iet, Otto," muttered Knut. "Do you want them to hear? Lie still,
and I'll think of some way to escape."

"Are you sure this is the right tree?" said a man's voice.

"Don't you see the mark?" asked another. "The Forester put it on
himself; though it's rather high up. You'd better begin work at once,
or you'll not get through with it before he comes round again."

This was awful. Otto trembled so that he could hear his own teeth
chattering; but Knut kept his presence of mind, and poking his brother
warningly, said in a hoarse whisper,

"Wait till I give the signal, and then jump out after me as high in
the air as you can. Follow me till I tell you to stop."

An echoing blow resounded against the tree trunk, which made Knut fly
up like a sky-rocket.

"Now!" he cried, and bounding on to the edge of the opening, he jumped
right over the heads of the woodmen into the tangled bushes, followed
by Otto, and away they raced through the forest, before the astonished
men could recover themselves.

"What in the world was that?" cried the wood-cutters, rubbing their
eyes and blinking; but no one had been able to see more than two
flying brown balls, and after hunting about in vain, they decided it
must have been a couple of gigantic owls.

Only one thing did they find in the hollow tree, and that certainly
puzzled them--a small piece of crumpled paper, on which was sketched a
life-like picture of a Badger with a fool's cap on his head;
underneath, written in cramped letters--

"_How would you like it?_"

After running for about half an hour, Knut sank down panting on a
juniper bush, while Otto rolled upon the moss thoroughly exhausted.

"Arithmetic was better than this!" he panted dismally, fanning himself
with a large fern leaf. "History was better--_anything_ was better!"

"Well, we're quite safe here for the present," replied Knut, "so don't
worry yourself any more. I'm so tired I can't keep awake, and I'm sure
you can't." And, indeed, in spite of their fright, in a few minutes
both the little Bears were sound asleep again.

When they next opened their eyes, the sun was glinting through the
pine trees; and looking down on them benignly, stood a Fox in
travelling dress, with a soft felt hat upon his head.

He smiled graciously upon Knut, and beckoned him to come out of the
juniper bushes.

"Ha! ha! my good gentlemen, you are taking a comfortable rest in a
very secluded spot, but you can't escape _my_ observation!"