"Oh, Bruin, Bruin!" cried Toto, "we thought you were gone, without saying a word to us. How could you frighten us so?"
The bear rubbed his nose confusedly, and muttered something about "a few more sticks in case of cold weather."
But here Toto burst out laughing in spite of himself, for the shed was piled so high with kindling-wood that the bear sat as it were at the bottom of a pit whose sides of neatly split sticks rose high above his head.
"You old goose!" cried the boy. "There's kindling-wood enough here to last us ten years, at the very least. Come away! Granny wants you. She thought--"
"There will be more butter to make, now, Toto, since that new calf has come," said the bear, breaking in with apparent irrelevance.
"I suppose there will!" said the boy, staring. "What of it?"
"And that pig is getting too big for you to manage," continued Bruin, in a serious tone. "He was impudent to _me_ the other day, and I had to take him up by the tail and swing him, before he would apologize. Now, you _couldn't_ take him up by the tail, Toto, much less swing him, and there is no use in your deceiving yourself about it."
"Of course I couldn't!" cried Toto. "No one could, except you, old monster. But what _are_ you thinking about that for, now? Come along, I tell you! Granny will think you are gone, after all." And catching the bear by the ear, he led him back in triumph to the cottage-door, crying, "Granny, Granny! here he is! Now give him a good scolding, please, for frightening us so."
But the grandmother never scolded. She only stroked the shaggy black fur, and said, "Bruin, dear! my good, faithful, true-hearted Bruin! I could not bear to think that you had left me without saying good-by. That hurt me very much. But you would not have done it, would you, Bruin? We ought to have known you better."
The bear looked about him distractedly, and bit his paw severely, as if to relieve his feelings. "Yes I would!" he cried. "At least, if I meant to say good-by. I wouldn't say it, because I couldn't. But I don't mean to say it,--I mean I don't mean to do it. If you don't want me in the house,--being large and clumsy, as I am well aware, and ugly too,--I can sleep out by the pump, and come in to do the work. But I cannot leave the boy, please, dear Madam, nor you. And the calf wants attention, and that pig _ought_ to be swung at least once a week, and--and--"