These they stuck into the ground close together
in a circle; and having stripped some sheets of birch-bark from the birch
trees close by, they thatched the sides of the hut, and made a fire of
sticks inside. They had a dead deer in the canoe, and there were several
hares and black squirrels, the sight of which rather alarmed Nimble; for
he thought if they killed one sort of squirrel, they might another, and he
was very much scared at one of the Indians firing off a gun close by him.
The noise made him fall down to the ground, and it was a good thing that
it was dark among the leaves and grass where the trunk of the tree threw
its long shadow, so that the Indian did not see him, or perhaps he might
have loaded the gun again, and shot our little friend, and made soup of
him for his supper.
Nimble ran swiftly up a pine-tree, and was soon out of danger. While he
was watching some of the Indian children at play, he saw a girl come out
of the hut with a gray squirrel in her arms; it did not seem at all afraid
of her, but nestled to her shoulder, and even ate out of her hand; and
what was Nimble's surprise to see that this tame gray squirrel was none
other than his own pretty sister Silver-nose, whom he had left in the
hollow tree when they both ran away from the red squirrel.
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