The Adventures of Rusty The Fox Squirrel

THE ADVENTURES OF RUSTY THE FOX SQUIRREL
For once in his life Chatterer didnt know what to do. FRONTISPIECE. See page 8.

BY
THORNTON W. BURGESS Author of Old Mother West Wind, The Bedtime Story-Books, etc. With Illustrations adapted from HARRISON CADY
NEEDHAM, MA SMILING POND PRESS 2012
This book compiles Burgess Bedtime Stories published from November 1 to December 16, 1920. The text and the illustrations are no longer under copyright.
This pdf version of The Adventures of Rusty the Fox Squirrel by Thornton W. Burgess is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Version 1.1
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. XIII. XIV. XV. XVI. XVII.
CHATTERER THE RED SQUIRREL DISCOVERS A STRANGER CHATTERER HAS A SHOCK CHATTERER BECOMES AQUAINTED CHATTERER TRIES TO FRIGHTEN RUSTY CHATTERER LAUGHS LONG AND HARD RUSTY IS VERY, VERY BUSY CHATTERER BLAMES THE WRONG ONE CHATTERER REMEMBERS RUSTY CHATTERER BECOMES UNEASY SAMMY JAY GUESSES RIGHT SAMMY JAY IS MOST POLITE RUSTY ASKS A QUESTION JACK FROSTS BUSY NIGHT CHATTERER AND RUSTY MEET AGAIN CHATTERER SULKS AND PLANS A LITTLE RED SPY CHATTERERS GREAT SURPRISE
1 6 10 14 19 23 27 32 36 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 74
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
XVIII. RUSTY HAS A LITTLE FUN WITH HIS COUSIN XIX. HOW RUSTY FILLED HIS STOREHOUSE XX. CHATTERER REAPS A JUST REWARD XXI. CHATTERER DISCOVERS A HUNTER XXII. CHATTERER IS DREADFULLY TEMPTED XXIII. THE REAL CHATTERER XXIV. FARMER BROWNS BOY APPEARS XXV. RUSTY IS IN TROUBLE
79 84 89 94 99 104 108 113
XXVI. FARMER BROWNS BOYS TENDER HEART 117 XXVII. WHAT CHATTERER SAW XXVIII. RUSTY FINDS HIMSELF IN A STRANGE PLACE XXIX. RUSTY TRIES TO BITE XXX. RUSTY MAKES UP HIS MIND XXXI. RUSTY IS TROUBLED XXXII. RUSTY HAS A VISITOR XXXIII. RUSTY HAS ANOTHER VISITOR XXXIV. FARMER BROWNS BOY GUESSES WHAT IS WRONG 122 127 132 137 142 147 152 157
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
XXXV. RUSTY LONGS FOR FREEDOM XXXVI. THE UNDERSTANDING HEART XXXVII. RUSTY VISITS THE OLD STUMP XXXVIII. RUSTY DECIDES WISELY XXXIX. CHATTERER WAKES UP XL. THE WHITE FOREST
161 165 170 175 180 185
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FOR ONCE IN HIS LIFE CHATTERER DIDNT KNOW WHAT TO DO WELCOME TO THE GREEN FOREST, SAID HE IN FACT, ONE BIG FAT HICKORY NUT HIT PETER RIGHT ON THE TOP OF HIS FUNNY LITTLE HEAD SO, SAYING MANY UGLY THINGS, THE HUNTER STARTED OFF HE HAD BAD DREAMS, DREAMS OF RUNNING FOR HIS LIFE FROM SHADOW THE WEASEL
Frontispiece. PAGE 47
PAGE 59
PAGE 111
PAGE 155
SO THIS IS WHERE RUSTY HID HIS STOREHOUSE, RIGHT UNDER MY NOSE! PAGE 183

