d a happy thought. He would go out and shove his paws into
a snowbank. That would surely cool them. So out of the sugar-house he
dashed and across the clearing he ran, screaming _"Ough! ough! ough!"_
at the top of his voice, for the hot syrup made his paws smart terribly.
In his haste Cuffy did not notice that he was headed in the direction in
which the man had disappeared.

Now it happened that the man who tended the sugar-house fire had gone
only to the edge of the clearing; and when he heard Cuffy's shrieks he
looked around in great surprise. He and Cuffy saw each other at the same
time. And like a flash Cuffy turned and fairly flew the other way.

The man ran after him for a few steps. But he soon saw that he could
never catch Cuffy. So he stood still and watched the little bear bob
into the woods and vanish.

Poor Cuffy's heart was beating as if it would burst. He was so
frightened that he forgot all about his burned paws and he ran and ran
and ran up the steep mountainside. He did not mind the climb; he was
used to that. But to his great alarm the snow clung to his sticky paws
until each was just a great, round lump. They looked like the hands of a
snow-man.

Cuffy found it very hard to run with his paws like that. But he kept on
and on, until at last he came in sight of his father's house. Then he
stopped and sat down, right behind a knoll, where his mother could not
see him. He was very tired. And though he was no longer afraid that the
man would catch him, he began to be afraid of something else.... A
punishing? No--no! He had not thought of that. Cuffy was afraid that he
could never get rid of those big heavy lumps. He was afraid his paws
would always be covered with those hard balls of snow. You must
remember that he was a very _young_ little bear.

Well! After he had got his breath again Cuffy began to nibble at his
snow mittens. And little by little--to his delight--he removed them. And
still he kept on nibbling at his paws, and--yes! he actually put them
right inside his mouth and sucked them. He forgot all about his
_manners_, for underneath the snow he found the most beautiful, waxy
maple-sugar you can imagine. Each paw was just one big lollypop! And
though his burns still hurt him, Cuffy did not care very much. For those
lollypops were _two hundred times_ sweeter than anything he had ever
tasted in all his life!

VII

THE ICE GOES OUT OF THE RIVER

Farmer Green had taken his sap-bucket