Anyhow, Neddie fell “ker-flop!” into the soft snow, and the fluffy flakes closed up over his head, not leaving any hole to show where he had gone in. So that when the bad lion came to the edge of the hill and looked down, expecting to see the little bear boy, he couldn’t see him at all, at all. For Neddie was hidden by the kind snowbank.
“My, that’s rather queer,” said the lion, sort of roaring to himself and scratching his nose with his tail. “Very strange to be sure! I’m positive that bear boy is around here somewhere. I’ll just call and make him come out.”
So the lion called:
“Hey, you, Neddie Stubtail! Come out of where ever you are and let me bite you!”
But, of course, Neddie was too smart for that. He just stayed hiding under the snowbank, and finally the bad lion went away through the storm, growling to himself and wondering what had happened to Neddie.
But Neddie stayed in the snowbank for some time, and then finally the little bear chap began wondering how he was ever going to get out to go home. For the snowbank was very big.
And then a funny thing happened. Neddie’s warm breath melted a hole in the snowbank and the little bear boy could look out just as if he were looking through a window in a snow house. And in the shining moonlight, for it had stopped snowing, he saw, a little way off, the very cave in which he lived. Then he scratched hard with his paws and breathed hard with his warm breath and soon he was out of the snowbank. A little later he was safe in his own house. And oh my! how glad his mamma was to see him!
So he had quite an adventure, which goes to show that you can never tell what will happen when a lion chases you. And on the next page, if the popcorn doesn’t go bang up against the ceiling and knock the gas light down cellar, I’ll tell you about Neddie and Beckie helping Uncle Wigwag.