I
CHATTERER THE RED SQUIRREL DISCOVERS A STRANGER
Say what you will it doesnt pay To let your temper get away.
HATTERER has told this to himself time and time again and then has forgotten it the very first time he has been provoked. Some people are that way. It was his temper which led him to try to get even with Buster Bear. Now once more he had found that trying to get even doesnt pay any more than allowing temper to get away. If he hadnt been trying to get
RUSTY THE FOX SQUIRREL 2 even with Buster Bear he wouldnt have been tempted to steal that blistering, stinging Jack-in-the-Pulpit root from Buster, and if he hadnt stolen that root he wouldnt now be sitting in a certain big hemlock tree in a lonely part of the Green Forest nursing a sore mouth and listening to the harsh voice of Sammy Jay in the distance. Sammy Jays voice didnt make Chatterer feel any better. He know just what Sammy was doing. He was telling everybody he met just what had happened, for Sammy had seen the whole affair, Sammy has no love for Chatterer and Chatterer knew just how delighted Sammy was to have such a story to tell. And he knew, too, that all who heard the story would chuckle over it and be glad it had happened. You see, Chatterer had few real friends. Mischief makers seldom have. So Chatterer sat in the big hemlock tree
and sulked and nursed his sore mouth, and pitied himself for being so miserable,
3 and blamed Buster Bear for all his troubles and actually seemed to enjoy feeling cross, ugly, and spiteful. It is queer, but it is true, that some folks actually do seem to enjoy being miserable. They enjoy it all the more if at the same time they can make other folks miserable. It was a beautiful day, but Chatterer was too busy sulking and pitying himself and trying to hate Buster Bear and Sammy Jay to even notice the Jolly Little Sunbeams or listen to the whispering of the Merry Little Breezes in the treetops. He had no thought for anybody or anything but himself. How long he would have sat there sulking had not a rustle of leaves caught his attention nobody knows. The first time he heard it he paid no attention to it. He thought it was made by the Merry Little Breezes. But the second time he heard it he
CHATTERER DISCOVERS A STRANGER
knew that it was made by small feet. Some one was pulling over the dry leaves on the
RUSTY THE FOX SQUIRREL 4 ground under a certain hickory tree not far away, a tree that Chatterer regarded as his very own, though, of course, it wasnt. Instantly Chatterer came out of his sulks. He would find out who was under that tree. It might be Mrs. Grouse, in which case he wouldnt mind. It might be Whitefoot the Wood Mouse. In this case he wouldnt mind, either. Or it might be his big cousin, Happy Jack the Gray Squirrel. In this case he would mind. Yes, siree! If Happy Jack was poking about in those leaves it was in search of fat hickory nuts, and Chatterer considered them his very own. He would have something to say about it. Yes, sir, he would have something to say about it. He ran out on a branch and from the end of that leaped lightly over into the next tree, taking care to make no noise. From that tree he jumped to another, from which he would be able to look down and see who was under that big hickory tree.
5 Cautiously he peeped around the trunk and looked down. Something moved just beyond the trunk of that big hickory tree. It was a big bushy tail just as bushy and full as his cousin, Happy Jack the Gray Squirrel, is so proud of. Chatterer opened his mouth to say something hateful, then closed it without saying a word. The owner of that tail had come out from behind that tree and it wasnt Happy Jack at all! It was a stranger.
CHATTERER DISCOVERS A STRANGER
II
CHATTERER HAS A SHOCK
A sudden shock youll often find Will quite upset the calmest mind
HEN Chatterer the Red Squirrel discovered the stranger under the big hickory tree he regarded as his very own he received one of the greatest shocks of his whole life. Yes, sir, he did. At first he hand seen only a big busy tail, and he had at once thought it belonged to his cousin, Happy Jack the Gray Squirrel. Just as he had opened his mouth to say something hateful the owner of that tail had come into full view, and it wasnt Happy Jack at all, but a stranger. This in itself was a shock to Chatterer, but a greater shock was the discovery that the stranger wore a red coat. Chatterer
7 couldnt believe his eyes. He couldnt, for a fact. It was such a shock that be lost his voice. At least, that is the way it seemed. Chatterer blinked and blinked but all the blinking in the world couldnt make the coat anything but red. For the most part it was a rusty red, much like Chatterers own coat, but had some brown and gray in it. Then the stranger turned so that Chatterer could see his waistcoat. Chatterers own waistcoat is white, but the strangers was reddish. But it was not alone that red coat that gave Chatterer a shock. The size of the stranger was almost as much of a shock. He was bigger than Happy Jack the Gray Squirrel, and you know Happy Jack is very much bigger than Chatterer. This stranger was so big that Chatterer felt very small indeed. It gave him a queer feeling. Somehow he couldnt get over the feeling that his eyes were playing him tricks. To find another member of his family with a red coat was bad enough,
CHATTERER HAS A SHOCK
RUSTY THE FOX SQUIRREL 8 for Chatterer has always taken pride in the color of his coat, but to find him also the biggest member of the family was worse. To add to Chatterers dismay the stranger seemed to be making himself quite at home. He acted for all the world as if he had come to stay and was very well satisfied with his surroundings. He was searching for fat hickory nuts among the dry leaves on the ground quite as if he considered that he had a perfect right to them. For once in his life Chatterer didnt know what to do. Had the stranger been his own size he would have wasted no time in letting him know that those nuts belonged to him. Of course, they didnt belong to him, but he considered that they did. Had the stranger even been the size of Happy Jack there would have been no hesitating on the part of Chatterer; he would have started a quarrel at once. But the size of the stranger caused Chatterer to check that unruly tongue of his. He
9 had no desire to rush blindly into trouble, and this stranger looked to be quite equal to making trouble and plenty of it. Besides, Chatterer, who is apt to judge others by himself, suspected that one wearing such a red coat must have a quick temper. So he decided to keep quiet and watch. It might be that his stranger had not come to stay, but was simply passing this way and had stopped merely to fill his stomach with fat hickory nuts. Chatterer knew that he wouldnt miss a few. It would be wiser to let them go and say nothing that to start a quarrel and very likely get the worst of it.
CHATTERER GETS A SHOCK
III
CHATTERER BECOMES AQUAINTED
Is there something you would learn? Something you would know about? Use your tongue; thats what its for, Use your tongue and find it out.
HATTERER isnt in the least bashful. In fact, I know of no one less bashful than Chatterer the Red Squirrel. He isnt afraid to use his tongue. Some people call him impudent because he uses his tongue so freely. But he doesnt mind this at all. He keeps right on using that tongue of his, and the result is he knows about all there is to know in regard to his neighbors and their affairs. For a while after his discover of that big red-coated stranger under his favorite hickory tree Chatterer kept his tongue still and was content to keep out of sight and watch. But the longer he watched
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the greater became his curiosity. He wanted to know who this stranger was and what his business was. When his curiosity became so great he could no longer stand it, he decided to use his tongue. Chatterer seated himself on a limb in plain sight of the stranger and coughed. It was a very slight cough. The stranger took no notice of it. Chatterer coughed louder. The stranger looked up. Hello, said Chatterer. Hello yourself, replied the stranger, good naturedly. Who are you? demanded Chatterer bluntly. Me? Why, Im a Squirrel. Dont you recognize a member of your own family when you see him? replied the stranger with a twinkle in his eyes. Chatterer saw that twinkle and it provoked him. He felt that inside the stranger was laughing at him, and if there is one thing Chatterer cannot
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RUSTY THE FOX SQUIRREL
stand it is being laughed at. He opened his mouth for a sharp retort and then thought better of it. Yes, said he meekly. I know a member of my family when I see him. Of course, you are one of my cousins. But I never have seen you before and I was wondering what your name is. Rusty, replied the stranger promptly. Im Rusty the Fox Squirrel. Are you just passing through here on your way to some other place? asked Chatterer, looking rather anxiously at the fat hickory nuts on the ground. Rusty picked up a fat hickory nut and turned it over two or three times to find the best place to open it. No, said he. No, I cant say that I am. The fact is I have decided to settle here in the Green Forest. I like it. I like these fat hickory nuts. They are the best Ive ever found. I think
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I can live here very comfortably and happily. I hope you wont object to having a new neighbor, especially a member of your own family. Rusty said this most politely, but his eyes twinkled with mischief. Wont you come down and enjoy these fat hickory nuts with me, he added slyly. That was too much for Chatterer. Yes, sir, that was just a little more than Chatterer could stand. You know, he considered those fat hickory nuts his very own. That was his special tree. Anyway, that is what he claimed, although right down in his heart he knew it didnt belong to him any more than to others. Those are my nuts! You cant have them! he barked sharply. If they are yours come take them, retorted Rusty, and his eyes twinkled more than ever.
IV
CHATTERER TRIES TO FRIGHTEN RUSTY
It sometimes happens that a fright Is better than a stand-up fight.
such a little fellow that most of his neighbors are too big for him to fight. But he isnt a coward. No, sir, Chatterer isnt a coward. He always stands up for his rights. No one in all the Green Forest stands up for his rights better than does Chatterer the Red Squirrel. He doesnt allow any one to impose on him if he can help it, and usually he finds some way to help it. When he cannot gain a thing by fighting for it he sets his wits to work to get it in some other way. Chatterer didnt dare fight his big cousin,
HATTERER the Red Squirrel is
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Rusty the Fox Squirrel. He knew it the minute he saw Rusty for the first time, and he knew that Rusty knew it. He knew when he told Rusty that he couldnt have those fat hickory nuts and Rusty had replied that if they were his to come take them he couldnt take them by fighting. He must try some other plan. Chatterer swallowed two or three times, as if he were trying to get rid of a mouthful of something. What he really was doing was trying to swallow his temper. And all the time his wits were at work. When next time he spoke it was mildly, not at all in the sharp, cross tone he had used when he told Rusty he couldnt have those nuts. I guess, said he, that there are enough for both of us, so we wont quarrel about them. I hope you have found a good, safe home. He didnt hope anything of the kind, so, of course, that was an untruth. I havent found one yet, but I am going
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to look for one right away, replied Rusty. As I said before, I like the Green Forest. It is quite the nicest place I have ever seen. It is nice, replied Chatterer. The trouble is it is too nice. What do you mean by that? asked Rusty quickly. Well, replied Chatterer slowly, it is so nice that too many people like it to make it a safe place for some of us. Before you decide to settle here you ought to know who else lives here. Rusty turned his head to hide the twinkle in his eyes, for he knew just what Chatterer was trying to do, which was to try to scare him. Of course I ought to know who my neighbors will be, said he. Who are they? Well, began Chatterer, not far from this very place Hooty the Great Horned Owl lives, and I am told he is very fond of squirrels, especially big ones. Perhaps you
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dont know it, but he often hunts in the day time, especially on dull, dark days. You dont say so! exclaimed Rusty, pretending to look very much startled. And over in that direction lives Redtail the Hawk, continued Chatterer. Ive had more than one narrow escape from him. Thats bad, very bad, replied Rusty, shaking his head. Chatterer looked at him sharply, for he wasnt quite certain just what Rusty meant, whether he meant that it was too bad Redtail live there or that he, Chatterer, has escaped. But Rusty looked so innocent that Chatterer decided it was the former and went on. Then there is Yowler the Bob Cat. Nobody is ever safe from that fellow. Shadow the Weasel is even worse. One never knows when he will appear. And then at this season there are hunters with terrible guns. They dont bother me much, but Im
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told they are very fond of big squirrels. Rusty dropped the nut he was eating. What a dreadful place! he cried. If youll excuse me, cousin, I think I will move along.
V
CHATTERER LAUGHS LONG AND HARD
Who cannot fight may use his wit And gain his ends by means of it.
HATTERER the Red Squirrel wanted to laugh right out when his big cousin, Rusty the Fox Squirrel, said he thought he would move along. But Chatterer didnt laugh. No, sir, he didnt laugh. He kept his laughter for later. I hope, Cousin Rusty, I havent spoiled the Green Forest for you by what I have told you about some of those who live here, said he, pretending to be in earnest when all the time he didnt hope anything of the kind. Do you mean that you are going to continue your journey instead of settling down and making your home here in the Green Forest? I mean, replied Rusty, that from what you have told me, this seems like anything
20
but a safe place for me, so I am going to move right along. He sighed and added, And I thought it such a nice place, just the place I have been looking for. It was very nice, Cousin Chatterer, to warn me about Hooty the Owl and Redtail the Hawk and Yowler the Bob Cat and Shadow the Weasel, and the hunters with the terrible guns. I wont forget it. Indeed, I wont forget it. I hate to leave these fine fat hickory nuts, but I guess I better be moving right along. Good by. Good by, Cousin Rusty, and watch out for Reddy Fox and Old Man Coyote; I forgot to mention them, replied Chatterer, and had hard work to keep his face straight as he saw how nervously Rusty twitched his big tail and the anxious way in which he began to look this way and look that way. Rusty the Fox Squirrel started off hurriedly and soon disappeared. Chatterer was tempted to follow, but decided not to. If by
CHATTERER LAUGHS LONG AND HARD
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any chance Rusty should suspect he was being followed he might then suspect a trick and guess that Chatterer has simply been trying to frighten him away. So Chatterer remained right where he was and didnt make a sound until he was sure that Rusty must be far away. Then Chatterer hugged himself for joy and laughed. He laughed and laughed. He laughed until the tears came. I scared him, he kept saying over and over. I scared him. Hes a big coward. What I told him about all those enemies was all true, but if he had any wits at all or any courage he wouldnt be scared away as easily. Ha, ha. ha! I scared him! Now I wont have to worry about those fine fat hickory nuts. Ill have all of them myself. I suppose I ought to pick up these that have fallen, but there is no hurry about it. My cousin, Happy Jack the Gray Squirrel, seldom comes over here and it is too far for Striped Chip-
RUSTY THE FOX SQUIRREL 22 munk. Now that that big red stranger who calls himself Cousin Rusty has been scared away I can take my time about gathering them. I wonder who else knows of the coming of that fellow. Ill leave those nuts down there until tomorrow morning and will skip about and find out who knows anything about Rusty and where he came from. So, still chuckling, Chatterer raced off through the treetops to try to find out what his friends knew of the stranger in the Green Forest, and also, if the truth be known, to do a little bragging about his own cleverness in frightening away one whom he couldnt drive away. Very, very smart Chatterer thought himself, and he wanted others to think the same thing. You know there are people who get more pleasure out of having their neighbors think them smart than in really being smart. Funny, isnt it?
VI
RUSTY IS VERY, VERY BUSY
Leaving for tomorrow what you ought to do today You will find upon the morrow simply didnt pay.
T is always a joy to fool one who is trying to fool you. Rusty the Fox Squirrel, newcomer to the Green Forest, had known all the time just what Chatterer the Red Squirrel was trying to do. He knew that Chatterer was selfish. He knew that Chatterer was afraid to try to drive him away by fighting and was trying to do it by scaring him, by telling him of all the enemies who lived in the Green Forest. The idea rather tickled him, so he pretended to be scared. He pretended that he thought that no place for him and that he was going away as fast as his legs could carry him. So
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he bade Chatterer good-by and started off quite as if he intended to keep on going until he was far from that part of the Green Forest. But Rusty ran only far enough to be sure that he was out of Chatterers sight. Then he stopped. First he made sure that Chatterer wasnt following him. Then very cautiously he stole back where from behind a certain tree he could watch Chatterer. He heard Chatterer laughing and snickering to himself and he knew that it was because he thought himself so smart. Rusty did a little laughing himself, but he took great care that it should be noiseless laughter. At last Chatterer raced off through the treetops still snickering. Rusty ventured to chuckle then. He thinks Ive gone away, he muttered. The red-coated little rascal thinks he has frightened me off, and he did it just because he wants all those fine, fat hickory nuts himself. The selfish little scamp knows that he cant possibly eat all of them
RUSTY IS VERY, VERY BUSY
25
himself, and he knows that I have just as much right to them as he has. I think Ill give him a little surprise. Thats what Ill do. He hurried over to the big hickory tree and went to work beneath it. All that afternoon he was very, very busy. Only a few of those fat hickory nuts had fallen as yet, and these were scattered about among the dry leaves on the ground. One by one he found them with his sharp eyes and keen nose. When he found one, he didnt stop to eat it. No, indeed. He carried it away and hid it. Then back he hurried for another. At last he couldnt find another nut on the ground. He had found all that had fallen. It was just about then that Rusty heard Chatterer snickering not far away. At once Rusty scampered off and hid where he could see all that might happen. Chatterer the Red Squirrel was in high spirits. He had found that no one else had seen Rusty the Fox Squirrel and he
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enjoyed being the first to tell the news. He had bragged about how he had frightened Rusty away. Now he was on his way home, for it was late in the afternoon. Ill run over to my big hickory tree and get a nut or two for supper, thought he. So he scampered over to the big hickory tree and began to look among the dry leaves on the ground beneath it for some fat hickory nuts. He hunted here, he hunted there, he hunted all about. Not a nut did he find. Such a funny look of surprise as crept over his face! Then for the first time he noticed how the dry leaves had been pulled over and he knew that someone had been there before him. Right away Chatterer flew into a rage.
VII
CHATTERER BLAMES THE WRONG ONE
Dont say a thing is so or so Until you positively know.
USPICION is one thing and knowledge is another. But suspicion is forever making mistakes, while knowledge never does. Just take the case of Chatterer the Red Squirrel. He knew that some one had taken all the fat hickory nuts that had fallen from the big hickory tree which he claimed as his own, but to which he had no real right. There had been some fat hickory nuts among the brown leaves on the ground, and now there were none. These leaves had been pulled over by some one and every fat nut taken.
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Who had done it? Chatterer thought he knew. He didnt know, he just suspected. But suspicion was enough for Chatterer. He flew into a dreadful rage and off he started toward that part of the Green Forest in which he knew his big cousin, Happy Jack the Gray Squirrel, lived. He stole them! He stole them! Hes a thief, and Ill tell him so. Ill get back those fat hickory nuts if it takes me all the fall! he cried as he hurried through the Green Forest. He found Happy Jack hunting for some chestnuts. Happy Jack had his new winter coat, and he looked very handsome, very handsome indeed. His tail, which through the summer had looked ill kept and bedraggled was now handsomer than ever-so big and broad and such a beautiful silvery gray that it was a tail for any one to be proud of. Chatterer always has been a bit jealous of that tail of Happy Jacks,
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and the sight of it now added to his anger. Thief! thief! thief! thief! What have you done with those fat hickory nuts? he shrieked as soon as he saw Happy Jack. What fat hickory nuts? demanded Happy Jack, and he spoke sharply. He didnt like being called a thief. You know well enough what fat hickory nuts. Where are they? barked Chatterer. I dont know what you are talking about, retorted Happy Jack. You do! I dont! You do! I dont! Youre a thief! Im not a thief! By this time Happy Jack was quite as angry as his small cousin. I havent seen your fat hickory nuts! If there is any thief about here he wears a red coat not a gray one!
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Now, you know Chatterer is guilty of stealing whenever he has a chance, but he is just as quick to resent being called a thief as if he were honest. This remark of Happy Jacks made him angrier than ever. He was so angry that he actually stuttered because he tried to make his tongue go faster than it could. He called Happy Jack every bad name he could think of, and if there are any Chatterer doesnt know it is because he hasnt heard them. Do you mean to tell me that you havent been over to my private hickory tree this afternoon? demanded Chatterer, planting himself squarely in front of Happy Jack. Happy Jack suddenly looked interested. Have you got a private hickory tree? Where is it? he asked. You know well enough where it is! snapped Chatterer. Now, what have you done with those fat nuts!
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I havent done anything with them because I havent seen them, declared Happy Jack. You see, Ive been too busy right here hunting for chestnuts to think about anything else. And that is the truth, spoke up Peter Rabbit, for I have watched him all afternoon. Chatterer began to wonder if he had suspected the wrong one.
VIII
CHATTERER REMEMBERS RUSTY
Bad names dont make another bad. Keep that in mind when you are mad.
