"Well, I never," he said, "never in all my life, saw anything like it!"
"He can't do it--a breakfast like that is too much for _any_ bear!"
"He oughtn't to be _allowed_ to do it. Mr. Bear is too nice a man to lose."
"He _mustn't_ be allowed to do it--we'll help him."
"Where do you suppose he begins? said Mr. 'Coon.
"At the top, very likely," said Mr. Crow. "He's got it arranged in courses."
"I don't care where he begins," said Mr. 'Possum; "I'm going to begin somewhere, now, and I think I will begin on a meat-pie."
And Mr. Crow said he thought he'd begin on a nice partridge, and Mr. 'Coon said he believed he'd try a mince-pie or two first, as a kind of a lining, and then fill in with the solid things afterward.
So then Mr. 'Possum took down his meat-pie, and said he hoped this wasn't a dream, and Mr. Crow took down a nice brown partridge, and Mr. 'Coon stood up on a chair and slipped a mince-pie out of a pan on the top shelf, and everything would have been all right, only he lost his balance a little and let the pie fall. It made quite a smack when it struck the floor, and Mr. 'Possum jumped and let his pie fall, too, and that made a good deal more of a noise, because it was large and in a tin pan.
Then Mr. Crow blew out the light quick, and they all stood perfectly still and listened, for it seemed to them a noise like that would wake the dead, much more Mr. Bear, and they thought he would be right up and in there after them.
But Mr. Bear was too sound asleep for that. They heard him give a little cough and a kind of a grunt mixed with a sleepy word or two, and when they peeked out through the door, which was open just a little ways, they saw him moving about in his chair, trying first one side and then the other, as if he wanted to settle down and go to sleep again, which he didn't do, but kept right on grunting and sniffing and mumbling and trying new positions.
Then, of course, the Hollow Tree People were scared, for they knew pretty well he was going to wake up. There wasn't any way to get out of Mr. Bear's pantry except by the door, and you had to go right by Mr. Bear's chair to get out of the cave. So they just stood there, holding their breath and trembling, and Mr. 'Possum wished now it _was_ a dream, and that he could wake up right away before the nightmare began.