Besides being very much awake, he was beginning to develop a rousing appetite, for of necessity he had been forced to fast since the night previous, when he and his family had feasted royally at the candy counter in Schwartz’s.
Very cautiously he swung himself to the floor and trotted over to the crib that contained his family. They were all wide awake and all as hungry as hunters. Like the good provider that every father of a family should be, papa bear immediately set out on a voyage of discovery.
The nursery door was open, but the room beyond in which Dr. and Mrs. North slept was so dark and quiet that Mr. Bear resolved to confine his still-hunt to the nursery.
Round and round he trotted, sniffing at everything which looked as if it might be good to eat. Several times he was cruelly deceived and presented in turn to his rapacious family a fat, red tomato that proved to be stuffed with sawdust and full of little shining, sharp-pointed things, that he later found out were called pins; a beautiful red-cheeked pear that turned out to be made of wax, and a bunch of plump purple grapes that had, in the beginning, been destined to adorn nurse’s best bonnet, and were in consequence singularly dry and unappetizing.
Farther investigation, however, was rewarded by the discovery of a box of delicious champagne wafers, put away on the closet shelf for Sally’s especial delectation. Delighted with this find, the hungry bears soon emptied the box, which Mrs. Bear immediately utilized as a seat for the baby cub.
Having thus satisfied his own appetite, and leaving his family comfortably chewing, papa bear now started forth on a tour of investigation. He had learned a thing or two during his stay in the department store, and one of them was that if a place is dark and you wish to light it up, the very easiest way to do so is to press a little button in the wall. So he trotted around the nursery, carefully looking along the wall for such a button. Before very long he found it, close to Sally’s bed and quite within his reach if he climbed up on the pillow, which he was not at all slow to do.
And then, in less time than it takes to tell it, his brown paw was fumbling with a button and in a second the room was flooded with brilliant light.
This so annoyed the night light that she flew into a temper and immediately went out, which, however, did not make the smallest difference as far as anybody else was concerned.
Mr. Teddy Bear was so overjoyed by the success of his experiment that he immediately began to dance a jig, and all the other Teddy bears promptly followed his example.
They were all feeling fine after their luscious meal, and no doubt also felt the need of some exercise, as they had been asleep for at least twenty-four hours.