HATTERER the Red Squirrel didnt believe Happy Jack the Gray Squirrel when the latter said that he hadnt touched one of those fat hickory nuts which had been taken from beneath a certain hickory tree which Chatterer claimed as his very own. But when Peter Rabbit spoke up and said that he had watched Happy Jack gathering chestnuts all afternoon Chatterer began to think that he might be blaming the wrong one. He didnt want to think so. In the first place, he didnt want to admit that he was wrong. In the second place, he has no love
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for his cousin, Happy Jack, and is always looking for cause for quarrel with him. Chatterer made a face at Peter Rabbit. If I didnt have anything better to do than sit around watching other people work I wouldnt tell about it, he barked. Peter chuckled. It always tickles him to see Chatterer in a rage, for Chatterer is such an excitable small person that he does funny things when he loses his temper. Probably those fat hickory nuts walked off themselves, said Peter, and chuckled again. Chatterers eyes snapped and he jerked his little red tail so hard that it seemed to Peter that there was real danger that he would snap it off. You--you--you---began Chatterer, and suddenly turned and started off through the tree tops as fast as he had come. Peter stared in round-eyed surprise. Well, I never! he exclaimed. Now what has struck that red-coated ras-
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cal? You never know what hell do next? Make trouble for someone; you can count on that, snapped Happy Jack. I have a notion to follow him and see where that hickory tree is. It isnt his. The trees of the Green Forest belong to all. Each has a right to take what he can get. No one has a right to try to stop his neighbors from getting what they can. Chatterer didnt plant that tree. No one knows who planted it. It may be that my own greatgreat-ever-so-great-grandfather planted it. Even if he did, I wouldnt have any right to claim all those fat hickory nuts. Chatterer may have discovered that tree, but the tree was there before he was born and just finding it doesnt give him the right to claim all those nuts. Happy Jack paused and looked long in the direction in which Chatterer had disappeared. But he didnt move to follow. It will be time enough to
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look for these when I have finished what I have here, he wisely concluded, and briskly began hunting for chestnuts again. Now, the thing that had caused Chatterer to break off short as he started to call Peter Rabbit names was a memory, the memory of the stranger in the Green Forest, that big cousin of his, Rusty the Fox Squirrel, whom he had met that morning. Yes, sir. Chatterer had suddenly remembered Rusty. Could it be that Rusty hadnt left the Green Forest after all? Chatterer had tried to frighten him by telling him of all the enemies of the Squirrel family who lived in the Green Forest. Rusty had seemed to be frightened and Chatterer had seen him start off. He hadnt given Rusty another thought since. Now the suspicion that perhaps, after all, Rusty hadnt gone away popped into his head. On the instant Chatterer had started back to find out.
IX
CHATTERER BECOMES UNEASY
Suspicion ruins peace of mind, And at its best is most unkind.
HATTERER the Red Squirrel, racing back to the big hickory tree which he claimed as his very own, was most uneasy in his mind. Could it be that after all he had failed to scare Rusty the Fox Squirrel? Could it be that while he had been away that afternoon Rusty had returned and gathered those fat hickory nuts that had been on the ground? If so, what would he do about it? What could he do about it? Ill fight him and drive him away, grumbled Chatterer. Thats what Ill do--Ill fight him and drive him away. Ill teach him that he
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cant come here and steal my hickory nuts! Now this sounded very brave and bold, but all the time he was saying it Chatterer knew that it was just talk. But this newcomer was so big that Chatterer knew that a fight with him would be worse than foolish. Not only was Rusty big, but he was strong. Chatterer had seen that at a glance. So, despite his brave words, Chatterer was uneasy in his mind. When he reached the hickory tree no one was to be seen. It was as quiet and peaceful there as if no living creature ever had passed that way. There wasnt a sign of Rusty the Fox Squirrel. Chatterer was both glad and disappointed. You see, he had really expected to see Rusty. Not seeing him was a relief, yet at the same time left him just as wise as he was before and no more. Rusty might be far, far away by this time. Then again he might be right around there somewhere.
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So Chatterer grew more and more uneasy. I want to know, muttered Chatterer impatiently, as once more he looked among the dry leaves on the ground for fat hickory nuts. Not one was to be found. Someone has taken them and I want to know who it is, he continued angrily. Without thinking he had spoken aloud. What is it you want to know? demanded a voice. Chatterer looked up to find Sammy Jay peeking down at him. It isnt any business of yours what I want to know, retorted Chatterer. Maybe not, maybe not, replied Sammy, good naturedly. I thought I might be able to help you find out what you dont see to be able to find out for yourself. You know two heads sometimes are better than one, he added mildly. Chatterer bit his tongue. He bit it to
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keep back an angry retort. You see, it had popped into his head that perhaps Sammy Jay might be able to help him. Sammy Jays eyes are sharp. There is little escapes them. No one knows this better than Chatterer the Red Squirrel. Sammy Jays eyes twinkled. What you want to know, said he, is if that big cousin of yours you boasted on having driven away really went. Chatterer looked sheepish. Yes, said he. thats it.
X
SAMMY JAY GUESSES RIGHT
Tis passing strange how much you will Of others learn by sitting still.
AMMY JAY is often spoken of as a rude and unmannerly fellow. It is whispered that he is a thief, and certainly at times he is noisy and impudent, a happy, careless, rollicking rogue in a coat of blue, trimmed with white, gray and black. But Sammy Jay can be as polite as the best when he sees fit. My, I should say so! He has such a smooth tongue, it is a wonder it doesnt drip oil. It all depends on how Sammy is feeling, and whether or not he is seeking to find out something. Now, there is no one in all the Green Forest who can slip about more silently than Sammy Jay when he wants to spy
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on his neighbors. He has a way of slipping from one thick tree top to another as silently as a shadow. Hidden in the tree tops he uses his sharp eyes to the very best advantage, and little escapes them. He had shrewdly guessed that what Chatterer the Red Squirrel wanted to know more than anything else in the world was whether his big cousin, Rusty the Fox Squirrel, really had left the Green Forest. Sammy was quite as anxious to know himself. He hoped Rusty hadnt. He wanted to see Rusty. When he had heard that afternoon that Chatterer was bragging that a stranger, a Squirrel bigger than Happy Jack the Gray Squirrel, had come to the Green Forest, and that he, Chatterer, had frightened him away, Sammy had first doubted, and then become curious. He had suspected Chatterer of having made up that story about this big stranger. Now, having overheard Chatterer talking
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to himself, he knew that Chatterer had told the truth, and at once Sammy was filled with curiosity to see this newcomer. So he told Chatterer he would help him find out whether or not Rusty had been frightened away. Now, no one knows better than does Sammy Jay the ways of the Squirrel family and no one knows better that the way to find out things in the Green Forest is to remain hidden and quiet. When he left Chatterer there by the big hickory tree from under which the fallen hickory nuts had so mysteriously disappeared he made up his mind that if Rusty was still in the Green Forest he wasnt far away. If he is still here he probably has found a hole in a tree in which to spend the night, and it isnt so far from that big hickory tree that he cannot easily run over there when he is hungry, thought Sammy shrewdly. He stopped in a certain tree to scratch his head
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while he ran over in his mind all the hollow trees anywhere near. There isnt a hole, big or little, in the trees of the Green Forest that Sammy Jay hasnt found and peeked into. And Sammy doesnt forget. Let me see, muttered Sammy. Chatterer said that this fellow is bigger than Happy Jack. That means that he will use a rather large hole. I believe I know just the one that will suit him. Silently Sammy flew over to a certain tall hemlock tree and hid in the thick top. The very next tree was a big maple, one big branch of which was dead and hollow. Sammy sat perfectly still with his eyes fixed on the hole which was the entrance to that hollow. For a long time he sat there without moving, for Sammy has patience. The Black Shadows were just beginning to creep through the Green Forest and Sammy had about made up his mind that he would have to give the matter up for that night
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and go to bed, when suddenly a face appeared in the entrance to that hollow limb. Sammy held his breath and waited. Presently a head was thrust out and Sammy knew instantly that he had guessed right. That head was the head of a Squirrel, but a Squirrel Sammy never before had seen.
XI
SAMMY JAY IS MOST POLITE
Politeness gains where rudeness loses; So wise is he who this way chooses.
AMMY JAY is accounted one of the smartest of all the little people in the Green Forest. He is smart in more ways than one. No one can be more rude and unmannerly than he, and no one can be more polite. He learned when quite young that politeness usually pays, so when there is something he wants to gain he is politeness himself. Sammy hidden in the top of a tall hemlock tree, kept so still that Rusty the Fox Squirrel, sitting with his head out of the doorway of his new home, which was in a hollow dead limb of a big maple tree close by, didnt see or hear him at all. For a long
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time Rusty sat there looking this way and looking that way, suspiciously. Then, having made up his mind that no one was near, he came out and nimbly ran up to a comfortable seat in a crotch of the tree half way to the top. He had come out to get a little fresh air before retiring for the night. Sammy Jay almost gave himself away by gasping with surprise when he saw how big Rusty was, but he choked that gasp back and waited until Rusty was comfortably seated with his back to the trunk of the tree. Good evening, Mr. Stranger? said Sammy most politely. Rusty the Fox Squirrel looked startled. He was startled. But he kept his seat. He knew that voice, and he knew that Sammy Jay could do him no harm. Good evening, he replied rather ungraciously, staring over at the top of the tall hemlock tree.
Welcome to the Green Forest, said he. Page 47.
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Sammy flew out where he could be seen. Welcome to the Green Forest, said he. Are you passing through, or have you come to stay? That, replied Rusty, still ungraciously, is wholly my own affair. True enough. True enough, of course, replied Sammy. Excuse me for appearing to pry into your affairs. I wouldnt do that for the world. I asked merely because we who live here in the Green Forest think there is no place like it in all the great world, and I thought that if you are to live here we would be neighbors and that would be very nice, very nice indeed. Sammy said this in the pleasantest and most polite way you can imagine. At first suspicion had filled Rustys eyes, but now it disappeared. Sammy Jay was such a polite fellow that is was quite impossible to think ill of him. Rusty began to chuckle. You tell a different story from my small cousin, whom I met this morning, said
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he. From him I gathered that this isnt a nice neighborhood at all. By the time he was through telling me of all the enemies of the Squirrel family, who live in the Green Forest it seemed to me that this was about as bad a neighborhood as ever I have heard of. Rustys eyes twinkled. Sammy Jay laughed. That sounds like Chatterer the Red Squirrel, said he. Yes, sir, that sounds just like Chatterer. But you have noticed that, despite all these dangers, Chatterer lives here himself, and you know he wanted to. I wonder why he told you that. Probably he wanted me to know the worst at once, replied Rusty, his eyes twinkling more than ever. Sammy saw that twinkle and understood it. His own eyes twinkled as he replied: That must have been it. Chatterer is very thoughtful. Yes, sir, your small cousin, Chatterer the Red Squirrel, is very thought-
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ful--of himself. I wonder.---Sammy paused. What do you wonder? asked Rusty. I wonder if he mentioned fat hickory nuts, said Sammy Jay, looking very thoughtful.
XII
RUSTY ASKS A QUESTION
The truth to all the world Id preach: Greed never fails to overreach.
T the mention of fat hickory nuts Rusty the Fox Squirrel laughed right out. Sammy Jay pretended to look surprised, but his eyes twinkled more than ever. Why do you wonder if Chatterer mentioned fat hickory nuts? asked Rusty. Because, when I left him a little while ago, he appeared to be greatly worried over the loss of some. I heard him say that some one had stolen them, replied Sammy Jay, looking very innocent. I thought he might have mentioned them to you. Did he say I stole them? demanded Rusty, sharply and now
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there was no twinkle in his eyes. No, replied Sammy, he didnt say you had stolen them, but he said some one had, and he was very anxious to know if you had left the Green Forest. Rustys eyes snapped. Im a stranger here in the Green Forest but I hope not to be long, Mr. Jay, he began. Call me Sammy; everybody else does, interrupted Sammy Jay. Rusty grinned. All right, Sammy, said he. I like the Green Forest, and I have about made up my mind to stay here and make my home here. But before I do this I want to ask you a question. Sammy Jay looked interested. He was interested. Go ahead, he replied. What is it? Who owns the nuts in the Green Forest? asked Rusty. Why--why, whoever gets them first, replied Sammy Jay a bit slowly.
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Do you mean by that that no one owns them until they have been picked up and carried away? continued Rusty. Sammy nodded. Certainly, he replied. Why do you ask? Because, replied Rusty, I want to be sure. I dont want to make any mistakes if I am to live here. Where I come from the nuts belong to those who are smart enough to find them and work to get them. I supposed it was so here. I have always understood that is one of Old Mother Natures laws everywhere. There is a certain big hickory tree not far from here. When I was picking up fat hickory nuts beneath it this morning my small cousin, Chatterer the Red Squirrel, claimed those nuts belonged to him. Of course, I dont want to be a thief. Sammy Jay laughed right out. That is just like Chatterer, he exclaimed. Of course, those nuts dont belong to him while
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they are on the tree or ungathered on the ground. That fellow is the greediest fellow in all the Green Forest. He would claim all the fat hickory nuts and all the brown chestnuts and all the sweet beechnuts and all the plump acorns in all the Green Forest if he could. He will spend more time trying to drive others away than in picking up the nuts himself. Help yourself to all the fat hickory nuts you can find in the Green Forest. You have as much right to them as any one. But dont--Sammy paused and looked very hard at Rusty. Dont what? asked Rusty. Dont let Chatterer know where you put them, warned Sammy Jay. I wont, promised Rusty the Fox Squirrel. Thank you, Sammy Jay. Thank you for your information and advice. Now it is getting dark and I dont like to be out after dark. Neither do I, replied Sammy, pre-
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paring to leave. There will be a frost tonight and I rather think there will be more fat hickory nuts under that big hickory tree in the morning. Good night. Good night, returned Rusty. Will you do me a favor? What is it? asked Sammy. Dont tell any one where I am living. I want to keep it a secret, replied Rusty. And Sammy agreed that he wouldnt tell a soul.
XIII
JACK FROSTS BUSY NIGHT
For those who shirk I have no use; They never have a sound excuse Jack Frost
ACK FROST himself never shirks. He is one of the busiest workers in all the great world. Not only is he a great worker himself, but he makes other people work. No one can get more work out of other people than can Jack Frost. There is very little loafing when he is about. He despises a loafer and the minute he discovers one makes him so uncomfortable that he simply has to do something in order to keep warm. And Jack himself does wonderful things. You know he turns the little raindrops held in the clouds into beautiful snowflakes, each flake a wonderful thing. He turns water into solid ice. Sometimes in winter,
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when he is feeling very strong, he splits great rocks apart and cracks open trees. He makes soft earth as hard as rock. In those days, the days of his great strength, he knows no pity toward those who have been lazy and are not prepared to meet him. But Jack Frost never comes suddenly with all his strength. He sometimes comes unexpectedly and brings discomfort and sometimes suffering to those who are not prepared, but as a rule he merely does a little pinching of ears and toes and noses at first just as a warning that it is time to prepare for winter. And for certain of the little people of the Green Forest he does certain things to help them so that if they will they may be ready for the days when he will be without mercy. Now, the very night after the day in which Chatterer the Red Squirrel had met his cousin, Rusty the Fox Squirrel, for the
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first time Jack Frost arrived in the Green Forest. He spend the night there, and a very busy night it was. He noticed at once that only a few husks of the hickory nuts and burrs of the chestnuts had opened, and at once he set to work to open all the rest. Jack Frost is rather fond of the Squirrel family, largely because nearly all the members of it are thrifty and not afraid of work. He knew that Happy Jack the Gray Squirrel and Chatterer the Red Squirrel and Rusty the Fox Squirrel could open the husks of the hickory nuts, but that if they had to do that it would take them a very long time to lay in their supplies for winter. It would mean that they would have to climb the trees and bite off each nut, for the husks which wrap the hickory nuts cling fast to the trees. But if the husks were opened wide the nuts would fall out when the Merry Little Breezes shook the trees.
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And he knew that just as long as the brown chestnuts were wrapped tightly in their prickly coverings Happy Jack and Chatterer and Rusty would have hard work to get any of them. And, of course, this would never do. It would never do at all. The few that had opened wouldnt last those lively hungry little people any time at all. So the first thing Jack Frost did when he arrived in the Green Forest that night was to visit all the hickory trees and all the chestnut trees and all the beechnut trees and pinch open the stout coverings that protected the fat hickory nuts and the brown chestnuts and the sweet beechnuts. He pinched them until they opened wide. Not one did he miss. Sometimes when the stout coverings split open the nuts fell out and rattled down through the bare limbs. Peter Rabbit, who was over in the Green Forest that night, heard the nuts rattling
In fact, one big fat hickory nut hit Peter right on the top of his funny little head. Page 59.
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down. In fact, one big fat hickory nut hit Peter right on the top of his funny little head between his long ears and made him cry, Ouch! Then he grinned. Jack Frost is at work to-night, and to-morrow Happy Jack and Chatterer and that big cousin of theirs, Rusty the Fox Squirrel, and little Striped Chipmunk will be too busy to even notice me, said he. My Im glad I dont have to work as they do! You would have a much easier time in the winter if you did, said Jack Frost, dropping another nut on Peters head.
XIV
CHATTERER AND RUSTY MEET AGAIN
Who does the work at hand today Tomorrow may have time to play.
ARDLY had jolly, round, red Mr. Sun kicked off his rosy blankets to begin his daily climb up in the blue, blue sky when Chatterer the Red Squirrel poked his head out of his nest. There was a sharpness in the air that made Chatterer tingle all over. Jack Frost was here last night! he exclaimed. That means busy days for me. My, but this air is good! I think Ill run over to my big hickory tree for breakfast and then I will put in a day of good, hard work. Right then he remembered his big cousin, Rusty the Fox Squirrel, who was a new-comer to the Green Forest. He remembered how
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the day before, while he had been in another part of the Green Forest, the few nuts on the ground under the big hickory tree which he claimed as his very own, had mysteriously disappeared. Chatterer didnt waste another minute, but started for that big hickory tree as fast as his legs could take him. Before he reached it he heard the fat nuts rattling down, for the Merry Little Breezes had arrived and were shaking the tree. Would he have all those nuts for himself or would he find Rusty there helping himself? Chatterer gritted his teeth at the mere thought of such a thing. When he arrived where he could see the big hickory tree and the ground beneath it a feeling of relief swept over him, for he saw no one. And then from behind an old stump a big red form leaped out lightly, picked up a fat hickory nut, sat up and began to eat it. Chatterer didnt have to look twice to know
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who it was. It was Rusty the Fox Squirrel. Instantly Chatterer flew into a rage. Drop that nut! Drop it! Drop it! Drop it! Its mine! Youre a thief! shrieked Chatterer. Rusty didnt pay the least attention to him. He didnt even look at Chatterer, but went right on eating that fat hickory nut, and it was plain that he was enjoying it. Chatterer rushed up in front of Rusty as near as he dared to and my,my,my, how his tongue did fly! Rusty calmly finished that nut and helped himself to another. Isnt this fine nutting weather? he asked politely. These are as fine hickory nuts as ever I have tasted, he added. Theyre mine! shrieked Chatterer, dancing about in the very worst kind of a temper. Theyre mine, every one of them, and you are nothing but a big bully and robber! Tut, tut, tut! exclaimed Rusty. Tut, tut, tut, Cousin Chatterer! You dont
