VERY cautiously they set forth, Peter Pan conducting, while Bedelia brought up the rear in order to safeguard the small fry from any possible attack in either direction.

Silently the little procession crept from the nursery and hopping and sliding down the stairs swiftly advanced upon the lower regions. In the kitchen hall they broke ranks.

The kitchen was a big, bright room, beautifully kept and as clean as wax. Indeed, cook was in the habit of saying that you could eat off the floor, which was undoubtedly true provided you did not prefer a table and chair.

Everything fairly shone with cleanliness and was as bright as sapolio and elbow grease could make it.

A great pan of bread had been put to rise on a table near the range and this the hungry bears sampled first, upsetting the pan and pushing their paws and noses into the dough in their impatience to taste it. However, they did not like it at all, as it was much too raw and sticky, and not at all unlike the library paste on Sally’s school room desk, which Peter Pan had once upset in order to taste it and from which he had retired in disgust. So they left it strewn all about the newly scrubbed floor, and started on a voyage of discovery in the pantries. Here indeed were goodies galore, plump pies and a luscious jelly cake glistening with white frosting; shining glasses of jelly and jam, jars upon jars of preserves, pickles and catsup of every description.

“Putting up” was cook’s especial delight and this year she had certainly done herself proud.

You may be sure it did not take the Teddy bears long to fall upon such an alluring feast, or rather to fall into it, which they did head first, scooping up the dainties with their paws and gorging themselves like little pigs, spoiling what they could not eat out of sheer wantonness, and finally finishing off with a quantity of luscious honey for which they really had not a sufficient capacity after the miscellaneous collection of sweets that they had already devoured.

They now found themselves very thirsty indeed, and recollected that Sally was extremely fond of a good smelling stuff that she called cider.

They at once resolved to have some, and having rummaged all over the now disorderly kitchen without finding any, decided to continue their researches in the cellar.

Therefore in a few moments the whole crew were scrambling down the cellar steps, Peter Pan lighting the way with a candle, which, with plenty of matches, he had found on one of the closet shelves. The matches were a new proposition to him, and it required several attempts and a quantity of wasted matches before the candle was properly lighted. Peter Pan’s only idea of artificial lighting was indissolubly connected with a button in the wall. But as he had frequently seen cook take along a candle when she was going down cellar he felt that it would be highly improper to descend thither without one.

Teddy bears have no powers of deduction as their brains consist solely of raveled silk and tissue paper. Consequently they never draw inferences, a very lucky thing in the case of Peter Pan.

The cellar stairs were quite different from any that the bears had tried before, being open at the back of the steps. When about half way down one of the twins slipped through and fell to the floor below with a resounding thump.

Immediately he set up a fearful shrieking, not because he was hurt in the least, but because he was dreadfully afraid that the rest of the family would get to the cider before he did.

Now Peter Pan was, as a rule, an extremely indulgent parent, but of late it had commenced to dawn upon his inner consciousness that his offspring were being fearfully spoiled.

Therefore, quickly hopping down the remaining steps he grabbed up the squalling Jerry and administered a sound spanking, which so took the little bear by surprise that he stopped abruptly in the middle of a fearful shriek and at once became as still as a mouse.

After this slight interruption, the bears proceeded to institute a vigorous search for the cider. At first they struck the vinegar barrel from which they retired in dismay, the very odor of the acid stuff giving the baby bear an attack of colic. But their next experiment proved more successful and soon they were filling themselves with the sweet liquid. When they could hold no more they all sat down rather tipsily on the bottom step, not quite sure what they wanted to do next. Of course they had not thought to turn off the faucet of the cider barrel, and the little amber stream continued to run steadily, slowly spreading over the floor, where it presently formed a shining lake in which the flickering light of the candle cast some grotesque and ever changing reflections.

Just about this time the swift patter of furry paws sounded on the kitchen floor and were heard rapidly approaching the cellar door. Immediately the frightened bears knew what had happened. Rough House had awakened, in a really very inconsiderate manner, and missing the bear family had hurried downstairs to do a little detective work on his own account.

Instantly Peter Pan blew out the candle and the whole family scurried away in the pitch black darkness, wading knee deep through the lake of cider, and finally taking refuge in the coal bin.

Meanwhile Rough House was not a little astonished to find such a state of affairs in cook’s orderly domain. He sniffed around cautiously and so quick were his movements that his sharp brown eyes caught a glimpse of the flickering candle gleam below stairs before Peter Pan had time to extinguish it.

At once he conjectured that the Teddy bears had been the authors of all the mischief; and filled with an impish desire to get even with the creatures of whom he had grown so jealous, he quickly sprang behind the door and charging upon it with lowered head had the joy of seeing it swing securely shut, leaving his enemies close prisoners in the darkness and silence below stairs.

Rough House had been trained never to help himself to anything to eat unless it was first offered to him. But he could not refrain from licking up a few tempting, sugary crumbs, and little scraps of cake that the bears had left scattered about the floor. Then after pushing at the door with his nose to make sure that all was hard and fast he trotted upstairs, wagging his tail with much satisfaction and laid himself down across the foot of Sally’s bed, where he was soon fast asleep; keeping one eye open, however, as he usually did, in order to be able to head off the bears should they by any manner of means succeed in escaping from their confinement.

Meanwhile in their dreary prison in the cellar the Teddy bears huddled together, trembling for their lives in the inky darkness. Even Peter Pan had lost all his impudence, for every moment he expected to hear the cellar door open and Rough House come loping down the steps. He shuddered as he remembered the fate of other toys that he had seen carried away in the dog’s powerful jaws, a fate that was perhaps now in store for him and his.

After a wait that seemed interminable, being somewhat encouraged by the fact that nothing untoward had happened, although momentarily expected, he summoned sufficient courage to grope his way to the bottom of the steps, and after a period of breathless listening, to their very top.

All was silence in the kitchen. The dog had evidently departed. But push as he might he could not budge the tightly latched door.

Disheartened by the failure of his repeated efforts, he crept back to the miserable little group in the coal bin.

There was nothing for it but to await whatever developments the morning might bring forth. And huddled together they fell asleep, a sadder if not a wiser family of Teddy bears.