“‘What do you suppose made ’em?’ he asked, looking at Little Bear,—‘made ’em yell, I mean. In that sky, there ought to have been just one thousand stars, spread around equally; instead of that, there were one thousand _Chinamen’s heads_, grinnin’ at ’em, over each other’s shoulders, all on one half of the sky.’ (‘Oh!’ gasped the Star People.) ‘Those horrible bears had popped one star inside of each of those gnawed-out meteors, and arranged ’em like that.’” (“Like the heads on the Chinese plates,” whispered Phyllisy, and the Princess twinkled at her with her eyes.) “‘Made jack-o’ lanterns of them,’ said Cepheus. “‘Yes,’said Hercules. ‘One thousand jack-o’lanterns, because that funny bear said it would be a joke.’ “‘I should think it was,’ said Orion. “‘Well, it _wasn’t_,’ said Hercules. ‘At least, it was the poorest joke those bears ever tried. It did for them! Of course, people couldn’t stand such goings on with the stars. So they said: “Those bears have got to be cleared out; and we’ll have some Star People to take care of our sky.” So they picked out some people they knew were good at huntin’ wild animals and weren’t afraid; and Orion and Perseus and I—and some more of us—came first; and we just cleared out those horrible bears that weren’t fit to be here, and made this the right kind of a Starland for us all to live in.’ “‘Did you drive them, every one, out?’ asked Alcyone. “‘Yes,’ said Hercules. ‘At least—almost; but there was just one little bit of a bear that didn’t seem at all like the others,’—Little Bear wriggled with delight—‘and Orion said to me, “I guess we’ll keep this little chap. He seems a pretty good kind of a bear.” And I said, “All right. We’ll try him; but if he goes to cuttin’ up—out he’ll go, after the others!”’ “‘But he didn’t!’ said Andromeda, squeezing him, ‘and we couldn’t live without him! Is one single bit of that story true?’ “‘There’s Little Bear, to prove it,’ said Orion. And it was not fair to ask; for it was an absorbing story while it lasted, and that’s more than can be said for a great many stories,” finished the Princess. “Not yours, Dearie,” said Miss Phyllisy. “Yours are always as good as that—and better.” “They interrupt just like us, don’t they?” asked Pat. “Just as we’re interrupting now,” said Phyllisy. “What came next, Dearie?” She was looking off, over their heads, at the sky beyond the treetops; she looked back quickly, smiling at the Others. “Next, Miss Phyllisy? Not very much. When the laughter and talk about the story had died away, every one sat quiet, a little tired and ready to be serious—and they fell to talking about the Ship. “‘Isn’t she beautiful?’ said Celeno. ‘Wouldn’t you love to see her sailing?’ “‘We shall, some time,’ said Orion. “‘Do you really believe it?’ asked Maia. “‘Surely,’ said Castor. ‘She’s lighter now than she used to be.’ “‘A good deal,’ agreed Hercules. ‘I measure every once in a while, and she keeps going up—every year a little.’