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know what you are saying. You know well enough they are not yours but are for whoever can get them. There are enough here for both of us, so what is the use of quarreling over them? Eat a few for breakfast and then perhaps youll feel better. This only made Chatterer more angry than ever. He actually darted in and knocked that nut out of Rustys paws. But he didnt stop to fight for it. No, sir, he didnt stop for an instant. He darted to the nearest tree, whisked around it, and then, finding that Rusty was not chasing him, dared his big cousin to try to catch him. But Rusty merely picked up the nut again and went on with his breakfast quite as if he were alone. You see, he knew that Chatterer was more nimble and spry than he and it would be useless and so foolish to try to catch him. It would be a waste of time, and Rusty had no time to waste.
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He intended to have his full share of those fat hickory nuts for winter. So while Chatterer lost his temper Rusty kept his.
XV
CHATTERER SULKS AND PLANS
Dishonest thoughts are apt to lead To planning a dishonest deed.
dishonest thoughts there would be no dishonest deeds. Often people do not intend to be dishonest, but they get to thinking dishonestly and then dishonest deeds follow. Chatterer the Red Squirrel, finding that he could not frighten his big cousin, Rusty the Fox Squirrel, away from that big hickory tree, and being too small to drive him away, finally gave up scolding and calling him bad names. It was very plain to Chatterer that Rusty had come to the Green Forest to stay. Chatterer did not like the idea at all.
HIS is one of the truest things in all the Great World. If there were no
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You see, right down in his heart Chatterer was selfish. Yes, sir, Chatterer was selfish. Now, of course, the wise thing for him to have done would have been to get busy at once and make sure of his share of those fat hickory nuts. But Chatterer is much like some foolish and selfish people I know, who if they cannot have all of a thing wont take any. He wasnt quite as bad as this, but was very nearly. He did pick up a few fat hickory nuts and take them to one of his secret storehouses. But he spent far more time sulking and planning. Right down inside Chatterer knew that Rusty had just as much right to those fat hickory nuts as he had, but he wouldnt admit it even to himself. There were more of those fat hickory nuts than Chatterer could eat in two winters, and he knew it. But he wanted all of them. That was because he was selfish. So every time he saw Rusty carry off
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a nut to hide he said to himself, That is my nut, and then grew more sulky than ever. So instead of picking up and carrying away fat hickory nuts as fast as he could he went off by himself and sulked. He was so much more nimble and spry than Rusty that he could have stored away many more of those fat hickory nuts in a day than could Rusty. But he didnt do it. He simply sulked and tried to think of some way to get the best of Rusty. So Rusty worked and Chatterer sulked and the Merry Little Breezes shook down the fat hickory nuts from the top of the tree. And in Chatterers head thoughts were busy trying to find some plan for what Chatterer was pleased to call getting even with Rusty the Fox Squirrel. I might go get Happy Jack the Gray Squirrel, and between us I guess we could drive that fellow away, muttered Chatterer. But that plan didnt suit him. You
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see, if he did that Happy Jack would want a share of those fat hickory nuts. I might hunt up Reddy Fox and tell him about Rusty; he would drive him away for a while, any way, thought Chatterer. But this plan didnt seem worth while either, for he knew that as soon as Reddy left Rusty would return. I wish a hunter with a terrible gun would come along and shoot him, grumbled Chatterer, and then was ashamed, very much ashamed of himself. He may be a trouble maker, but Chatterer isnt as bad as that. He wouldnt for the world have had a hunter shoot his cousin. So Chatterer say and sulked and planned, and all the time Rusty kept hard at work picking up and carrying away the fat hickory nuts. And then when the morning was half gone Chatterer thought of a plan. It was a dishonest
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plan, but Chatterer didnt think of that. Ill watch him and find out where he stores those nuts. Then when he isnt about Ill take them for myself, thought he. It will be a lot easier than hunting among the leaves on the ground for them, and Ill get all of them, after all. Chatterer fairly hugged himself at the thought.
XVI
A LITTLE RED SPY
Nobody ever likes a spy, And few are they who even try.
HAT is quite true. People with the habit of spying on other people, trying to find out what they are doing and all about them, are disliked and distrusted. Sometimes spying is necessary in a good cause, but it is only in such a cause, a good cause, that any one who thinks well of himself or his friends will ever spy. One reason that Sammy Jay isnt better liked among his neighbors in the Green Forest is because he is such a spy. He is always sneaking about trying to find out the business of his neighbors. Peter Rabbit has quite as much curiosity as any one I know but Peter is very open about poking his
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wobbly little nose into places where it has no business; he doesnt sneak about spying. Now, you remember that Chatterer the Red Squirrel had sulked nearly all of that fine morning, while Rusty the Fox Squirrel had been hard at work picking up and storing away the fat hickory nuts the Merry Little Breezes had shaken down from the husks which Jack Frost had opened the night before. And while he sulked Chatterer had tried to think of some plan by which he could get all of those fat hickory nuts for himself. At last an idea had popped into this head, a dishonest idea, though that didnt trouble Chatterer at all. He would spy on Rusty and find out where he was storing away those fat hickory nuts. Then, when he could do so without danger of being caught, he would steal all those nuts and put them in his own storehouse. Of course, Chatterer didnt call it stealing.
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He tried to make himself believe that those fat hickory nuts really belonged to him. He knew better, but he tried to believe that. He pretended to believe that Rusty was the real thief, and that he, Chatterer, was simply trying to get what rightfully belonged to him. So Chatterer hid in the thick top of a hemlock tree and watched Rusty. He saw him pick up a fat hickory nut and scamper away with it in a certain direction. Just where Rusty went Chatterer couldnt see, because Rusty was hidden by some young hemlock trees. Chatterer waited patiently and presently Rusty came scampering back and he was without that fat hickory nut. Chatterer grinned and waited. Rusty disappeared as before in the same direction, taking with him another fat hickory nut. In a few minutes he was back again. This time Chatterer changed his hiding place so as to see behind those young
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hemlock trees. Pretty soon Rusty appeared with a fat hickory nut. He looked this way and that way. Then he hurriedly ran to a certain place, pulled away the leaves on the ground and put that fat hickory nut down. He was back to Chatterer, so that the latter couldnt see just where he put that nut, but he saw him pull the dead leaves over the place, and that was enough. There must be a hole down there, thought Chatterer, and he is filling it. As soon as he disappears Ill have a look. Then Ill wait until he has filled it. Some day when I know he isnt about Ill just take those fat hickory nuts over to one of my storehouses and hell never know what has become of them. Chatterer snickered softly to himself as we watched Rusty go for another nut. The instant Rusty was out of sight Chatterer whisked down from his hiding place and over to the place where Rusty had hidden that nut.
XVII
CHATTERERS GREAT SURPRISE
Surprises are both good and bad; Dont let the latter make you mad.
HATTERER the Red Squirrel snickered gleefully as he scampered over to the place where he had seen Rusty the Fox Squirrel hide a fat hickory nut under the leaves in the Green Forest. He snickered because he thought himself very smart to have so soon discovered where Rusty was hiding those fat hickory nuts and because he was planning to take every one of them for himself. He has been busy all morning so there must be a lot of them in that hole, thought Chatterer. I wont take one now. Ill just have a peep at them and then go away so
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that he will not suspect anything. If he doesnt suspect anything hell fill that hole and then leave them until he needs them in the winter. Hell get a little surprise then. Yes, sir, Rusty will get a little surprise then. There wont be a nut there and he wont know what has become of them. I wont have to hunt for those nuts among the dead leaves, he is doing that for me, only he doesnt know it. This will be the easiest harvest Ive ever known, Chatterer snickered again. By this time he had reached the place where Rusty had hidden that fat nut, Chatterer hurriedly pulled away the leaves expecting to find the entrance to the hole. There was no hole there! Chatterer looked both surprised and puzzled. I am sure this is the very spot, he muttered. He pulled away few more leaves and then he noticed a little soft place in the ground as if the surface of the earth had been disturbed recently.
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Chatterer began to dig hurriedly. Almost at once he felt something hard. Ha, I thought so! exclaimed Chatterer, and brought out a fine fat hickory nut. It had been buried just beneath the surface of the soft soil. He tossed it aside and dug faster than ever. He wanted to get to the opening to that hole he was sure was there somewhere, and he wanted to do it before Rusty should return. But though Chatterer made the dirt fly he found no hole and he found no more fat hickory nuts. That one was the only one. Quite forgetting that he didnt want to be caught there by Rusty, he lost his temper, which, you know, he loses quite easily, and scattered the leaves this way and that way, all the while scolding as only he can. Then, a rustle of leaves reminding him that Rusty might be returning, he hastily scraped the dirt and leaves back, seized the fat hickory nut and scampered back to his
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hiding place in the top of a hemlock tree. Once there he began to think, a thing he had been too excited to do before, and he remembered that his other big cousin, Happy Jack the Gray Squirrel, has a habit of burying nuts under leaves and in the soft earth, putting only one in a place. Could it be that Rusty the Fox Squirrel had the same habit? It looked very much that way. But even if he did he must have a storehouse too. The thing for him to do now was to spy some more and try to find that storehouse. He just couldnt and wouldnt believe that Rusty hid every nut he found in the leaves or ground. No, sir, he would not believe that. There must be a storehouse somewhere, and he would find it. Why didnt Rusty come back there? He had plenty of time to go over to the big hickory tree and return to bury another fat nut. It must be that he was taking those nuts somewhere
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else. Chatterer hurried back through the treetops to the hiding place from which he had first watched Rusty. Sure enough there was Rusty going in quite another direction.
XVIII
RUSTY HAS A LITTLE FUN WITH HIS COUSIN
To fool another through and through Just let him think hes fooling you.
USTY THE FOX SQUIRREL had appeared to pay no attention to the scolding of his small cousin, Chatterer the Red Squirrel. He had gone on about his business, which was collecting and storing away fat hickory nuts, quite as if no such person as Chatterer had been about. At least that is the way it seemed. But Rusty all the time had kept watch of Chatterer. He knew that Chatterer was plotting mischief. And when at last Chatterer disappeared Rusty guess that Chatterer was hiding where he could watch him. The little scamp is spying, thought Rusty. He hopes to find my storehouse. I know Red Squirrels. They are all alike. If he
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can find my storehouse he will steal all it contains. I think Ill have a little fun with him. So Rusty took a fat hickory nut off behind a clump of young hemlock trees and buried it in the soft ground under the leaves. Then he did the same thing with another, only he didnt bury it in just the same place. A third time he did it. This was when Chatterer was sure he had found Rustys storehouse. All this time he hadnt caught as much as a glimpse of Chatterer. On his way back with the fourth nut Rusty heard a great rustling of leaves ahead of him just as he was passing through the little clump of hemlock trees. He paused and peered out. There was Chatterer making the dirt fly as he dug where Rusty had buried the last nut. Rusty chuckled down inside so that he wouldnt be heard. Then he hastily buried that fat nut right in the middle of that hemlock thicket
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and hurried back to the big hickory tree. The next nut Rusty carried quite a long distance in another direction before burying it. Several more he took over near the same place and buried. By this time he felt sure Chatterer was following him, but keeping out of sight, and in this he was right. Then he took some nuts in another direction and later did the same thing in still another. Always he buried them, only one in each little hole. And never once did he go near his home. Patiently Chatterer followed and spied and each time he was disappointed. He looked everywhere but nowhere could he find a hollow log or stump near any of the places Rusty led him to. Always it appeared that Rusty was simply burying the nuts he was picking up under the big hickory tree. Chatterer was tempted to dig up those nuts but this would be even more work than hunting for them among the leaves
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on the ground under the big trees from which the Merry Little Breezes had shaken them down. So he left them alone and continued to spy in the hope of finding a big storehouse which he could rob at will later. Now, Rusty wasnt burying all those nuts just to foot Chatterer. Oh, my, no! No indeed! That is one of Rustys ways of having them for the winter, just as it is one of the ways of Happy Jack the Gray Squirrel. He knew that hidden from sight under the leaves or buried in tiny holes in the ground they would remain there until he needed them. Then when he wanted them he could dig them out. Of course, he didnt expect to remember just where each one was hidden, but he knew that his nose would find them for him, even when there was snow on the ground. So Rusty wasnt doing all this work just to fool his small cousin. But the knowledge that he was fooling Chatterer made real fun
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of what might have seemed hard work. And at the same time he was filling a storehouse.
XIX
HOW RUSTY FILLED HIS STOREHOUSE
Sing a song of wisdom! Sing a song of thrift! Sing a song of saving To future burdens lift!
delighted with it. He was glad, ever so glad, he had come there to make his home. The fact that his small cousin, Chatterer the Red Squirrel, had tried to frighten and make things as unpleasant as possible for him, didnt trouble him in the least. He understood Chatterer perfectly. He knew how easily Chatterer lost his temper, and he knew, too, how little Chatterer was to be trusted. So Rusty simply took no notice of the ugly things Chatterer said, but at the same time he kept a watchful eye on Chatterer.
USTY THE FOX SQUIRREL liked the Green Forest. He was
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That red-coated little scamp of a cousin will steal every fat hickory nut of mine he can find, so I must take care that he finds few, thought Rusty. Of course he knows every hole in every tree and stump and old log about here because he has lived here so long and makes it his business to know all about such places. I cant possibly find a place for a storehouse that Chatterer doesnt know of, so the thing for me is to find a place he isnt likely to think of. Ive noticed that the things people are least likely to think of are the things that are right under their noses. I know it has been that way with me many times, and I guess Im not much different from other folks. Ill just look for a place he knows so well he wont even think of looking in it. Now, just a few feet away from the big hickory tree was an old stump. It was so old that it was hollow. The brown leaves
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falling from the trees had partly filled that hollow. Rustys eyes twinkled when he saw this. The very place! he exclaimed to himself. It wont enter Chatterers head that I will think of having a storehouse so close to the big hickory tree. Hell expect me to take those fat nuts some distance away and so he wont think to look here. Ill take a few fat nuts off in different directions and bury them. Hell think I am taking them to a storehouse and will try to find it. While he is busy doing that I will fill his hollow. So, as you know, Rusty did take fat hickory nuts out among the trees some distance away in this direction, that direction, and the other direction. Chatterer did follow him, spying on him from the thick top of a hemlock tree, all the time believing that Rusty didnt know it. But Rusty did know it. He didnt always see Chatterer, but somehow he knew he
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was watching. He would bury a fat nut then hurry back to the big hickory tree. When he got there he would work very fast picking up nuts and hiding them under the leaves in the hollow of that old stump. Before Chatterer would have time to become suspicious he would take a fat nut off into the woods and hide it near the place where Chatterer was watching. It was great fun. You see, it was a sort of game. Rusty was trying to outwit Chatterer and Chatterer was trying to outwit Rusty. The one big difference was that Rusty knew that Chatterer was spying on him and Chatterer didnt even know that Rusty even suspected him. So all day long this funny game was kept up and when the Black Shadows came creeping through the Green Forest, warning the little people of the day that it was time to go to bed, that hollow stump was
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nearly filled with fat hickory nuts hidden under the brown leaves, and the storehouse of Chatterer the Red Squirrel was nearly empty, while Chatterer himself was no wiser than before as to where the storehouse of Rusty the Fox Squirrel was.
XX
CHATTERER REAPS A JUST REWARD
North or south or west or east Selfishness will pay the least.
OR three days Chatterer the Red Squirrel spent more of his time trying to find the storehouse of his big cousin, Rusty the Fox Squirrel. Part of the time he spend spying on Rusty, hoping that the latter would lead him to that storehouse. But all he discovered was that Rusty, like Happy Jack the Gray Squirrel, buried many nuts under leaves or in the soft earth. As only one nut was buried in each place, Chatterer gained nothing. He could pick up nuts under the big hickory tree much faster than he could dig those buried by Rusty. Then he tried visiting all the hollow limbs, trees, stumps and logs with holes big enough for Rusty to get in that he could
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think of. He knew every hole in that part of the Green Forest. There wasnt one that at one time or another Chatterer hadnt poked his head into and examined. So he knew just where to go without wasting time. But in not one did he find Rustys storehouse. Finally he made up his mind that it must be that Rusty hadnt a storehouse but buried all the fat hickory nuts he picked up under the big hickory tree. If that was so, he might as well give up the idea of stealing all those fat nuts from Rusty, for it would be a hopeless job to try to find all those fat nuts buried in so many places. So when he went to bed the night of the third day Chatterer made up his mind that the best thing he could do would be to get busy and get his share of the fat nuts under that big hickory tree he had tried to claim as his very own. The next morning bright and early he was over there. Rusty wasnt to
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be seen. Chatterer was glad of it. He would work hard and fast and get as many of those fat nuts as possible before Rusty did arrive. Then Chatterer received a shock. Yes, sir, he received a shock. There were no fat hickory nuts. Three days before the ground had been covered with them, and now, though he searched frantically all about, all he could find were three or four wormy ones. He looked up in the top of the big hickory tree. There were no fat nuts up there. The Merry Little Breezes had shaken down the very last one. If over there was an angry and disappointed Squirrel that one was Chatterer. All through the fall he had counted on having all those fat hickory nuts for himself, and here he was with hardly enough to count, stored away, and there were no more. Rusty the Fox Squirrel had all the rest. Chatterer knew now why Rusty did not appear. There was nothing to come for.
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Chatterer flew into a terrible rage. He pretended that it was all on account of Rusty, but right down inside he knew better. He was in a rage with himself. He was reaping the reward of selfishness, and he knew it. There had been more than enough fat hickory nuts for himself and Rusty, too, but he had selfishly wanted all of them. So instead of getting his share he had spent his time trying to find Rustys storehouse in order to rob it, while Rusty had kept right on working. Now the fat nuts were gone, and he was no wiser than before in regard to Rustys storehouse, and all because of his selfishness. And the funny thing about it was that as Chatterer worked himself into such a rage he was sitting on the edge of the very stump in the hollow of which Rusty had hidden most of those fat nuts. Because it was right there close to the big hickory tree Chatterer hadnt once thought
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to pull over those dead leaves and look under them. And he didnt think of it now.
XXI
CHATTERER DISCOVERS A HUNTER
To kill for food is Natures law And understood by great and small, But killing harmless folk for sport I do not understand at all. Chatterer the Red Squirrel
HATTERER the Red Squirrel was busy. He was just as busy as it was possible for a Red Squirrel to be. Having discovered that through his own selfishness he had cheated himself out of even a share of those fat hickory nuts which had grown on a certain big hickory tree, he wisely wasted no more time trying to find out where they had been hidden by his big cousin, Rusty the Fox Squirrel. Winter would soon be at hand, and he must have his storehouses filled. Of course, he
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knew where there were other hickory trees and where there were other hickory trees and where there were chestnut trees and beech trees. They wore further from home than that certain big hickory tree, and this meant longer journeys back and forth. But those storehouses must be filled, and so Chatterer went to work with a will, for he isnt lazy. There isnt a lazy hair on him. Under a beech tree on the edge of the Green Forest he found his small cousin, Striped Chipmunk, hard at work. Not far away, where the chestnuts lay hidden under the brown leaves on the ground, he found his bigger cousin, Happy Jack the Gray Squirrel, hard at work. Strange to say, he didnt once try to quarrel with them. He was too busy to quarrel. Besides, he didnt feel like quarreling. You see, having once settled down to work, he found so much pleasure in that that he no longer felt ill natured.
