This done, soon as the clock struck four,
The baker left his door;

But all so silently,

That the trapped enemy

Might still suppose him watching at his post,
As powerful as a host.

III.

Down to the Golden Star in haste he ran,
And there he found them bustling all about,
Fetching and carrying, mistress, maid and man
Though 'twas so early, going in and out.
To them he told the adventures of the night,
And all were in a great affright ;

And all indignant at the thieves' audacity:
"Is it not terrible!" said they;

"But in the present day,

All men, even thieves, have wonderful capacity!"

IV.

This said, with sudden haste

They called up every guest,

Carter and cattle-driver, groom and jockey,
And the bear's master, wild and black;
Until the baker thought he was most lucky
To muster such a party at his back.

Unto the house they came, and pulled down, first,
The formidable barricade;

And then they grew afraid,

Lest out the dreadful enemy should burst.

At length each heart grew bolder,

And o'er his neighbor's shoulder

Each held a lighted candle; and, en masse, They rushed into the place where bruin was! There, skulking in his shaggy coat, they saw A frightful something with a paw!

"Up, up with you at once!"

Shouted poor bruin's master in his ears; And he, who was no dunce,

And had so many fears,

And knew that voice so well,

Sprang in a moment to his hinder legs,

Just like a little dog that begs,

And danced a hornpipe to a miracle!

VI.

Half angry was the baker, seeing thus,

That, after all his fuss,

The thieves were nothing but a dancing bear!
And yet he took it in good part,

And tried to laugh with all his heart,
And said it was a joke most capital!

VII.

And, through all the fair,

'Twas told, at every booth and every stall, What fancy bruin had for dainty store;

And many people gave him gingerbread ; And he with buns and penny pies was fed, So that he never fared so well before.

LXIII.—A VISIT TO THE IMAGE-MAKER'S.

PART FIRST.

WE had a great deal of trouble to find the image-maker's house. I don't think, unless papa had been with us, we ever should have found it at all. We had to go down a very narrow little street, full of funny shops; then into a passage and up a winding stair to a large low garret. There were windows in the roof instead of at the sides, so that you could see nothing but sky through them.

2. I was rather disappointed at first. I thought the whole room would have been full of beautiful

white images like those I had seen the imagemaker carry on a board the day before. Instead of that, there were scarcely any at all-only the molds in which they were made, and these molds were very ugly indeed-ugly and dirty, and no sort of shape at all.

3. There were a few figures, however, that I had not seen before. There was Garibaldi, with that funny loose shirt on. I wondered if it was his only one; he never seemed to have any other to put on. And there was an English general, the most splendid gentleman I had ever seen, all over lace and embroidery and braiding, and no end of buttons with crowns carved on them. really was very grand. Next to him was a German soldier with not half so much ornament about him, but he looked very fierce, as if he could kill a great many people.

He

4. Antonio asked us if we would like to see him make a general. A lady had ordered one the day before, and he could make one from beginning to end in about an hour. Aunt Mary said we should like it very much; so he began at once. Perhaps you will be glad for me to tell you how it was done, though, of course, I can't make you understand so well as if you had seen everything yourself.

5. The molds were made of a very coarse, strong plaster. The general's mold was of sev

eral pieces tied together with matting. Antonio loosed these bands. Outside they were quite rough and shapeless, but inside they were as smooth as satin, and you could see every little mark upon them that there was upon the real general.

6. Then Antonio got some oil and a brush, and oiled the inside of the mold very carefully indeed. He took a great deal of pains with it, because he said if he missed a single button, the plaster would stick and his general would be spoiled. That was why generals were so expensive-they had so many buttons; but then he got a better price for them, so it came to the same thing in the end.

7. I am sure papa was thinking something funny whilst Antonio said this, for his eyes twinkled so, but I don't know what it was.

8. When all the pieces were oiled, Antonio tied them together again, and the thing looked just as it did before. Then he turned it feet uppermost and stirred up a pailful of plaster of Paris and poured it into the mold and shook it round and round, so that the plaster might get into all the little holes and corners. Poor man! it put him quite out of breath. He said generals wanted so much shaking; the plaster would have gone all over a German soldier in half the time.

9. Then he set the mold carefully down in