“Ta-ra! Ta-ra-ta! Ta-ra-ta! Ta-ra-ta! Ta! Ta!” he blew.
It was quite nice and jolly and made all the bears feel better.
“Here we go!” cried the Professor. “Forward—march! Here we go!”
He tossed the long pole to George, who shouldered it just like a gun, and marched on with his head high in the air, while Beckie and Neddie laughed at him, he was so funny.
“Oh, I guess we’ll like this after all,” said Neddie.
“Maybe,” spoke Beckie, as she hugged her rubber doll.
But every one was very sad back in the cave-house where the Stubtail children lived. As soon as morning had come Aunt Piffy, going in to call Neddie and Beckie, saw that they were not in their beds.
“They’re gone!” cried the nice, fat old lady bear.
“They’re up to some trick,” said Uncle Wigwag, who, always playing tricks himself, thought that other bears would do the same thing.
“We must find them,” said Mr. Whitewash, the polar bear.
But although they looked all over they could not find Neddie and Beckie, of course, for the children were with the Professor and the trained bear, far, far away. You knew that, didn’t you?
Oh! how badly papa and mamma Stubtail felt, and they called a nice dog policeman to help find Neddie and Beckie. But I’ll tell you about that part later. This story is about Neddie’s trick.
After breakfast, as I said, the Professor, George, the trained bear, and Neddie and Beckie went on and on through the woods.
“Soon we will come to a village,” said the Professor. “There George will do some of his tricks, and you little bears can climb a telegraph pole, or maybe the church steeple. Then the people will laugh and clap their hands and give us things to eat.”
“Buns and popcorn balls?” asked Beckie, anxiously.
Soon they did come to a village, and the Professor blew some sweet notes on his bugle. At once a lot of children came running out to watch the bears, and when they saw Neddie and Beckie the children said:
One little girl even touched Beckie’s fur, and Beckie liked to feel the tiny hand. Beckie and Neddie were getting so they were not afraid of real folks. Then George, the trained bear, did some of his tricks, turning somersaults, playing soldier and the like.
“Now you little bears will do a trick,” said the Professor. “Come, Neddie, climb a pole!” And he blew on the bugle.