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Only when he discovered Rusty the Fox Squirrel also at work did Chatterer feel angry. Then he stopped for a few minutes to scold and call this biggest cousin a thief and other bad names. Then, realizing that he was wasting precious time, he went to work again and his temper cooled and his ill nature disappeared. By and by he thought of a certain hickory tree that grew by itself just beyond the edge of the Green Forest. Happy Jack was busy among the chestnuts. Striped Chipmunk was busy under the beech trees and Rusty was busy under the beech trees and Rusty was busy under another hickory tree some distance off. Unseen, Chatterer slipped away and raced over to that tree he had remembered. Just as he hoped, there were many fat nuts on the ground under it. It was plain that no one had yet visited it. Not far away lay a hollow log with a knot-
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hole in it. A hole just big enough for Chatterer to slip through, but too small for either Happy Jack or Rusty. It was a handy storehouse and Chatterer started stowing away those fat nuts in it as fast as he could. For a long time he was too busy to think of anything else. Then, as he popped his head out of the hole in that hollow log after stowing away a particularly fat nut, he saw something that made him pull his head in again in a hurry. It was a hunter. It was a hunter with a terrible gun and he was hunting for Squirrels. Chatterer knew that by the way he was looking up in that hickory tree and holding this terrible gun ready to shoot quickly. Chatterer wasnt afraid. He felt perfectly safe where he was because the hunter didnt know he was there and also because he had long ago learned that hunters would seldom shoot at such a little fellow as he. That hunter was looking for Hap-
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py Jack the Gray Squirrel, the big cousin with whom he so often quarreled. Chatterer guessed this at once. But it made him just as angry as if that hunter had been looking for him. That hunter wasnt hunting because he was hungry. He was hunting to kill just for sport, and that made Chatterer angry. What fun could there be in killing just for the sake of killing he couldnt understand at all. It seemed to him the most dreadful thing in all the Great World.
XXII
CHATTERER IS DREADFULLY TEMPTED
Wheneer the tempter comes around To whisper in your ear, Be deaf as any wooden post, Be sure you do not hear. Chatterer the Red Squirrel
HE Chatterer knows. He has listened to the tempter and it has caused him a lot of trouble and a lot of trouble for other people. So he has found out that it is a lot easier not to listen to the tempter than it is to listen and then overcome the temptation. If you dont listen you wont be tempted. When Chatterer, peeping out from the hollow log which he was using for a storehouse, saw the hunter with his terrible gun looking up in the hickory tree he was at first simply angry. He knew that where he was he was safe. He knew, too, that he would
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probably be safe, even though he were up in that very tree above the hunter. He was too small to be worth a shot. So Chatterer was not afraid, but he was angry. It always makes him angry to see a hunter. It made him doubly angry because he knew that that hunter had no business there. He knew that this was Farmer Browns land and that Farmer Brown and Farmer Browns boy didnt allow hunting there. In fact, right on that very tree was a sign forbidding it. The hunter walked all around that tree looking up, hoping to catch a glimpse of Happy Jack the Gray Squirrel. He didnt, for Happy Jack wasnt there. Chatterer grinned as he saw the look of disappointment on that hunters face. Then the hunter started into the Green Forest. Chatterer came out of the hollow log to watch. He knew that Happy Jack was hard at work under a certain chestnut tree. At least, that was where
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he had been when Chatterer had last seen him. The hunter was not walking in that direction. He was going toward a certain hickory tree further in the Green Forest. If Happy Jack is where I left him he is safe enough for the present, thought Chatterer. Ill run over there and tell him to watch out. Right then he remembered his biggest cousin, Rusty the Fox Squirrel. He remembered that when he had last seen Rusty he had been under the very tree toward which that hunter was walking. Then it was that the tempter whispered to Chatterer. Dont give warning, said the tempter. If anything happens to Rusty it wont be your fault. Rusty is bigger than Happy Jack and that hunter with the terrible gun probably will shoot him if he sees him. If does , so much the better. Rusty hasnt any business here, anyway. He is a newcomer and he got all those fat hickory nuts
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from that big hickory tree of yours. If that hunter shoots him it will serve him right. No, it wont, either, said Chatterers better self down inside. You know very well that that tree doesnt really belong to you and that Rusty has a perfect right to those nuts. You know very well that if you had minded your own business you would have had your share of those fat nuts. And you know very well what a dreadful thing it would be if that hunter should kill Rusty. You dont know anything of the kind, whispered the tempter. The Green Forest got along very well before Rusty came, and it will do quite well if he is taken away. Perhaps the hunter wont find him, anyway. If he does no one can blame you. It is no business of yours anyway. It is every ones business to give warning in case of common danger, said his better self inside.
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Probably he wouldnt heed it. He wouldnt believe you, and you would be wasting your breath. Go about your business and say nothing, whispered the tempter. While the tempter whispered Chatterer listened, and while he listened the hunter with the terrible gun went on toward the hickory tree under which Chatterer had last seen Rusty the Fox Squirrel.
XXIII
THE REAL CHATTERER
Some good folks want the world to know it While some are good but hate to show it
HATTERER the Red Squirrel is noisy, a mischief-maker, quick tempered, delights to make trouble for others and at time seems to have no good in him. He seems to have no good in him. He seems to delight in appearing to be as bad as possible. But, like a good many other people, he has more good than bad in him. He simply doesnt like to show it. You will find many people are like that. As he watched the hunter with the terrible gun slowly walking toward the hickory tree where Rusty the Fox Squirrel probably was busy laying in supplies for the winter,
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Chatterer listened to the tempter and kept his tongue still. He knew that if that hunter should find Rusty there it would probably be the end of Rusty, and he tried to make himself believe that he would be glad. Yes, sir, he tried to make himself believe that he hated Rusty and would be glad if he were killed. So he kept his tongue still and watched the hunter. In a few minutes the hunter would be where he could see that hickory tree. Chatterer could stand it no longer. Rusty might not be there, but if he was there something dreadful would surely happen. Chatterer climbed up the nearest tree and then hurried through the tree tops after that hunter and all the time his tongue was going as fast as he could make it go. Hunter! Hunter! he shrieked, Everybody hide! Hunter with a terrible gun! Now, everybody in the Green Forest knows that warning cry of Chatterers. Even the hunter knew what it
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meant, though of course he didnt understand what Chatterer was saying. Confound that little red mischief-maker, growled the hunter. He is making such a noise hell scare everything within hearing. By this time Chatterer had almost caught up with the hunter and was in a thick hemlock tree, taking great care to keep the trunk of the tree between himself and the hunter. He caught a glimpse of Rusty the Fox Squirrel running for a big tree. Run, Rusty, run! he shrieked. Run for your life! The hunter is right here below me! Run! Run! Rusty did run. The hunter saw him and just as Rusty sprang to the trunk of a big tree and whisked around to the other side the terrible gun roared, and Chatterer saw bits of bark fly from that tree. Then, with a feeling of wonderful relief, he saw what the hunter failed to see, Rusty slip
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into a hole high up in the trunk of that tree. But his quick eyes saw, too, something that troubled him. It seemed to him that Rusty had moved slowly as if hurt. Im glad I warned him. Im glad I warned him! he kept saying over and over to himself. Im glad I warned him, but I wish I had warned him sooner. I do hope he isnt much hurt. That was the real Chatterer. It wasnt the real Chatterer at all who had listened to the tempter and tried to believe he hoped the hunter would get Rusty. Then how Chatterer did scold that hunter! My, my, my, how he did scold! It is a pity that hunter didnt understand what Chatterer was saying. It certainly would have made his ears hurt.
XXIV
FARMER BROWNS BOY APPEARS
Anger in the cause of mercy Is always right and always good A pity tis so few have courage To show it when and as they should
HE HUNTER who had shot at Rusty the Fox Squirrel went over to the tree up which Rusty had climbed and looked carefully at the place where the shot had struck. He found two or three little red spots and some red hairs. He knew at once what they meant. I hit that fellow after all, said he and actually looked pleased. You see, hunters are very apt to be thoughtless. That hunter was thinking of himself and not giving a single thought to poor Rusty. He was pleased to think he had that straight, and the idea that Rusty might be suffering didnt enter his head.
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Then he carefully walked around the true looking up for a glimpse of Rusty and ready to shoot again. Presently he discovered the hole in which Rusty had sought safety. He studied it carefully. I believe, said he, that if I climb up there I can get that fellow out of there. That was a Fox Squirrel, the first one I have seen about here for years. He is worth taking a little trouble to get. So the hunter stood his gun against another tree and began to climb the tree in which Rusty was hiding. It was a big tree and hard to climb. The first branches were high up and it took him some time to reach them. Then he was glad to stop and rest a while. What are you doing up in that tree? demanded a sharp though boyish voice. The hunter looked down. There was a freckled-faced, angry-looking boy, and in his hands was a gun. It was Farmer Browns boy
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and he was holding the hunters own gun. Im after a Squirrel I shot, replied the hunter. Then, for the first time noticing that his gun was in the hands of Farmer Browns boy, he shouted angrily: Put that gun down where you found it! Do you hear? The anger in the face of Farmer Browns boy gave way to a sudden grin. Yes, I hear, said he, but Im not going to put the gun down. Instead, I have a great mind to let you know how it feels to be a Squirrel up in a tree with a hunter down below. His face grew angry looking again as he continued: Now, you come down out of that tree, and be quick about it. This is my fathers land, and no hunting is allowed on it, and you know it. You couldnt have got here without seeing the signs forbidding all hunting. Now come down in a hurry and get off of this land as fast as your legs will take you. If you want this gun youll have to go ask
So, saying many ugly things, the hunter started off. Page 111.
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Farmer Brown for it. Hes my father, and Im going to take it home and turn it over to him. When you come for it I guess hell have something to say to you, and I hope Ill be there to hear it. If he doesnt have you arrested youll be lucky. Now come on down. If ever there was an angry hunter it was the one who slid down that tree. He knew he had broken the law by hunting on that land, for he had seen the warning signs. Now he was caught by a freckle-faced boy, and because the latter had his gun he was helpless. He offered Farmer Browns boy money to give him back his gun and say nothing about it, but Farmer Browns boy merely ordered him off and handled that gun in a way that made the hunter understand that he knew all about guns and how to use them. So, saying many ugly things, the hunter started off, and Farmer Browns boy marched behind him with the terrible gun
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to make sure that he really got off that land. And all the time Chatterer the Red Squirrel looked on and snickered gleefully.
XXV
RUSTY IS IN TROUBLE
Some people seem to take delight In giving others pain and fright.
OOR RUSTY! He was in trouble. He was in the worst trouble he ever had been in all his life. He wished with all his might that he never had come near the Green Forest. It was the most terrible place in all the Great World. He was sure of that. There couldnt be another place where he would have to suffer such dreadful fear and at the same time such pain. Yet only a little while before he had thought the Green Forest quite the nicest and most beautiful place in all the Great World. Crouched as far down as he could get, which wasnt far at all, in a hollow high up in a certain tree, he shook with fear and at the same time was sick with pain. And it
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had all happened so suddenly. He didnt understand it even now. He had been attending strictly to his own business, hunting for hickory nuts on the ground. Then had come a shrill warning to hide from his cousin, Chatterer the Red Squirrel. He had looked up to see a great two-legged giant pointing what seemed like a stick at him. He had jumped for the nearest tree and whisked around the trunk. As he did so there had been a flash from that stick pointed at him by the two-legged giant, a terrible noise, and something hit him, hurting terribly. Somehow he had managed to climb up to that hole and crawl in. Now he was too weak to move, yet he knew by the sounds that the giant was climbing up to that hole. It would have been bad enough had he not been hurt, but to be wounded and weak, unable to run and have to lie there listening to a cruel enemy climbing
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nearer and nearer was awful, simply awful. Presently the noise made by the climbing giant ceased. Then in a few minutes he heard voices. They were angry voices, and one of them he knew must be the voice of that dreadful two-legged giant. Presently he heard that giant climbing again, but this time the sound grew fainter instead of louder and in a minute or two ceased. That was when the hunter climbed down at the command of Farmer Browns boy. But Rusty didnt know this. He felt too badly to even peek out to see what was going on below, and so he knew nothing about the way Farmer Browns boy drove the hunter off. All he knew was that he was dreadfully sick. He felt so sick that presently he wasnt even afraid. He didnt even hear the shrieking of his cousin, Chatterer the Red Squirrel, as the latter watched Farmer Browns boy drive the hunter out
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of the Green Forest. He didnt even know when Chatterer jumped over into the very tree he was in and anxiously asked if he was much hurt, nor when, receiving no answer, Chatterer peeped in at him. Nor did he know when a little later Farmer Browns boy returned and began to climb that tree. Perhaps it is just as well that he didnt know that, for if he had known it he would have suffered again the terrible fear which had been his when he heard the hunter climbing toward his hiding place. Poor Rusty! He was in dreadful trouble, and through no fault of his own. For him was gone all the brightness of a beautiful day, all the joy of honest work.In their place was hopeless suffering. And all that a thoughtless hunter with a terrible gun might have what he called sport.
XXVI
FARMER BROWNS BOYS TENDER HEART
Who doth a tender heat confess Will love of all the world possess.
ARMER BROWNS BOY has a tender heart and isnt ashamed of it. He can never see another suffering and not try to do something to help. But is wasnt always so. Goodness, no! Farmer Browns boy used to be just like a great many other boys--thoughtless. Yes, sir, he was just a good-natured, frecklefaced thoughtless boy. He loved to hunt and trap the little people of the Green Meadows and the Green Forest and called it sport. There was nothing he enjoyed more. All the little people of the Green Forest and the Green Meadows, the Old Pasture and the Smiling Pool feared him, and be-
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cause hate almost always springs from fear they hated him. To have seen him out hunting with his terrible gun or setting his uglylooking steel traps in those days you would have said that there was nothing but hardness in the heart of Farmer Browns boy. It did seem that way, just as it seems to be today with many boys you and I know. But it wasnt hardness of heart at all. No, sir, it wasnt hardness of heart any more than it is hardness of heart in those boys you and I know. It was thoughtlessness and lack of understanding. It hadnt entered his head that Peter Rabbit and Jerry Muskrat and Happy Jack Squirrel and all the other little people had just the same feelings that he had, suffered from hunger and cold in winter or heat in the summer, when hurt felt pain just as he did, knew the terror or great fear when hiding or rushing from enemies and the joy of happiness in their homes,
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loved with a love so great that it made them brave as the bravest of heroes he had read about. In short, lived much as he himself did save that life was much harder for them. But there came a time when the eyes of Farmer Browns boy were opened and he began to understand these things. And then that splendid sense of justice which is in the heart of every boy awoke and with it the tenderness which is also somewhere in the heart of every boy. He saw the unfairness of hunting and trapping, and put away his terrible gun and dreadful traps, for he could not bear the thought of the dreadful suffering and fright which these things meant for the little people of the Green Forest and the Green Meadows. And then he discovered how much more interesting these little neighbors were alive than dead and how ready they were to trust him and be friendly when they had learned
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that he was no longer to be feared. It was easy enough to take a little life, but to give back life was impossible. It was a thousand times far more fun to have Happy Jack Squirrel come eat from his hand than ever it had been to hunt him with a terrible gun. And, so through growing acquaintances with the little people came understanding of how at best their lives, especially the lives of the smaller ones, are constantly beset by dangers so that seldom a day passes without more than one dreadful fright, his heart grew very tender toward them. It was because of this that as soon as he had seen that the hunter who had shot at Rusty the Fox Squirrel in the Green Forest had obeyed his order to get off Farmer Browns land, he had hurried back to the tree in a hole in which Rusty had hidden. He had seen the little red spots and the red hairs on the trunk of that tree and knew that Rusty was
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hurt. And so it was help was coming to poor, suffering Rusty, though he didnt know it.
XXVII
WHAT CHATTERER SAW
Whoever doth of tender mercy give Makes of the world a better place to live.
HATTERER the Red Squirrel had followed Farmer Browns boy as he drove the hunter out of the Green Forest and he had snickered all the way. He saw the hunter tramp down the road out of sight while Farmer Browns boy watched. He saw Farmer Browns boy hide the hunters gun and then turn back toward the tree in which poor Rusty the Fox Squirrel had hidden. Chatterer guessed just what Farmer Browns boy was going to do. He is going back to see just how badly Rusty was hurt by that hunter with the terrible gun, thought Chatterer. If Rusty isnt
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much hurt he probably has left that hole by this time, but if he is much hurt Farmer Browns boy will find him in that hole and will try to do something for him. Rusty doesnt know it, but he was mighty lucky to have Farmer Browns boy happen along just when he did. If anything can be done for Rusty it will be done by Farmer Browns boy. You see, Chatterer knows Farmer Browns boy. He has known him for a long time. He knows that he is the best friend the little people of the Green Forest and Green Meadows have. As he silently followed Farmer Browns boy back through the Green Forest he remembered how Farmer Browns boy had found Bobby Coon with a broken leg and had taken him home and taken care of him, and when that leg had been set and had grown strong had set Bobby free. He remembered how Mrs. Grouse had been found nearly starved to death under
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the icy crust that had formed in the night while she was asleep buried in the snow, and had been taken home and care for until she was quite herself again. He remembered other kindly acts of mercy by Farmer Browns boy. So Chatterer had no fear for his big cousin, Rusty the Fox Squirrel. Silently Chatterer followed Farmer Browns boy back to the tree where Rusty had been shot. He saw Farmer Browns boy climb the tree until he reached the hole high up. He saw him take an old glove from his pocket and slip it on one hand. He saw him put that hand in the hole and take out Rusty and he saw the look of pity in the eyes of Farmer Browns boy as he gently examined Rusty. Rusty was badly hurt. There was no doubt about that. Chatterer knew this because he struggled very little. And he knew, too, that poor Rusty didnt know Farmer Browns boy, being a newcom-
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er to the Green Forest, and must think that he was in the hands of an enemy. It is all right, Rusty. It is all right. He wont hurt you. Hell help you, cried Chatterer. He watched Farmer Browns boy put Rusty in his cap and then slowly and carefully climb down that tree so as not to hurt Rusty any more. When he reached the ground Farmer Browns boy hurried over to the Laughing Brook and wet his handkerchief. Then very gently he bathed Rustys wounds and put a few drops of water in Rustys mouth. After that he hurried away toward Farmer Browns house, taking Rusty with him. Chatterer didnt follow. He sat for a few minutes thinking over all that had happened. Then he started to look for his other big cousin, Happy Jack the Gray Squirrel, to tell him the news. I heard that terrible gun, said Happy Jack, and I wondered if any one had been
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hurt and who it might be. It is dreadful, simply dreadful. But I am glad Farmer Browns boy found Rusty. If he isnt too badly hurt Farmer Browns boy will make him well.
XXVIII
RUSTY FINDS HIMSELF IN A STRANGE PLACE
A lot of things not understood. Seem fearsome when theyre really good. Rusty the Fox Squirrel
