"That's some big
beast. Sounds like a bear! He'll be up here in a minute! Quick, help me
stand this wardrobe in front of the doorway!"
He seized it on one side, I on the other, and between us we quickly
stood that heavy piece of furniture up against the dark opening. Then,
while I held it in place, Addison propped it fast with the door from the
foot of the chamber stairs, which with one wrench he tore from its
hinges.
It was evidently foxes, or bears, or both; but how they had got into the
cellar was not clear. We started the fire blazing again and, standing in
front of it, listened to the uproar. At times we heard yelps in the
storm outside, at the back of the house, and decided that there must be
some other way than the stairs of getting into the cellar.
After a while it began to grow light. Snow was still falling, but not so
fast. The commotion below had quieted, but we heard a fox barking
outside and from the back window caught sight of the animal moving about
in the snow, holding up first one foot then another. Farther away, among
the bushes of the clearing, stood another fox; and, still farther off in
the woods, a third was barking querulously.
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