Peter Pan and his family did not at all enjoy the cleaning process, in which it seemed that they were literally handled without gloves, but from which they emerged in a spotless condition. They were then carried late one afternoon to a large store room, and set up on a shelf to await transportation home.
As it was a very large establishment two night watchmen were employed, and from their elevated position the bears eyed hungrily the baskets in which they had brought their midnight lunch, and which they had placed on a small table near by.
The night dragged slowly and the watchmen consumed a couple of hours in playing cribbage. After they had grown tired of the game, as it was still too early to eat, one of them proposed that they make the rounds of the building and then sit down together to their lunch.
As soon as they were out of sight and hearing, the bears scrambled down from their shelf and made haste to investigate the contents of the lunch baskets.
They contained a rather slim meal for five, besides which some of the food was of a description that caused the pampered family to turn up their sharp noses. They afterward learned that it was called pork and sauerkraut, a mixture that the new made-in-Germany bears would no doubt have appreciated.
Peter Pan, however, dumped the contents of the basket out on the floor, upsetting and breaking a bottle of milk, that ran all over the floor and added a liquid element to the sour mess. He then opened the other basket, in which he discovered sandwiches, fried cakes and a triangle of pumpkin pie.
Upon these viands they feasted until not a crumb remained and then turned their attention to the pack of cards with which the watchmen had been playing cribbage. The board and little ivory pins also proved very amusing.
Peter Pan had watched the game closely and it did not take him very long to learn it. So he now set about teaching it to Bedelia. However, they soon found the cards very awkward to handle, as they were far too large for Teddy bears in proportion; besides which the little pins were forever falling on the floor and getting lost.