University of Virginia Library

4. IV
JOHNNIE AND THE TAME SQUIRREL

JOHNNIE BUSHYTAIL was lonesome. Grandpa and Grandma Lightfoot had gone to see some cousins who lived away off in the woods, and had taken Billie Bushytail and Jennie Chipmunk with them. The reason they did not take Johnnie was because he had a sore throat and they thought it best for him to stay at home.

“Never mind, Johnnie,” Jennie had said when all the family were going away, “I will bring you some hickory nuts with sugar and sassafras on when we come back,” and the little orphan chipmunk smiled in such a jolly way that Johnnie did not feel so lonesome.

But after Jennie, Grandpa, Grandma and Billie had been gone nearly two hours Johnnie felt lonesome again. It was quite warm outside the nest, so he thought he would jump about from one branch to another. He did so, and felt much better. All at once he saw another squirrel on the ground at the foot of the tree. At first Johnnie thought it was his Grandpa who had come back, but he soon saw that it was a much younger squirrel than old Mr. Lightfoot.

“Chip, chip!” called Johnnie, for that was his way of saying “Hello!” Then he went on, “Hello, down there! What are you doing?”

“Hello, up there!” answered the other squirrel, looking up. “What are you doing there?”

“Oh, I asked you first, and you ought to answer me,” said Johnnie.

“I will,” replied the other squirrel. “I am doing nothing. What are you doing?”

“I am getting over a sore throat,” said Johnnie. “Can't you come up here?”

The other squirrel said he would, so he scrambled up the tree trunk, and was soon beside Johnnie.

“What is your name?” asked Johnnie.

“Jacko,” said the other.

“Where do you live?” went on Johnnie.

“No place in particular. I am a tame squirrel, and a traveler.”

“What is a tame squirrel?” asked Johnnie.

“A tame squirrel is one that is not afraid of people,” answered Jacko, “and while I am about it I may as well tell you what a traveler is, for I don't suppose you know.”

“No,” said Johnnie, “I do not.”

“Well,” said the other, “a traveler is a squirrel who has been everywhere and seen everything there is to be seen. I am that.”

“I have traveled, too,” went on Johnnie. “I once went to a deserted house, and I found some Christmas nuts in a stocking. Did you ever do that?”

“That?” exclaimed Jacko. “That is nothing! I have lived in a public park, and the children have fed me peanuts.”

“Tell me about it,” pleaded Johnnie, and Jacko did. He told how he had been tamed when he was a very little squirrel, and how he had been taken to live in a tree in a big city park, where boys and girls and big people came every day.

“I was once in a place called Central Park, in New York,” said Jacko, frisking his big tail, “and then they brought me over to Newark, and put me in Lincoln Park. Only I didn't get quite so many peanuts in Lincoln Park, so I ran away, and here I am. Oh, I am a great traveler.”

“Tell me some more,” pleaded Johnnie, who had forgotten all about his sore throat now. So Jacko told of other woods he had visited, and how he had once just missed being shot by a hunter. Then he and Johnnie had a game of tag in the tree, and they were in the midst of the fun when Grandpa and Grandma Lightfoot, with Billie and Jennie, returned. They were much surprised to see the tame squirrel, and when Johnnie told them who he was, they had to hear his story all over again. Then Jennie gave Johnnie some of the sassafras nuts she had brought home, and the whole family sat down to supper.

“Where are you going to stay to-night?” asked Grandma Lightfoot of Jacko, and when the tame squirrel said he thought he would have to go to a hotel, Grandma invited him to sleep with Johnnie and Billie,

which Jacko was very glad to do, as it was getting chilly. So Jacko stayed with the Bushytails for some days, and was the cause of quite an adventure, as you shall hear to-morrow night, if nothing occurs to prevent it.