Evening star., 1935-12-17

ce pClng FlaLIlornS Gle
Moose, and is supposed to be afraid Of
no one excepting man, you would
| sometimes think he was much
| abused person. He has a way OF
| whimpering and whining when things
don't go to suit him, very much as do
some people you and I know. While
ordinarily Buster is inclined to be
good d-natured, he has temper and
also there are times when he becomes
very peevish. He gets that way when
| things don't go to suit him. Then,
too, he tries to be secretive, and for
this there really is no excuse, because
no one is going to bother him.
Buster had, as you know, remained
awake longer than usual this year.
Mrs. Buster and the cubs had retired
| for the Winter some two or three
weeks earlier Somehow, Buster hadn't
been sleepy and so he had wandered
about through the Green Forest, get
| ting bite here or bite there, but
seldom a good meal. On this ac-
count he grew irritable. No, having
! decided that he had had enough of
this sort of thing and that he would
retire for the Winter, he had finally
settled on a certain great windfan be-
meath which to make his bed.
But he didn't want anybody to
know where his Winter home was.
No, sir, he didn't want anybody to
know. He wanted to keep it secret.
AS I have said before. there is no par
| ticular reason why he should. No
one would bother him there. You
see, all the neighbors had too much
respect for his great paws and teeth
and his great strength. Yet he
wanted to keep it secret.
So instead of going to work and
making his bed underneath that
windfall he hung around outside NUT
tering and whimpering and growing
more and more peevish. Can you
guess why? Well, he had discovered
Prickly Porky the Porcupine in tree
close at hand and he knew that
Prickly Porky couldn't help seeing
him go under that w1ndfall. Then If
he didn't come out again Prickly
WCulu hIlOW GlldI IlC l1dQ SOA4C
to bed there for the Winter.
1t was very provoking. There was
Prickly Porky, so very much smaller
than himself and so slow-moving that
1t was almost painful to watch him
get about, yet Buster couldn't drive
him away. He couldn't drive him
away because Prickly Porky wasn't
afraid of him, and Prickly Porky
wasn't afraid because he knew that
Buster didn't dare touch him. He
didn't dare touch him on account Of
the thousand little spears that Prickly
Porky carried in his coat.
Buster had learned long ago to re-
spect and fear those little spears.
You see, once he had gotten two or
three in a paw and he had had bad
time with that paw. From that time
on he had taken care not to NEEDLE
much peeved. How long are you 60
ing to stay up in that tree?" he asked.
What is it to you how long stay
up in this tree?" grunted Prickly
Porky.
Nothing. Nothing at ALL" replied
Buster Bear, hastily. Il Just won-
dered."
well, I'm going to stay up here
until I feel like moving along" re-
piled Prickly Porky. TT may be to-
night and it may be tomorrow" And
this is all the satisfaction that Buster
Bear could get.
Grumbling to himself Buster wan
dered away. He had nowhere in par
ticular to go so he just wandered
about aimlessly Several times dur
ing the night he came back to find
Prickly Porky still up in that tree.
Each time he grew little more pee
wish. It was very upsetting. Now that
he had made up his mind to go to bed
under that windfall he wanted to go,