There was nothing surprising about this. The rule of "live and let live"
is so strictly enforced in the Park that the Bears often come to the
kitchen door for pickings, and on getting something, they go quietly
back to the woods. Doubtless Johnny and Grumpy would each have gotten
their tart but that a new factor appeared in the case.

[Illustration]

That week the Hotel people had brought a new cat from the East. She was
not much more than a kitten, but still had a litter of her own, and at
the moment that Grumpy reached the door, the Cat and her family were
sunning themselves on the top step. Pussy opened her eyes to see this
huge, shaggy monster towering above her.

The Cat had never before seen a Bear--she had not been there long
enough; she did not know even what a Bear was. She knew what a Dog was,
and here was a bigger, more awful bob-tailed black dog than ever she had
dreamed of coming right at her. Her first thought was to fly for her
life. But her next was for the kittens. She must take care of them. She
must at least cover their retreat. So like a brave little mother, she
braced herself on that door-step, and spreading her back, her claws, her
tail, and everything she had to spread, she screamed out at that Bear an
unmistakable order to

STOP!

[Illustration]

The language must have been "Cat," but the meaning was clear to the