the ground in front of him, but without making any enquiries
as to what they had been doing there, he plunged at once into the
history of his wrongs.

CHAPTER III.

All day the Badger's scholars enjoyed themselves in the forest. They
played leap-frog, ran races, bathed in the river, had lunch in a shady
hollow, and picked more cranberries than they knew what to do with;
but as evening came on, they began to wonder a little anxiously
whether the Schoolmaster would already have been round to their
parents to complain of their behaviour; and when Knut and Otto entered
their own door in the bushes, their knees were shaking under them, and
it occurred to them that perhaps the fireworks hadn't been quite so
amusing as they expected, after all!

They were met by Herr Bjornson with a gloomy frown. There was no doubt
that Herr Badger had told him everything, and the little Bears waited
tremblingly for what was to happen next.

"What is this that I hear?" commenced the Father-bear angrily. "Your
respected Master ill-treated in his own School-house. Thrown violently
upon the ground, with crackers exploding round him for several hours!
What have you to say for yourselves?"

"Please, father, we didn't mean to hurt him," began Knut in a piping
voice; "It was only to get rid of the books. We won't do it again!"

"I should think _not_, indeed," said Herr Bjornson. "I shall punish
you myself severely to-morrow, after School time, and Herr Badger is
going to give you two hours' extra Arithmetic every day for a
fortnight."

Knut and Otto crept off miserably into the garden, and that evening
there was no dancing, and the Bear-mother's concertina was silent.

Before it was daylight next morning, Knut had awakened Otto. They had
determined the night before that they would _never_ return to Herr
Badger's rule, and the matter of the extra Arithmetic had settled
their determination.

They started with their cloaks, and with lunch in their satchels, as
if going to School--leaving a note for their mother upon the kitchen
dresser.

This letter was written with the stump of a lead pencil, and ran as
follows:--

"_To the well-born Fru Bjornson._

"_We cant keep at ilt any mor. We want to be inderpendent, and the
sums are 2 mutch. We sik our fortones, and return wen we ar rich._

"KNUT. OTTO."

As soon as they reached the forest, the two little Bears ran forward
as quickly as they could towards the river.

They intended