesterday tpds told hop Peooy,
Si Toaa;e papStns s came to GBearlasd.
While Buy aud the bears ,oent ohcad
to scout, Peggy stayed behind, IN q
tree. There her sharp eyes spied q
nttle log house hidden among the
bushes. She climbed doWh from the
tree aud started through a tunnel
toward the house.
UyTTIIAT a queer path to a house!'
w thought Peggy to herself as she
crept along the tunnel through the
bushes. ut must be very hard for the
folks who live in the little log house to
Peggy had seen pictures in her geog-
raphy of the Ice huts Of Esklmos In the
frozen north with long tunnels leading
to them, but she had never heard OF
any one elSo having entryways like that.
The Eskimos had them to keep out the
house couldn't be for that purpose. Per-
haps 1t was to keep out prying persons
who had no business there.
Peggy stopped short as this thought
came to her. She didn't want to 60
where she shouldn't 60
But then. perhaps, no one lived In this
little log house. AS seen from the tree 1t
had looked deserted. II wouldn't do any
harm to take Just a peek at 1t. Besides.
Peggy had noticed bear tracks here and
there In the. soft ground at the sides
of the tunnel They seemed TO tell her
that Podgie Bear and Pudgie Bear had
come into the tunnel ahead of her,
Maybe they might do damage there, for
bears were more needless than humans.
She ought to see about this.
So Peggy crept on again, faster than
before. And 1t wasn't until she crept out
Of the tunnel and stood before the open
door Of the little log house that another
filled her with alarm. The bear tracks
in the tunnel couldn't possibly have been
made by Podgie and Pudgie Bear. Pod
gle and Pudgie were still wearing their
rompers. which covered their paws and
claws, causing them to make tracks
that didn't look bit like ordinary bear
tracks.
Peggy felt that she ought to creep
back through tho tunnel Just as fast as
she could. The strange bear tracks made
the place seem very. dangerous But
there stood the little log house with the
door invltingly open. A little peek inside
wouldn't take more than a second.
The temptation was too much fo-
Peggy. She crept forward and looked
inside.
The first thing she noticed was that
no one was home. The little log house
had only ono room, and that was de-
serted. This made Peggy feel bolder, and
she crept closer for better look.
This look showed that the room was
| furnished with q stove, a table, chairs
and sleeping hunks along the WALL The
place was evidently the cabin Of hunt
er who wasn't living there at the time.
But some one. 1t seemed, was living
there. Three mattresses had been pulled
from the hunks, and were lying on the
fioor--one big mattress. one middle
sized mattress, and ono little mattress.
And it appeared that they were being
used as beds by some one who wasn't
at all tidy. They were rumpled and
crooked and covered with hairs.
The air OF the house seemed close and
smelly. Peggy shifted. She seemed to
know the queer odor that filled tho place
She sniffed again--and then she knew,
The odor was the same AS that which
flled tho cave in which Podgle Bear
lived. 1t was boar odor. and It meant
that bears were living in this little hid
den log house. Shed better get away
from there as fast as she could.
But Peggy was cautious. She wanted
to see more Of tho cute little house, and
instead OF fleeing through the tunnel she
| stepped inside the door of the cabin.
Tomorrow will be told how she gets
q startling surprise because OF her Gu
| riosity.