Page:TheSquirrel.djvu/2

870 that interest which always attaches to a Squirrel, perhaps because the swiftness of his passing from observation gives him a certain rarity and preciousness. Sometimes the Farmer's Wife observed one sitting upright on the wall, holding a nut in his fore paws and nibbling at it boldly. "Maybe he has got one of our walnuts," said she.

"He couldn't get the whole treeful," said the Farmer.

"No, he couldn't," assented the Wife.

The capacity of the Squirrels for excelling in their given walk of life was as much of a secret to them as was theirs to the Squirrels.

It was in the bright, clear morning that they oftenest caught glimpses of the Squirrels, for the morning was their period of fullest life and activity. Then, when the smell of passing leaves and ripened fruit was in the air, and the grass was white and crisp with something between frost and dew, did the Squirrels feel their joy of life to the utmost. They darted hither and yon, mostly unobserved, since they could fairly outspeed human observation. Not a nut on the tree, not one that fell, escaped them. They went to and fro between the tree and their hoard under the wood-pile. They were very rich indeed. That year there had been nearly a bushel of nuts on the English walnut tree, and they garnered them all. The same delight in their providence, and sense of self-gratulation, and security as to the future, were over them as over the old couple in the farm-house. They too looked forward to peace and comfort on earth; as for the unknown future, they did not dream it existed. They had no religious hope, but their utter lack of questioning made them too trustful for any anxiety. They had no premonitions of a future stage when there might be no stone walls for running along, and no nut trees, and yet Squirrels. Their needs and their supplies were entireties not to be separated by any conception of theirs.

When they had garnered every nut from the English walnut tree they were indeed an opulent pair. They were, of course, acquainted with other Squirrels, but none of them approached themselves in point of richness. None of the others had English walnuts, and none had such a plentiful store. They looked forward to a winter of fatness and luxury and love, for the two little creatures loved each other as faithfully as did the old couple in the farm-house. None of the other Squirrels knew of their hiding-place under the wood-pile, nobody had discovered the cunning passage which led to it. It was the last of October, and they felt perfectly secure. They had reached that point, so seldom reached by either Men or Squirrels, when care as to material things is over. Then came the day of their downfall.

The Farmer's Wife thought that the wood-pile should be taken down, and the wood split and stored in the shed before winter set in, and the Farmer obediently began the task. It was not a large pile, and he was too thrifty to hire help. He chopped away patiently day after day, but it was a long time before the Squirrels fairly took alarm for the safety of their store. They had grown to believe in its impregnability, and the impregnability of their right of possession. They kept out of the way while the old man was at work, scampering in the autumn woods, enjoying themselves, and always with the thought of their bountiful provision for the future in mind.

At last they began to grow anxious. They hung aloof and chattered angrily. They sat on the stone wall with great tails arching over their backs, so near that the gentle old man thought they must be growing tame, and at last the blow fell.

One morning the Farmer discovered the Squirrels' hoard. He went into the house and told his Wife. "What d'ye think?" he said. "It was them Squirrels that have stole all them English walnuts."

"You don't say so!" said she.

"Yes, they have. Ther's nigh a bushel of them under the wood-pile."

"You don't say so!" said she again.

The old couple went out together and looked at the winter hoard of the other couple.

"Well," said the Farmer's Wife, "you'll have to get the bushel basket and pick them up and bring them into the house, and spread them out on the garret ﬂoor. It's the ﬁrst time we've ever had any nuts off that tree. I declare,