University of Virginia Library

6. VI
BILLIE IN A BALLOON

BILLIE BUSHYTAIL was lost. There was no doubt about it, he did not know how to get home. You see, it was this way: Billie had been sent by his Grandpa Lightfoot to the drug store for some powdreed wild cherry bark, because Grandpa Lightfoot had a cough that troubled him very much. The drug store was kept by an old crow who lived in a nest on top of a dried-up hemlock tree, and Billie managed to find his way there all right. But when he wanted to go back, that was a different matter.

He started off all right, but he took the wrong path through the trees. Instead of turning to the left, he went the other way when he got to the toadstool corner, and then he was lost. It did not take him long to find this out, and then he was very much frightened. Of course, if Billie had taken Johnnie Bushytail, his brother, with him, he might not have been so frightened, but there he was, a little squirrel, all alone in the woods.

When he made sure that he was lost, the first thing he did was to climb a tree. He thought that he might possibly see his nest, where he lived with his grandpa and his grandma, and Jennie, the little orphan chipmunk, who used to wash and dry the dishes and laugh while she was doing them. But though Billie climbed the tallest tree he could find, he could not see his nest. He

was just scrambling down when he heard a whirr of wings, and he was more frightened than ever, for he knew there must be a big bird near him.

Sure enough, there was. A great big bird, with sharp eyes and a sharp beak and sharp claws, and with great flapping wings, settled down on a limb close to where Billie Bushytail was crouching. Billie tried to hide behind a piece of bark that stuck out on the branch, but the bird saw him.

“Hello,” said the bird.

Billie didn't say anything.

“Can't you talk?” asked the bird.

“Ye — yes,” said Billie.

“Then why don't you?” asked the bird.

“Well, I — I'm afraid,” answered Billie.

“Of what?” inquired the bird.

“Of you,” replied Billie. “Aren't you a hawk?”

“Of course I'm a hawk,” went on the big bird.

“Well, I'm always afraid of hawks,” said Billie. “Hawks always eat squirrels.”

“No, you're mistaken,” said the big bird in as gentle a voice as possible. “You are very much mistaken. I know what you mean, though. You mean that some hawks eat squirrels, but I am a different kind of hawk. I am a fishhawk, and I only eat fishes.”

“Then why are you here?” asked Billie. “There are no fishes around here; at least, not such fishes as you would eat.”

“I know,” went on the hawk. “You see, I flew inland from the seacoast. I live down near Atlantic Highlands, where there are plenty of fish. But this weather is so cold that they go down to the bottom of the ocean, and I can't catch them. So I went off

on a little trip. But what are you crying about?”

“I am lost,” said Billie.

“Tut, tut! You must not cry about that,” said the fishhawk. “Now, be a good boy. You know I am not going to eat you, for I eat only fish, and there are so many of them in the sea that they don't mind it in the least, I assure you. Now I will help you find your home. Were you ever up in a balloon?”

“No,” said Billie, “I never was. What is a balloon?”

“A balloon,” said the hawk, “is something that goes up in the air. I go up in the air. I am a balloon.”

“Really?” asked Billie.

“Really,” answered the fishhawk. “You shall soon see. Now if you will get on my back I will take you up in the air, and you

can look down. And when you see your house you can call to me and I will fly down with you to it.”

“That is very kind of you,” said Billie.

So he tucked the powdered wild cherry bark under his paw and climbed upon the hawk's back. Then the big bird rose up in the air just like a balloon and circled around. Billie was a trifle dizzy, but he soon got over this. He kept looking down, and pretty soon he saw his nest. And there was Grandpa and Grandma Lightfoot, and Johnnie and Jennie Chipmunk looking for him. Only they were looking toward the ground and not up in the air. Then Billie called to the fishhawk, and she came down with him just as gently, and he jumped off her back into the nest. And, oh, how glad he was to get home, even if he did have to ride in a balloon! Grandpa Lightfoot at once took

some of the cherry bark for his cough, and felt better, while Billie told of his adventure. Now to-morrow night I hope to tell you how Billie and Johnnie made a trip to a city called Newark with the tame squirrel.