HEN Farmer Browns boy took Rusty the Fox Squirrel, wounded by the hunter with the terrible gun, out of the hole in a tree in which he had hidden, Rusty was feeling too badly to take much notice of anything. He was feeling too badly to care much what became of him. After Farmer Browns boy had gently washed his wounds and put a few drops of water in his mouth he felt a little better, but not enough so as to understand what was happening. So he had very little memory of how Farmer Browns boy had carried him in his cap out of the Green Forest and home.
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There Farmer Browns boy had carefully examined Rustys wounds and had decided that though he was badly hurt he would recover if he had the proper care. Very tenderly he had dressed those wounds. He had put down Rustys throat a little warm milk. Rusty had had to swallow it whether he wanted to or not. All this Rusty had known little about, for he had been feeling too badly to notice anything. By and by Rusty began to notice things. You see he was better, though if he could have spoken he would have said he was worse, for he felt the pain from his wounds more now. The first thing he noticed was that he was on a soft, warm bed. He wondered how he happened to be there. The last thing he remembered after the roar of that terrible gun in the Green Forest was painfully crawling into a hole high up in a tree and he was certain that there was no soft bed in there.
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But this bed was soft and warm and he was glad to be in it. He didnt feel like moving. He was weak and moving made his wounds smart more. So he closed his eyes and actually took a little nap, which was the best thing in the world for him. When he opened his eyes he noticed that over his head was a queer-looking roof. If was full of holes, but they were too small for him to put more than his nose through. That roof puzzled him. Never had he seen anything like it before. Of course, it was wire, for Rusty was in a big wire cage. But Rusty didnt know anything about cages or wire and that strange roof worried him. He couldnt understand it. Then he noticed that he couldnt see the sky through those holes in that queer roof nor any trees. Way up ever so high there seemed to be another roof. He listened for the whispering of the Merry Little Breezes, but instead heard
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only strange sounds, a thumping, which was the stamping of Farmer Browns horse in his stall, and a rattling and clattering, which was Farmer Browns boy doing his chores in the barn, for Rustys cage was in the barn. All this was very strange and not to be understood and so fear once more filled the heart of Rusty the Fox Squirrel. Where was he? What had happened to him? What was going to happen to him? Then Farmer Browns boy came over to look at him. Rusty didnt know Farmer Browns boy. All he knew was that there was one of those two-legged giants like the one who had pointed a fire flashstick at him in the Green Forest. Probably it was the same one. Rusty shook all over in fright. Farmer Browns boy saw this. He spoke softly and soothingly. Poor little chap, said he. You dont understand, but some day you will. I dont wonder you are fright-
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ened half to death. I would be in your place. You must be a Fox Squirrel, the first one Ive ever seen and you are a beauty. I wish I could give that hunter half the fright you are suffering now. It might teach him that you little people have the same feelings he has. I guess what you need now is quiet and I am going to leave you until tomorrow morning. With this Farmer Browns boy went away and Rusty was left to wonder at his strange surroundings and the strange noises.
XXIX
RUSTY TRIES TO BITE
Judge not merely by a deed; Let the cause the action plead.
OME of the worst mistakes in life are made because of deeds which are judged simply as deeds without thought of the cause behind them. Folks sometimes do things because through lack of knowledge those things seem to them the right things to do, when perhaps they are wrong. Just take the case of Rusty the Fox Squirrel. When Rusty awoke early the morning after Farmer Browns boy had found him wounded by the hunter with the terrible gun and had taken him home and taken care of him
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and made him as comfortable as he could, he couldnt at first remember where he was. But when he tried to move he remembered his terrible fright and hurt of the day before, and much of that fright returned as gradually he realized that he was no longer in the Green Forest, but was in a strange place from which he could see no way of escape. He was feeling stronger, though it still hurt cruelly to move. For a long time he lay still, listening to the strange sounds in Farmer Browns barn, for that is where he was, all the time becoming more and more frightened by the strangeness of it all. By and by he heard steps approaching and then suddenly there was Farmer Browns boy right close to him, looking down through the queer roof full of holes, which you know was the wire of the cage in which Farmer Browns boy had put him. Rustys heart almost stood still with
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fright. Here was one of those two-legged giants like the one who had hurt him so with the stick that flashed fire and made a terrible roar. What was going to be done to him now? Doubtless it was something dreadful. Rusty shivered all over. Then he set his teeth together hard. He would a least fight for his life if he had a chance. He was no coward. Farmer Browns boy opened a door in the cage and reached in with a hand covered with a thick glove. The instant it was near enough Rusty tried to bite it. Yes, sir, that is what he tried to do; he tried to bite the hand of Farmer Browns boy, and he did drive his sharp teeth through that thick glove enough to hurt a little. But he wasnt yet strong enough to drive his teeth way in. Ouch! exclaimed Farmer Browns boy. Ouch, you little rascal! I guess you are feeling better. He pulled off the glove and looked at the finger that had been bit-
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ten. Im glad I had that glove on, said he. But he didnt lose his temper because Rusty had bitten him. Not a bit of it. I dont blame you, said he. You did that because you dont understand. Im not going to hurt you. When you find out that out you wont want to bite. But until you find it out I guess Ill have to be careful. He threw a cloth over Rustys head, through which Rusty tried in vain to bite. Then he lifted Rusty out, and very, very, gently bathed his wounds and covered them with something that was sooting and took the smart and ache out of them. Then as gently as possible he put Rusty back in his bed in the cage, and left food and water where he could reach them with almost no effort at all. And all the time Farmer Browns boy talked to Rusty softly and kindly. You are coming along all right, said he. The best thing for you is to be left alone.
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You mustnt be excited. I wont believe you any oftener than is necessary. Then he closed the door of the cage and went away.
XXX
RUSTY MAKES UP HIS MIND
Distrust gives way and ends all fears When gentle, friendliness appears. Rusty the Fox Squirrel
USTY THE FOX SQUIRREL had plenty of time in which to think, and he did think. There wasnt anything else to do and if there had been he couldnt have done it. He was still too much injured by the shot from that terrible gun to move about. He didnt want to move, which was a good thing. Quietness was the best thing in the world for him, as Farmer Browns boy had said. But Rusty could think without hurting his injured body and he did think. He thought and thought and the subject of
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all that thought was Farmer Browns boy. Rusty had been terribly afraid of him and because he had been terribly afraid he had tried to bite him. Instead of hurting him Farmer Browns boy had been very, very gentle with him and had put something healing and soothing on the wounds made by the cruel shots and had left food and water for him. What did it mean? Any enemy wouldnt do that, thought Rusty. Yet he is one of those two-legged giants and it was one of them that brought all this trouble to me. If it had not been for one of them I would be safe and happy in the Green Forest hunting for nuts this very minute. Yes, and but for this one I might be out there dead this very minute. You see, he had guessed that Farmer Browns boy had found him and brought him to this place. I dont know what to think. It must be that there are different kinds of these
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two-legged giants. I--Im sorry I tried to bite this one. I wont again. I dont believe he means me any harm. Im sure he doesnt. Having made up his mind to this Rusty felt better. One always feels better when no longer distrustful of another. So the next time Farmer Browns boy put his hand in to take him out and care for his wounds, Rusty didnt try to bite him. He didnt even kick. Farmer Browns boy noticed it right away and grinned. That grin made all the freckles on his face run together like one big freckle. He pulled off his glove and with bare fingers very gently rubbed the top of Rustys head. Somehow at the touch of those bare fingers on his head all doubt left Rusty. That was a friendly touch. There could be no mistake about that. The friendliness of it tingled all through him. There was nothing to fear from one with a touch like that. There couldnt be. Rusty rubbed his nose against
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the hand and again Farmer Browns boy grinned. He understood that just as Rusty understood that gentle touch on his head. I see you have made up your mind that I will do you no harm and that we are going to be friends, said Farmer Browns boy, as he put Rusty back in his soft bed in the cage. That is good. Now youll get along faster. It wont be long before you are as smart as ever. Farmer Browns boy was right. Having made up his mind that there was nothing to fear, Rusty began to get better fast. In a day or two he was able to crawl out of his bed and examine his cage. He was still pretty lame and very sore, but his appetite had returned and he enjoyed his food. Farmer Browns boy came to see him many times a day and he never failed to bring some good thing to eat. There were goodies such as Rusty never had tasted before, and he began to look eagerly for the coming of Farm-
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er Browns boy and hurried over to the door of his cage whenever he heard the steps of Farmer Browns boy approaching. He would take the food from the latters fingers and it never once entered his head to bite those fingers. In fact, he took the greatest care not to.
XXXI
RUSTY IS TROUBLED
To starve in freedoms better far Than feast behind a prison bar. Rusty the Fox Squirrel
USTY The Fox Squirrel and Farmer Browns boy were the best of friends. Rusty would soon be wholly recovered from the wounds made by the terrible gun of the hunter. Farmer Browns boy saw this and was glad. He had grown very fond of Rusty and if this truth be told Rusty had grown very fond of Farmer Browns boy. How could he feel otherwise when Farmer Browns boy had done so much for him? Never before in all his life had Rusty
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had so many good things to eat. Never before had be had so much to eat. Farmer Browns boy visited him many times a day and never did he fail to bring him some tidbit. Rustys mouth would begin to water as soon as he saw Farmer Browns boy coming. Rusty was getting fat. At first he had grown very thin, but as soon as he was well started out on the road to recovery he began to fill out, until now he was heavier than he had ever been before. He was getting so fat he was beginning to grow uncomfortable. Farmer Browns boy would stand before Rustys cage and admire him and tell him right to his face that he was the biggest and handsomest Squirrel he ever had seen and this was true. Anyway, it was true that Rusty was the biggest Squirrel he ever had seen, for Rusty was a Fox Squirrel, and the Fox Squirrel is the largest member of the tree-climbing branch of the Squirrel family.
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For some time Rusty was contented, but as he began to feel quite himself again he began to be troubled. He had plenty to eat and nothing to worry about, so far as enemies were concerned, but just the same he began to be troubled. All his life he had been free to go where he would when he would, and now he couldnt go anywhere. He was in a cage, and there was no way of getting out of that cage. There in Farmer Browns barn it was very warm and comfortable, while outside Rough Brother North Wind often howled, for it was winter now. Rusty felt that he ought to be thankful to be so well taken care of. Still he was troubled. He was a prisoner, a prisoner of kindness, to be sure, but a prisoner just the same. He began to long to climb a tree to hunt for the fat hickory nuts he had buried in the Green Forest, to feel that he could go and come as he pleased. He was growing home-
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sick. Yes, sir, Rusty was growing homesick for the Green Forest. Sometimes he heard the voice of Sammy Jay as Sammy sat in a tree near the barn, and that always made him more homesick than ever. Day by day he grew more troubled as he grew stronger. Would he always have to live in that cage? Was Farmer Browns boy planning to keep him a prisoner all his life? The more he thought about it the more troubled he became. It caused him to lose his appetite. Somehow those goodies of Farmer Browns boy didnt taste as good as they had in the beginning. He longed to run and jump, and he couldnt; there wasnt room in that cage. He wondered what his saucy, quarrelsome, small cousin, Chatterer the Red Squirrel was doing and if he had found that store of fat hickory nuts hidden in the old stump near the big hickory tree. He felt that he would give anything
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in the world just to run over there and see. So Rusty grew more and more troubled, and the fact that every day he was stronger didnt help any. The stronger he grew the more troubled he became. Farmer Browns boy noticed it and understood. But still he kept Rusty a prisoner.
XXXII
RUSTY HAS A VISITOR
A word or two of cheer is like A sunbeam on a cloudy day: It fills the heart with gladness and It chases all the gloom away.
ERY early one morning, before Farmer Browns boy was astir, Rusty the Fox Squirrel, feeling very low-spirited and downhearted in his cage in Farmer Browns barn, heard a rustle and then the scratching of little claws.He forgot his troubles and pricked up his ears. There was some one not far off in that barn. Who could it be? Suddenly there was a little thumping on the top of his cage. It was so unexpected that it startled him. Hastily he looked up to see peering down at him through the wires the
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very last face in the world he expected to see--the face of Chatterer the Red Squirrel. Mischief sparkled in Chatterers eyes. Hello, Cousin Rusty! said he. You seem to be very comfortable in there. Hello, Cou-Cousin Ch-Chatterer, stammered Rusty. You see he was so surprised he couldnt find his tongue, as the saying is. Wh-what are you doing here and how did you get here? Chatterer chuckled. I am making you a visit and I got here easy enough. I know all about this old barn. This isnt the first time Ive been in it. Goodness, no! Ive been in here more times than I can remember. There is a big tree just outside this barn and one branch almost touches the roof. In a corner under the eaves is a hole I made a long time ago. Farmer Brown and his boy dont know anything about it. So it is easy enough to go and come when
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I please. I thought I would find you here. What made you think you would find me here? asked Rusty, opening his eyes very wide in surprise. I saw Farmer Browns boy take you away when you were hurt by the terrible gun of the hunter over in the Green Forest and I know where he would put you. But how could you know that? asked Rusty, looking more surprised than ever. Chatterer chuckled. I lived in it once myself, said he. Rusty blinked. You lived in it! he exclaimed. I certainly did, replied Chatterer, still chuckling, for he enjoys seeing some one else puzzled. Farmer Browns boy caught me once and kept me in that wire prison for quite a while. How did you get out? asked Rusty eagerly. Farmer Browns boy let me out,
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replied Chatterer and grinned at the look of doubt on Rustys face. Thats the truth, he continued. I know just exactly what your feelings are. Now that you are feeling quite yourself again, and I am glad that you are, you are longing for the Green Forest and freedom. I know. But dont worry. Farmer Browns boy knows just how you feel about it, and when he thinks you are quite able to care for yourself he will set you free. Thats what he did with me and with Bobby Coon and with Unc Billy Possum and with Mrs. Grouse and some others I could tell you about. Hell do the same thing with you. Youre lucky. Yes, sir, youre lucky to have been found by Farmer Browns boy. If he hadnt found you you probably would have died for you were badly hurt. I know, because I saw you. Farmer Browns boy is the best friend we folks of the Green Forest have got.
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Just then they heard the barn door open. Good bye and dont worry, whispered Chatterer and whisked out of sight. Rusty felt better. He felt so much better that when Farmer Browns boy brought him his breakfast he ate it with the best appetite he had had for days. You see he had the feeling that freedom was not far away.
XXXIII
RUSTY HAS ANOTHER VISITOR
What seems a wrong and nothing less You yet may have good cause to bless.
LL the day after the visit of his small cousin, Chatterer the Red Squirrel, Rusty the Fox Squirrel was in better spirits. Chatterer had given him hope, hope that some day soon Farmer Browns boy would set him free so that he could go back to the Green Forest. He had begun to hate that cage in which he was a prisoner. He hated it no less now, but the thought that he might not have to stay in it much longer helped a whole lot. All day long he thought of Chatterers visit early that morning, and he quite forgave Chatterer for his meanness in trying to drive him away from the Green For-
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est. It had been very good of Chatterer to come way over to that barn to visit him and cheer him up. What he didnt know was that Chatterer had not been wholly unselfish in that visit. He had a very good breakfast of yellow corn from one of Farmer Browns bins before he had visited Rusty. That night after Farmer Browns boy had left, Rusty was still thinking of Chatterer and hoping that Chatterer had been right, when he heard a soft thump on the roof of his cage just such a thump as Chatterer had made when he jumped onto it that morning. He looked up expecting to see Chatterer there again and in the dim light, for it was already quite dark in the barn, he thought at first that it was Chatterer. He opened his mouth to speak when he saw that this small person had a much longer body than had Chatterer and that he was glaring down between the wires
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with eyes that were red with savage longing. Rustys heart almost stopped beating. At least that is the way it seemed for fear, dreadful fear was clutching at it. He knew now who that was. He knew that he was staring up into the cruel face of Shadow the Weasel. Big as he was, ever so much bigger than Shadow, a feeling of helplessness swept over Rusty, for he knew that he was no match for that slim, quick-moving little hunter. So Rusty simply crouched down in a corner of the cage and shook with a helpless terror. He had quite forgotten that as he couldnt get out so Shadow couldnt get in. Shadow bit savagely at the wires a couple of times, ran all over the cage looking for a hole big enough for him to get through, and finding none snarled angrily and bounded away. For some time Rusty remained right where he was, too frightened to move. At last, still trembling, he crept
He had bad dreams, dreams of running for his life from Shadow the Weasel. Page 155.
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into his bed. From time to time he heard the sound of small feet racing across the barn floor and shrill shrieks of terror and he knew that Robber the Rat and his friends were running from Shadow the Weasel. Rusty shivered at the sounds. Then a great thankfulness filled his heart, thankfulness that he was a prisoner in that wire cage. Yes, sir, that wire cage no longer seemed the dreadful prison he had begun to think it. Now it was a place of safety. The enemy that all Squirrels and many other little people fear more than any other could not harm him all because of that wire that kept him a prisoner. It kept him a prisoner but it kept Shadow the Weasel away from him. At last Rusty fell asleep but it was a troubled sleep. He had bad dreams, dreams of running for his life from Shadow the Weasel and vainly searching for a place in which to hide where Shadow would not follow him.
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In the morning, when he awoke, his first thought was of that dreadful visitor of the night before, and for the first time he was glad, glad way through, to find that he was still inside, not outside, that wire prison.
XXXIV
FARMER BROWNS BOY GUESSES WHAT IS WRONG
He is his own most helpful aid Who knows just when to be afraid
he discovered that Rusty had no appetite for his breakfast. It was a good breakfast, a fine breakfast, but Rusty hardly touched it, which was very unusual for him. What is the matter with you? asked Farmer Browns boy. Of course Rusty didnt reply. He didnt reply because he didnt understand what Farmer Browns boy said. Instead he climbed up on Farmer Browns boys hand, a thing he had never done before. Then Farmer Browns boy noticed that Rusty was trembling.
OMETHING was wrong with Rusty the Fox Squirrel. Farmer Browns boy knew it the instant
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He was puzzled. It was clear to him that Rusty was afraid of something but that he wasnt afraid of him. He took Rusty out of the cage. It was the first time, and he half expected to see Rusty leap away. But Rusty didnt. Instead he ran up Farmer Browns boys arm to the shoulder and sat there, still trembling. Farmer Browns boy gently put him down on the floor and stepped back. Rusty hesitated. Then what do you think he did? He climbed back into the wire cage. Yes, sir, that is just what he did. He climbed back into the wire prison and crouched in the darkest corner of it. Farmer Browns boy scratched his head in a puzzled way. He was puzzled. He couldnt understand Rusty going back into that cage of his own accord. Something is the matter with him, muttered Farmer Browns boy. He acts afraid of something but there isnt a thing here for him to be afraid of.
