When the two animals were kept on opposite sides of the bed, there was peace. But let Wiggledy come too near and Ring-tail promptly boxed his ears. Then he would yelp and scuttle closer to the children. And sometimes they were awakened by a regular cat and dog fight,—in which the pup, being the youngest, generally got the worst of it.
If the pup were banished, he howled forlornly till they took him back to the warmth of their beds and hearts. Finally it came to be understood between them that Wiggledy was to sleep down at the foot, under a fold of blanket, while Ring-tail took the head, where the feather-bed billowed out above the children’s heads, and where she could come and go without disturbing any one,—for she was still a prowler of the night.
If the children overslept and Wiggledy got hungry, he would simply pull the covers off them.
The question was what would happen when Fuzzy-Wuzz came back.
CHAPTER XXVI
CHUMS
IT was still damp on the forest floor, with here and there a patch of melting snow, when Fuzzy-Wuzz awoke from his winter sleep in the haymow.
But down on the rocks where the lake lapped over pebbly levels, the sun shone hot and still. Here the little bear was basking when the yellow pup first sighted him.
“How-wow?” exclaimed Wiggledy, the force of his bark raising him clear off his feet.
“Hoof?” asked the cub, rising on his fat hind legs inquiringly.