"BRUIN, what do you think? Oh, Bruin! what do you think?" Thus spoke the little squirrel as he sat perched on his big friend's shoulder, the day after the wedding party.
"What do I think?" repeated the bear. "Why, I think that you are tickling my ear, Master Cracker, and that if you do not stop, I shall be under the painful necessity of knocking you off on the floor."
"Oh, that isn't the kind of thinking I mean!" replied Cracker, impudently flirting the tip of his tail into the good bear's eye. "That is of no consequence, you great big fellow! What are your ears for, if not for me to tickle? I mean, what do you think I heard at the party, last night?"
"A great deal of nonsense!" replied the bear, promptly.
"Bruin, I shall certainly be obliged to shake you!" cried the squirrel. "I shall shake you till your teeth rattle, if you give me any more of this impudence. So behave yourself now, and listen to me. I was talking with Chipper last night,—my cousin, you know, who lives at the other end of the wood,—and he told me something that really quite troubled me. You remember old Baldhead?"
"Well, yes!" said Bruin, "I should say I did. He hasn't been in our part of the wood again, has he?"
"Oh, no!" replied Cracker. "He is not likely to go anywhere for a long time, I should say. He has broken his leg, Chipper tells me, and has been shut up in his cavern for a week and more."
"Dear me!" said the kind-hearted bear. "I am very sorry to hear it! How does the poor old man get his food?"
"Chipper didn't seem to think he could get any," replied the squirrel. "He peeped in at the door, yesterday, and saw him lying in his bunk, looking very pale and thin. He tried once or twice to get up, but fell back again; and Chipper is sure there was nothing to eat in the cave. I thought I wouldn't say anything to Coon or Toto last night, but would wait till I had told you."