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Then a thought popped into his head. I wonder, said he, if Rusty had a fright in the night. Perhaps Black Pussy got in here and tried to get at him. Yet I am sure I shut Black Pussy up last night. I dont see how it could have been her, but it is a sure thing that something gave him a bad fright. Farmer Browns boy closed the little door of the cage and went about his morning work, and all the time he kept puzzling over Rustys behavior. By and by, as he was getting some meal from a bin, he noticed something on the floor in a corner. He went over to it and found the body of a gray old Rat. This is queer, muttered Farmer Browns boy. Now what could have happened to him? He turned the Rat over with his toe and bent to look closer. Then his face lighted. Shadow the Weasel has been here! he exclaimed. There isnt the least doubt about it. He killed this pest, and I hope he has
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killed all the rest of the Rats about here. Now I know what ails Rusty. Shadow must have discovered him in the cage and tried to get in. No wonder he is frightened. But the little rascal knows when he is well off. He knows that Shadow cant get into that cage and that is why he went back into it. He knows he isnt safe outside with Shadow the Weasel about, and that he is safe inside. Poor little chap, he must have had a dreadful scare. Ill have to see to it he doesnt have another. Shadow probably will stay around here until he has driven out all those pesky Rats. I hope he will. But I cant have him frightening Rusty to death. So when he had finished his work Farmer Browns boy took Rustys cage over to the house, where there was no chance for Shadow the Weasel to frighten him again, and that night Rusty slept well.
XXXV
RUSTY LONGS FOR FREEDOM
No other joy so great can be As that of knowing you are free.
OR a few days after he had been taken up to Farmer Browns house Rusty the Fox Squirrel was almost happy. As long as he thought of the fierce little red eyes of Shadow the Weasel peering down at him through the roof of his cage over in the barn he was quite content to be in that cage, even though it were a sort of prison. And then there were so many new and interesting things to see there. It was all very strange and wonderful. Always there were the nicest things to eat. Farmer Browns boy petted him so much that it is wonder that Rusty wasnt quite spoiled.
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Perhaps Farmer Browns boy was trying to make Rusty forget the Green Forest. But after a few days Rusty, being quite over his fright from Shadow the Weasel and having grown familiar with all the new and strange things about him, began to grow restless and unhappy. From his cage he could look out a window of Farmer Browns house straight over to the Green Forest. He could see the bare boughs of the hickory trees and the beech trees and the oak trees and the chestnut trees and the maple trees and the birch trees swaying to the touch of rough Brother North Wind. He could see the dark green of the pine trees and the hemlock trees and the spruce trees, which hold their leaves all winter. Now and again he caught a glimpse of Blacky the Crow flying over the Green Forest. Almost every day he heard the harsh voice of Sammy Jay calling some one a thief.
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Once he saw Lightfoot the Deer bound lightly along the edge of the Green Forest and disappear within it. Twice he saw Reddy Fox trotting along the Long Lane, and once he saw Peter Rabbit jump over the old stone wall on his way to the Old Orchard. Whenever he saw one of these former neighbors Rusty became low spirited. Yes, sir, Rustys spirits became very low indeed. You see, just seeing them made him homesick. He would cling to the side of his cage nearest the window and look out wistfully for the longest time. Farmer Browns boy noticed this. You foolish little rascal, he would say. You are ever so much better off here than you would be in the Green Forest. Here it is warm and no harm can come to you. You have all and more than you can eat. There isnt a thing in the world for you to worry about. Out there the ground is covered with snow. Rough Brother North Wind is howl-
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ing through the trees and searching out every tiny hollow. Jack Frost is waiting to pinch your nose and toes. Hungry neighbors are ready and only too eager to dine on fat Squirrel. Why cant you be contented here? Rusty couldnt tell him that not all the comforts and safety in the world could make up for the loss of freedom. He couldnt tell him that warmth and comfort and safety and plenty to eat in a prison meant nothing at all compared to being free--free to go and come when he pleased, even though that freedom might mean cold and hunger and suffering and danger. He couldnt tell Farmer Browns boy that, because he couldnt speak in any language but his own, and that Farmer Browns boy didnt understand. So Rusty looked and longed and couldnt be happy.
XXXVI
THE UNDERSTANDING HEART
The weaklings stumble, the helpless fall, For lack of a friend to take their part. A pity it is so few there are Who have the understanding heart.
has it. Yes, sir, Farmer Browns boy has the understanding heart. That is why he is so trusted and beloved by the little people of the Green Forest and Green Meadows. Rusty the Fox Squirrel didnt know this. You see, he hadnt been acquainted very long with Farmer Browns boy, only since the latter had found him sorely hurt by shot from a hunters terrible gun and had brought him home and cared for him until now he was as well as ever. So, because he couldnt tell Farmer
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Browns boy how he longed to be once more free in the Green Forest, but could only cling to the side of his cage and look and look longingly through the window toward the Green Forest, he thought Farmer Browns boy didnt understand and meant to keep him a prisoner always. But Farmer Browns boy did understand. He understood perfectly. He knew why Rusty moped and was unhappy. He knew just how Rusty longed for the Green Forest. He was waiting just to be sure that Rusty really was himself once more, for it was winter and he knew that Rusty would need all his strength to meet Jack Frost and rough Brother North Wind and to keep out of the clutches of hungry neighbors. There came a morning, a bright sunny morning, that Rusty never will forget. Farmer Browns boy took him out of his cage and help him under his coat. Then he opened the
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door and stepped out into the cold, frosty air. Rusty felt a little tingle go all over him as he sniffed that air. It was the first time he had been out of doors for a long time. Farmer Browns boy tramped through the Old Orchard into the Green Forest and down the Lone Little Path. With every step Rusty became more excited. What was going to happen? What was Farmer Browns boy going to do with him? At last Farmer Browns boy stopped. He took Rusty from under his coat, held him against his cheek for a minute, then gently placed him on the ground at the foot of a tree. There little Redcoat, said he, is the very tree in which you were shot. I dont know where your home is, but probably it isnt very far from here, for I suspect you were hunting for nuts here when the hunter saw you. Now see that you take better care of yourself, and dont forget
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that Farmer Browns boy is your friend. Of course Rusty didnt understand a word of this, but he did understand that he was once more free in the dear Green Forest. He leaped to the tree, raced up it, jumped across to the next tree and then sat up and barked and barked for pure joy. He heard an answering bark from Chatterer the Red Squirrel in one direction and the bark of Happy Jack the Gray Squirrel in another direction. Then he ran down the tree to the snow-covered ground and raced round and round as if he were crazy. Suddenly he stopped right in front of Farmer Browns boy and for a long minute looked up in his face. Then he ran up one leg of Farmer Browns boy and up on his shoulder. There for a minute or two he sat clucking softly in the ear of Farmer Browns boy, and then jumped to the nearest tree. He hardly knew himself why he had done
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this, but Farmer Browns boy knew, for he possesses the understanding heart. You just had to tell me how happy you are to be free and to let me know you have no fear of me, said Farmer Browns boy. Well, here is a little pledge of my friendship. He took a handful of fat hickory nuts from one pocket and a handful of yellow corn from another and put them on a log. Dont let that scamp of a little cousin, Chatterer the Red Squirrel, get these. He has got his share stored away, said he, and whistling merrily turned back up the Lone Little Path.
XXXVII
RUSTY VISITS THE OLD STUMP
Who neer of freedoms been deprived And to regain it vainly tried Can never know quite all it means; Its depths of joy have been denied.
ANY times before Rusty the Fox Squirrel had thought he had known the full meaning of happiness, but now, as he realized that he who had been a prisoner was free, wholly and absolutely free, he knew that he never had been so happy before. He knew now the full meaning and the unspeakable joy of freedom. He thrilled with it from his claws to the tip of his bushy tail. He had to tell all the Green Forest of it, and he barked and barked until his voice grew husky. Chatterer the Red Squirrel heard him
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and came running and leaping through the treetops. What did I tell you? cried Chatterer. Didnt I tell you that Farmer Browns boy would set you free? My, my, my where did all those fat hickory nuts and that yellow corn come from? Chatterer was staring greedily at the nuts and corn left by Farmer Browns boy. Help yourself, Cousin Chatterer. Help yourself, invited Rusty, who was so happy he wanted to share his happiness with some one. There is plenty for both of us. Now, Chatterer didnt need one of those nuts nor a grain of that corn. His storehouses were filled to overflowing. But the more some folks have the more they want, and Chatterer is that kind. He is greedy. Yes, sir, he is greedy. He didnt wait for a second invitation, but picked out the fattest nut and started off with it. Rusty was too busy rejoicing in his freedom to give food
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a thought. From sheer joy he continued to bark huskily. When he could bark no longer he raced away to visit the hollow limb of a certain tree, where he had decided to make his home before he was shot by the hunter. He found it just as he had left it. No one had been there. At least, if they had they had left it undisturbed. Rusty spent a long time there. It was home, and you know how very much home means. He pulled apart and remade his bed and then curled up in it just for the joy of feeling that he was there in his own home. By and by he grew hungry and then remembered the fat hickory nuts and the yellow corn Farmer Browns boy had left for him on a log by the tree where he had been given his freedom. He scampered back there. But when he got there there were no fat hickory nuts and there was no yellow corn. Off in the distance he heard the sharp
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voice of his small cousin, Chatterer the Red Squirrel. Rusty knew then what had become of the fat hickory nuts and the yellow corn. While he had been enjoying his home Chatterer had been busy, very busy indeed. For a moment anger filled Rustys heart. Then he realized that no one but himself was to blame. Chatterer simply had been true to the first law of the Squirrel family, which is thrift. Chatterer had made the most of opportunity, and that was all there was to it. The nuts and the corn were gone and there was no use in sitting there grumbling about it. He was hungry, and sitting still nursing angry thoughts wouldnt put anything in an empty stomach. Right then for the first time he thought of that supply of fat hickory nuts he had hidden in the old hollow stump under the big hickory tree. With a hasty look around to make sure no one was watching him, he
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scampered over to the old stump. All about it were the tracks of small feet in the snow. Rusty knew whose they were. They were Chatterers. His heart sank as he climbed up on the old stump. He was so sure Chatterer must have found those nuts he dreaded to look. If those nuts were gone, how ever would he be able to live through the winter?
XXXVIII
RUSTY DECIDES WISELY
Just keep in mind for future use The simple fact I here expose: A thing best hidden often is Beneath the searchers very nose.
THERE is a very good reason for this. Few people ever think to look for hidden things in places they know all about and know that the one who has hidden them knows that they know about. They just take it for granted that people who hide things will choose places they think no one else knows of. So they seldom think to look in places right under their very noses. Rusty the Fox Squirrel knew this, and so that is why he had hidden his store of fat hickory nuts in a hollow stump almost under the very tree on which the fat hickory nuts had grown, a stump he knew Chatterer the
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Red Squirrel knew all about and on which he often sat. He had intended to leave them there only until such time as he might be able to find other hiding places for them when he knew Chatterer was not spying on him. And he had intended to keep close watch of that old stump in case Chatterer did happen to look in that hollow and find the nuts. Then he had been shot by the hunter with the terrible gun and found by Farmer Browns boy and kept a prisoner until he had fully recovered from his wounds. Of course, that meant that all that time he had no chance to watch over his store of nuts in the hollow stump. So when at last he was free and hurried over to the old stump and saw all about it the tracks in the snow of Chatterer the Red Squirrel, his heart sank, and you can guess how he dreaded to look in that hollow. He climbed to the top of the stump, and, as he feared, in the snow around the edge
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were the tracks of Chatterer. Rusty was sure then that Chatterer had found those nuts. If he had, of course, he had carried them off to his own storehouses. Rusty looked this way and looked that way and looked the other way, to make sure that no one was watching him. Sure of this, he began frantically to dig down under the dead leaves that filled the top of the old stump. Presently he felt something hard, and a second later pulled out a fat hickory nut. Then he worked, faster and faster. They were all there, all those fat hickory nuts! Rusty gave a great sigh of thankfulness. He took one fat nut, covered the others with the dead leaves and them scampered over to a hemlock tree. As he ate that fat nut he chuckled. It tickled him to think how he had fooled Chatterer the Red Squirrel. Chatterer had been over to that old stump more than once, as the tracks
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plainly showed, and had even been up on top of it. But it hadnt entered his head to dig down under those dry leaves because it hadnt entered his head that any one would think of hiding those nuts almost under the very tree from which they had fallen. Having finished that fat hickory nut Rusty began to do a little thinking. Those fat nuts had been safe all this time in that hollow stump but they wouldnt be safe there much longer. Chatterer would be sure to discover that he, Rusty, was visiting that old stump and that the leaves in it had been pulled over. He would become suspicious and would look under those leaves. The thing for me to do is to take those nuts away as soon as possible, thought Rusty. Ill hide them in several places, so that if one happens to be found I will lose only a part. If I leave them here Chatterer will be sure to discover my visits. Ill get busy at once and
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store them where they will be fairly safe and where I can get them when I need them without danger of giving away my secret. So Rusty wisely started to work taking away and hiding those fat nuts.
XXXIX
CHATTERER WAKES UP
The truth of this before you keep: The smartest will be caught asleep.
HATTERER the Red Squirrel is not at all modest. He has a very good opinion of himself and his own smartness. He doesnt mind saying so. In fact, he is somewhat given to boasting about it. It is a bad habit, very. But Chatterer is one of those people who, knowing that they are smart, want to be sure that others know it. But even such smart people are caught napping sometimes. When Chatterer had watched Rusty the Fox Squirrel gathering fat nuts under a certain big hickory tree in the fall, hoping thus to find Rustys storehouse, he had failed to
CHATTERER WAKES UP
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discover anything but that Rusty buried nuts under leaves and in the soft earth. He had concluded finally that that was the only method Rusty had of hiding supplies for the winter. Having so decided, he didnt waste any more time hunting for a storehouse. He was too busy filling his own storehouse. Now that Rusty was back in the Green Forest and winter had set in, Chatterer began to wonder if Rusty was able to find those buried nuts, especially now that snow had come. So the afternoon of the second day after Rustys return Chatterer decided that he would find out how Rusty was getting along. He went over to the tree in which Rusty had been shot and wounded, but Rusty wasnt there. Then he happened to think of the big hickory tree. It might be that Rusty was somewhere about that. No sooner did he think of it than off he scampered through the tree-tops over to
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the big hickory tree. As he approached it he thought he caught just a glimpse of a red coat disappearing among the trees. Chatterer hurried a little faster and by a long leap landed in the big hickory trees. At once his sharp eyes noticed that there was something unusual about a certain old stump just below, a stump he know all about and on which he had often sat. It was a hollow stump, and that hollow had been filled with dead leaves. At least it had appeared to be filled with dead leaves. Now those leaves were scattered all about on the snow. Now, what has anybody been pulling those old leaves out of that hollow stump for? muttered Chatterer, and ran down the tree and across to the old stump and up to the top of it. Chatterer looked down in that hollow. It was almost empty. Just a few brown leaves remained in it. The rest were scattered all about on the snow at the foot of the
So this is where Rusty hid his storehouse, right under my very nose! Page 183.
CHATTERER WAKES UP
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stump. Chatterer scrambled down inside that stump and hastily pulled over the few leaves left there. Way down at the bottom he found a single fat hickory nut. It was the only one there. Chatterer made sure of that. But that one fat hickory nut was enough. Chatterer understood everything. He knew that there had been very many fat hickory nuts in that old stump. Right away he flew into a rage, but for once his anger was all with himself. So this is where Rusty had his storehouse--right under my very nose! he sputtered. Nobody has used this old stump since I can remember, and that big cousin of mine knew I wouldnt think of looking in here. Heres probably chuckling to think how smart he was. I dont blame him. I was asleep, and now Ive waked up too late. He has taken away all those nuts since his return to the Green Forest, and if Id
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only thought to look in here I might have got every one of them while he was gone. Still scolding, Chatterer climbed out of the old stump and started back the way he had come. He didnt want to be found there by Rusty and be laughed at.
XL
THE WHITE FOREST
When the North Wind howls and the white snows drift Then pity the folk who have failed in thrift.
Wind had howled and shrieked and roared through the Green Forest and over the Green Meadows and across the Old Pasture and through the Old Orchard. He had driven and whirled fine, icy snow in blinding clouds until it sifted in at every nook and cranny. For two days Rusty the Fox Squirrel had not put so much as his nose outside his door. As he had listened to rough Brother North Wind, he had shivered. It was not with cold he had shivered but at the thought of how
OR two days rough Brother North
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dreadful it must be not to have such a snug, warm home as he had, and he knew that there were those in the Green Forest who had not. So, as he listened to the growl and the whine and the snarl and the roar and the shriek and the howl of rough Brother North Wind, he snuggled a little further down in his warm bed in a certain hollow in a certain tree and was thankful that not even to get food would he have to put foot outside. You see, being thrifty, he had stored away some of the fattest of those fat hickory nuts in that very hollow for just such a time as this. So Rusty didnt mind the great storm. That is to say, he didnt suffer from it. He was warm and he was dry. There were times when he was frightened. Then he did mind. You see there were times when rough Brother North Wind shook that tree in which was Rustys home until it creaked and groaned, and Rusty was fearful that
THE WHITE FOREST
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it might be broken down any minute. But the tree didnt break down, and at the end of the second day rough Brother North Wind blew away the snow clouds from the sky and himself stopped howling and shrieking and growling and moaning. In fact, he went away altogether, leaving the Green Forest and the Green Meadows and the Old Pasture and the Old Orchard to Jack Frost. And Jack Frost took possession. In the night Rusty was awakened by sharp snaps and cracks. They were made by Jack Frost showing his great strength among the trees. The next morning Rusty poked his head out of his door just as soon as he caught a glimpse of the first Jolly Little Sunbeam peeping in. Rusty drew a long breath. It was not because the air was so still and clear and cold. No, that wasnt why he drew a long breath. It was because he was no longer in the Green Forest. At least,
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there was no part of it that was any longer green. In those two days it had become the White Forest. Every tree, to the tips of the tops of the tallest pine trees, was white. Rusty sat in the doorway of his home and blinked. He blinked and blinked. Had Rusty ever heard of fairies and believed in them he would have been sure that they had been at work there. This was a new world. There wasnt one thing he could see--not the teeniest, weeniest thing--that was familiar. Not a single old stump or log or pile of brush was to be seen. But all about were strange smooth, white mounds he had never seen before, and they glistened and sparkled in the morning light in a way that was wonderful to see and very, very beautiful. And such stillness! There was no whispering among the trees. There was no rustling of dry leaves. It was as if there were no life in all the Great World. For a long time
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Rusty sat there listening and listening and hearing nothing. The very silence began to awaken something like fear in Rustys heart. It seemed to him that he was alone, all alone, in a world that he didnt know at all. And then in the distance he heard the sharp voice of his small cousin, Chatterer the Red Squirrel. For the first time that sharp, scolding voice sounded pleasant to Rusty. Yes, sir, it did. He knew now for sure that he wasnt alone in this new world.
THE END

