l turned and looked at him very
closely, which was a thing they had never done until that time. And
before Mr. 'Possum noticed it, they saw him chew--a kind of last,
finishing chew--and then give a little swallow--a sort of last,
finishing swallow--and just then he noticed them watching him, and he
stopped right in his tracks and dropped the two little barrel staves and
looked very scared and guilty, which was strange, when he had always
been so willing about the wood.

[Illustration: LOOKED STRAIGHT AT MR. 'POSSUM AND SAID, "WHAT WAS THAT
YOU WERE CHEWING JUST NOW?"]

Then they all got up out of their chairs and looked straight at Mr.
'Possum, and said:

"What was that you were chewing just now?"

And Mr. 'Possum couldn't say a word.

Then they all said:

"What was that you were swallowing just now?"

And Mr. 'Possum couldn't say a word.

Then they all said:

"Why do you always stay so long when you go for wood?"

And Mr. 'Possum couldn't say a word.

Then they all said:

"Why is it that you don't get thin, like the rest of us?"

And Mr. 'Possum couldn't say a word.

Then they all said:

"Why is it you never hear the bark of Old Hungry-Wolf?"

And Mr. 'Possum said, very weakly:

"I did think I heard it a little while ago."

Then they all said:

"And was that why you went down after wood?"

And once more Mr. 'Possum couldn't say a word.

Then they all said:

"What have you got _down there_ to eat? And _where_ do you keep it?"

Then Mr. 'Possum seemed to think of something, and picked up the two
little barrel staves and brought them over to the fire and put them on,
and looked very friendly, and sat down and lit his pipe and smoked a
minute, and said that climbing the stairs had overcome him a little, and
that he wasn't feeling very well, but if they'd let him breathe a
minute he'd tell them all about it, and how he had been preparing a nice
surprise for them, for just such a time as this; but when he saw they
had found out something, it all came on him so sudden that, what with
climbing the stairs and all, he couldn't quite gather himself, but that
he was all right now, and the surprise was ready.

"Of course you know," Mr. 'Possum said, "that I have travelled a good
deal, and have seen a good many kinds of things happen, and know about
what to expect. And when I saw how fast we were using up the food, and
how deep the snow was, I knew we might expect a famine that even Mr.
Crow's johnny