"
The old chitmunk told him he might come and get them, if he could.
At this the gray squirrels skipped down from the branches, and began
to run hither and thither, and to scratch among the moss and leaves,
to find the entrance to the chitmunks' grain stores. They peeped under
the old twisted roots of the pines and cedars, into every chink and
cranny, but no sign of a granary was to be seen.
[Illustration: THE GRAY SQUIRREL AND THE CHITMUNKS.]
Then the chitmunks said, "My dear friends, this is a bad season to
visit us; we are very poor just now, finding it difficult to get a
few dry pine-kernels and berries; but if you will come and see us after
harvest, we shall have a store of nuts and acorns."
"Pretty fellows you are!" replied Nimble, "to put us off with promises,
when we are so hungry; we might starve between this and harvest."
"If you leave this island, and go down the lake, you will come to a
mill, where the red squirrels live, and where you will have fine times,"
said one of the chitmunks.
"Which is the nearest way to the mill?" asked Velvet-paw.
"Swim to the shore, and keep the Indian path, and you will soon see
it."
But while the gray squirrels were looking out for the path, the cunning
chitmunks whisked away into their holes, and left the inquirers in the
lurch, who could not tell what had become of them; for though they did
find a round hole that they thought might be one of their burrows, it was
so narrow that they could only poke in their noses, but could get no
further--the gray squirrels being much fatter and bigger than the slim
little chitmunks.
Pages:
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52