“Come—quick!” Mother Black Bear called to her cubs, losing her nerve as the quilly creature allowed herself to float over on the side the cubs were on. “Quick, I tell you!—Scramble!” [Illustration: [Bears & porcupine]] VI DRIVEN FROM THEIR POND Well it was for Woof and Twinkly Eyes, the fat bear cubs, that they had learned obedience. For had they not scrambled out of the pond the instant their mother bade them they would have got badly hurt. Mrs. Porcupine is not a neighbor to be treated with disrespect, as Mother Black Bear knew. Had one of the cubs gone an inch too near her prickly babies, their little tails would have gone slap, slap right in the faces of the cubs, leaving their barbed quills behind them. That is why, even though Mrs. Black Bear felt she had first right to the swimming pool, she gave it up to Mrs. Porcupine the minute that lady entered the water. The bear cubs didn’t in the least understand why they should be asked to scramble out of the pond so hastily; but they didn’t stop to ask why. They just scrambled! Once safely on the bank, Mother Black Bear hurried them to the shelter of the tall ferns and bracken. Here she posted them side by side where they could see the pond. “Just watch,” she whispered, “and see—what you will see!” The pair settled themselves on their awkward little haunches, eyes dancing with excitement. They did love a mystery! Now Mrs. Porcupine is covered thick with quills, and these are as sharp as needles. When she meets an enemy she can make them stand out all over her back till she looks like a giant pincushion. But she can also flatten them down as smooth as a bale of hay. Just on the edge of the pond, she flattened them all so nicely that the three baby porcupines were able to clamber aboard and sail out into the pond on her back. “Gee! that must be fun,” thought Woof. “I’ll bet they fall off,” thought Twinkly Eyes. Mother Black Bear, who knew just what was going to happen, thought to herself, “I might have tried that myself if only I had thought in time!” “Unk wunk, unk wunk, unk wunk!” sang Mrs. Porcupine, pulling up the water lily pads and munching the juicy roots. “Unk wunk, unk wunk,” mimicked the little porcupines, nibbling at the bits she took in her mouth to see what they were like. Lower and lower swam Mrs. Porcupine, till the babies had to climb higher on her back to keep from getting wet. Mother Black Bear’s eyes fairly twinkled at what was about to happen. Lower still sank the living raft, till it was half under. The babies didn’t mind, once the surprise of getting wet was over. But the raft was sinking lower still. Now Mrs. Porcupine just had her nose out. Then—suddenly—she dived clear under! [Illustration: [Porcupine]] VII SINK OR SWIM