Soon there was a sharp "Bang!" and the horses all started, just as though they had been shot out of a gun. The Cub Bear let go the reins the very first thing, and just hung on to the chariot for dear life. The monkey looked over and laughed. The black horses were getting ahead of the white ones, for they were running down hill at a terrible rate. Papa Bear came out of the cave just then, and he was dreadfully frightened, because he felt that his little Cub Bear would surely be killed. But the horses had run so many times that they were not afraid at all. They were going like the wind. First the white horses would be a little ahead, and then the black horses would be a little ahead.
The little Cub Bear hung on as tight as he could, and he looked straight ahead of him. Suddenly he saw a stump right in the way ahead. The horses saw it at the same time, and two of the horses went on one side of the stump and two on the other, and the chariot ran right into the stump with a terrible smash and crash, and broke the chariot all to pieces. One wheel rolled down hill one way, and the other wheel rolled down the hill the other way, and two of the black horses went in one direction and two of the black horses went in the other direction, and the bear went right up in the air.
When his papa looked to see what had happened, he saw him come down just like a rubber ball, all rolled up; and he rolled on down the hill.
And just when the monkey thought he surely would win the race, he saw a great stone ahead of him, and two white horses went on one side of the stone and two white horses on the other, and the chariot ran "Smash!" right into the stone, and two white horses ran in one direction and two white horses ran in the other direction, and one chariot wheel rolled down the mountain one way and the other chariot wheel rolled down the mountain the other way, and the monkey went right up in the air, just as though he had been shot out of a gun.
The elephant was standing at the line, and just as the monkey flew past him in the air, he reached out and caught hold of the monkey's tail with the thumb and finger on the end of his trunk, and swung him on top of his back. And just as he caught the monkey by the tail, the bear rolled across the line like a great big rubber ball. And that was the end of the race. The elephant never could make up his mind which won the race, the monkey or the bear. Which one do you think won the race?
THE ANIMALS PLAN HOW THEY WILL DEFEND THEMSELVES AGAINST THE CIRCUS MEN
One night the animals were all seated around in the beautiful cave, wondering why the men had not come to take them back to the circus. And they all said that if the men came they never would go. And the lion said that if a man came to get him, he would just hit him one terrible blow with his paw, and if that didn't kill him, he would just take the man's head in his mouth and bite as hard as he could, and that would be the end of the man. And then the tiger said that he would hide in the old dead tree where the owl sat, and when the man came, he would jump on him, and bite him, and scratch him until there was nothing left of him. And then the leopard said that if the man came, he would hide in another tree farther down, and he would wait and wait, and when the man got right under the limb, he would jump on him and bite him, and scratch him until nothing was left of him.
Then the kangaroo spoke up and said, "If the man gets after me, I will run as fast as I can, and if he is on horseback, and gets near to me, I will take my little kangaroo by the tail and throw him away out in the weeds, where they can't find him at all. And then I will go faster and faster."