The old owl solemnly winked his great eyes, and slowly flapped his
great wings, and flew to the cave. "Well, we-l-l, w-e-l-l," said the
owl; "I am very glad to come into the cave, for you know that the light
hurts my eyes, and I usually go out only at night. What can I do for
you?"
The Papa Bear then told the owl what he had been thinking about.
The owl said very wisely, "I am sure that the stuff will knock down
the rocks, for I have seen miners use it, and it makes the rocks fly
so that they have to run a great way off, to keep from getting hurt. I
think if you could get some of the stuff, you would find you could soon
get into the beautiful cave that we all want to see."
The Papa Bear asked the elephant if he was willing to go with the
little Cub Bear to find the box. The elephant Jumbo said that he would
be glad to go, because the animals had all been so good to him in the
circus.
Jumbo got down on his knees, and the little Cub Bear climbed up on his
back, and away they went to find the box that had in it such wonderful
stuff. They went a long, long way, and finally the little Cub Bear saw
the box and pointed it out to Jumbo, who carefully picked it up with
his trunk and with his tusks, just as he had the bales of hay, and
carried it back toward the den. When they were coming back, what do you
suppose they saw?
The funniest little animal that the little Cub Bear had ever seen. It
was nearly as big as a pig, but it looked like a great mouse. Its
front legs were very short, like small arms, while its hind legs were
very long. Its tail was as large around as a man's arm. And then it had
a pocket, only the pocket was in front, as the animal stood up, instead
of on the sides as boys' pockets are. And what in the world do you
suppose was in this pocket? Another little baby animal just like the
big one. All you could see of the little fellow was his head peering
out of the pocket.
As they stopped to watch the animals, the little fellow hopped out
of the pocket, and took two little hops, and then when he saw the
elephant, scampered back as fast as he could. The elephant told the
little Cub Bear that this animal was the greatest jumper in the whole
world. And while the elephant was telling this to the little Cub Bear,
the animal saw the elephant, and was so glad to see his old friend
Jumbo, that with two great jumps it reached Jumbo, and with the third,
jumped clear over the elephant, bear and all.
Jumbo said, "How do you do, Madam Kangaroo and the little baby
kangaroo?"