The Adventures of Rusty The Fox Squirrel

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THE ADVENTURES OF RUSTY THE FOX SQUIRREL

THE ADVENTURES OF RUSTY THE FOX SQUIRREL

NEEDHAM, MA SMILING POND PRESS 2012

79 84 89 94 99 104 108 113

161 165 170 175 180 185

THE ADVENTURES OF RUSTY THE FOX SQUIRREL

CHATTERER BECOMES AQUAINTED

RUSTY THE FOX SQUIRREL

CHATTERER BECOMES AQUAINTED

It sometimes happens that a fright Is better than a stand-up fight.

HATTERER the Red Squirrel is

CHATTERER TRIES TO FRIGHTEN RUSTY

RUSTY THE FOX SQUIRREL

CHATTERER TRIES TO FRIGHTEN RUSTY

RUSTY THE FOX SQUIRREL

RUSTY THE FOX SQUIRREL

CHATTERER LAUGHS LONG AND HARD

RUSTY THE FOX SQUIRREL

RUSTY IS VERY, VERY BUSY

RUSTY THE FOX SQUIRREL

Dont say a thing is so or so Until you positively know.

RUSTY THE FOX SQUIRREL

CHATTERER BLAMES THE WRONG ONE

RUSTY THE FOX SQUIRREL

CHATTERER BLAMES THE WRONG ONE

CHATTERER REMEMBERS RUSTY

RUSTY THE FOX SQUIRREL

CHATTERER REMEMBERS RUSTY

Suspicion ruins peace of mind, And at its best is most unkind.

CHATTERER BECOMES UNEASY

RUSTY THE FOX SQUIRREL

CHATTERER BECOMES UNEASY

SAMMY JAY GUESSES RIGHT

RUSTY THE FOX SQUIRREL

SAMMY JAY GUESSES RIGHT

RUSTY THE FOX SQUIRREL

RUSTY THE FOX SQUIRREL

Welcome to the Green Forest, said he. Page 47.

SAMMY JAY IS MOST POLITE

RUSTY THE FOX SQUIRREL

SAMMY JAY IS MOST POLITE

RUSTY ASKS A QUESTION

RUSTY THE FOX SQUIRREL

RUSTY ASKS A QUESTION

RUSTY THE FOX SQUIRREL

RUSTY THE FOX SQUIRREL

RUSTY ASKS A QUESTION

RUSTY THE FOX SQUIRREL

RUSTY ASKS A QUESTION

CHATTERER AND RUSTY MEET AGAIN

RUSTY THE FOX SQUIRREL

CHATTERER AND RUSTY MEET AGAIN

RUSTY THE FOX SQUIRREL

Dishonest thoughts are apt to lead To planning a dishonest deed.

RUSTY THE FOX SQUIRREL

CHATTERER SULKS AND PLANS

RUSTY THE FOX SQUIRREL

CHATTERER SULKS AND PLANS

A LITTLE RED SPY

RUSTY THE FOX SQUIRREL

A LITTLE RED SPY

CHATTERERS GREAT SURPRISE

RUSTY THE FOX SQUIRREL