TOTO and his companions walked homeward in high spirits. The air was crisp and tingling; the snow crackled merrily beneath their feet; and though the moon had set, the whole sky was ablaze with stars, sparkling with the keen, winter radiance which one sees only in cold weather.
"Pretty wedding, eh, Toto?" said the raccoon.
"Very pretty," said Toto; "very pretty indeed. I have enjoyed myself immensely. What good people they are, those little woodmice. See here! they made me fill all my pockets with checkerberries and nuts for the others at home, and they sent so many messages of regret and apology to Bruin that I shall not get any of them straight."
"Hello!" said the squirrel, who had been gazing up into the sky, "what's that?"
"What's what?" asked the raccoon.
"That!" repeated Cracker. "That big thing with a tail, up among the stars."
His companions both stared upward in their turn, and Toto exclaimed,—
"Why, it's a comet! I never saw one before, but I know what they look like, from the pictures. It certainly is a comet!"
"And what, if I may be so bold as to ask," said Coon, "is a comet?"