all if his feet _did_ get wet in the melting snow.

At last one afternoon when his paws were quite well again Cuffy strayed
some distance down the side of Blue Mountain, He was alone, because
Silkie was asleep. You know, she was younger than Cuffy and still had to
take naps. Cuffy had slid and tumbled down the mountainside until he was
further from home than he knew. It did seem good to be able to put his
paws upon the ground again without whimpering with pain. And coming to a
short, steep place, Cuffy felt so glad that he actually turned a
somersault and landed in a heap at the foot of the bank. He sat there
for a moment, brushing the soft snow out of his face, when a flash of
light dazzled his eyes. It came from a tree right in front of him. And
Cuffy at once jumped up and ran to see what it was. He found that some
one had fastened a shiny, new tin bucket to the trunk of the tree.

Cuffy felt that he _must_ have that bucket to play with. He knew that he
could have heaps of fun rolling it about on the ground. And he was just
going to knock it off the hook that held it when he noticed that a small
spout had been driven into the tree just above the bucket. And as Cuffy
stood there on his hind legs, reaching up as high as he could, he saw a
tiny drop fall from the spout and go splash! into the bucket. Then, as
he watched, another drop fell; and another and another and another.
Cuffy wondered where they came from. It must be--he thought--that there
was a spring inside that tree. Yes! he was sure of it, for the bucket
was half full of water. He felt thirsty, for he had not had a drink
since lunch-time. And so Cuffy stuck his head into the pail and took a
good, big swallow.

The next instant he squealed with joy. It was the nicest water he had
ever tasted in all his life, for it was quite sweet--just as if