ht, only he lost his
balance a little and let the pie fall. It made quite a smack when it
struck the floor, and Mr. 'Possum jumped and let his pie fall, too, and
that made a good deal more of a noise, because it was large and in a tin
pan.

Then Mr. Crow blew out the light quick, and they all stood perfectly
still and listened, for it seemed to them a noise like that would wake
the dead, much more Mr. Bear, and they thought he would be right up and
in there after them.

But Mr. Bear was too sound asleep for that. They heard him give a little
cough and a kind of a grunt mixed with a sleepy word or two, and when
they peeked out through the door, which was open just a little ways,
they saw him moving about in his chair, trying first one side and then
the other, as if he wanted to settle down and go to sleep again, which
he didn't do, but kept right on grunting and sniffing and mumbling and
trying new positions.

Then, of course, the Hollow Tree People were scared, for they knew
pretty well he was going to wake up. There wasn't any way to get out of
Mr. Bear's pantry except by the door, and you had to go right by Mr.
Bear's chair to get out of the cave. So they just stood there, holding
their breath and trembling, and Mr. 'Possum wished now it _was_ a dream,
and that he could wake up right away before the nightmare began.

Well, Mr. Bear he turned this way and that way, and once or twice seemed
about to settle down and sleep again; but just as they thought he really
had done it, he sat up pretty straight and looked all around.

Then the Hollow Tree People thought their time had come, and they wanted
to make a jump, and run for the door, only they were afraid to try it.
Mr. Bear yawned a long yawn, and stretched himself, and rubbed his eyes
open, and looked over at the fire and down at the candle on the table
and up at the clock on the mantel. The 'Coon and 'Possum and the Old
Black Crow thought, of course, he'd know somebody had been there by all
those things being set going, and they expected him to roar out
something terrible and start for the pantry first thing.

But Mr. Bear didn't seem to understand it at all, or to suppose that
anything was wrong, and from what he mumbled to himself they saw right
away that he thought he'd been asleep only a little while instead of all
winter.

"Humph!" they heard him growl, "I must have gone to sleep, and was
dreaming it's time to wake up. I didn't sleep long, though, by the