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Slicko, the Jumping Squirrel

<h2>CHAPTER VI SLICKO GOES NUTTING</h2> Slicko was so surprised, at first, by the cries of Tum Tum, and at the fear which the big elephant showed, that she did not know what to think. It really seemed that Tum Tum was afraid of her—of a little, jumping squirrel girl! Then Slicko happened to remember what Mappo had told her. “If ever you see Tum Tum,” the monkey had said, “tell him at once that you are not a mouse or a rat.” “Ha! That’s what I must do!” thought Slicko. “Tum Tum must be afraid of me. I’ll speak to him.” Scrambling half way up the trunk of a tree, to make herself higher, and nearer to the big ears of Tum Tum, Slicko cried out in her chattering voice: “I’m not a mouse, Tum Tum! I’m not a rat!” “Ha! What’s that?” asked the elephant, flapping one of his ears sideways, so he could hear better. “What did you say?” [59] <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/i_p059.jpg" width-obs="352" height-obs="600" alt="" title="" /> <div class="caption">“I’m only a little girl squirrel, and I wouldn’t hurt you for the world,” went on Slicko.</div> </div> [60- 61] “I said I was not a rat or a mouse—I’m only a little girl squirrel, and I wouldn’t hurt you for the world,” went on Slicko. “Oh, I’m so glad!” cried the elephant, and he did not shiver and shake any more, and did not knock down any pine tree cones. As first it might seem funny for a squirrel to say she would not hurt an elephant, because an elephant is so large. But I have told you that elephants are sometimes afraid of even such a little thing as a mouse. “So you are not a rat, eh?” asked the elephant of Slicko. “No, Tum Tum, and I’m not a mouse, either,” answered the little girl squirrel. “Ha! How do you happen to know my name?” asked Tum Tum. “Mappo, the merry monkey, told me,” said the little squirrel girl. “And Mappo told me I was to tell you I was not a mouse or a rat. I won’t run up your trunk, and scare you.” “That’s good,” said Tum Tum. “Now I can see clearly that you are a little squirrel. I like you! But what about that little rascal, Mappo? Where is he? I came out to look for him. They want him back in his cage to ride around the circus ring on the back of a pony, and do other tricks to make the children laugh.” “Oh, he ran away,” said Slicko. “He thought[62] he heard some men coming after him. He said he did not want to go back to the cage just yet. He wants to have some fun in the woods.” “Well, well! He is a funny monkey,” said Tum Tum. “And I came all the way from the circus grounds to find him. But if he is gone, I won’t look any farther. I’ll go back to my tent, for the men may be coming after me.” “Oh, can’t you stay here with me a little while? I am so lonesome!” spoke Slicko. “Well, I might stay a short time,” Tum Tum said. “But what are you doing in the woods all alone, little Slicko?” Then the little squirrel girl told how she had had to run away from her own nest, and how she had not been able to find her aunt, and how she was now living all by herself in the woods. “Well, I wish I could stay with you, and keep you company, Slicko,” said Tum Tum. “But I belong back in the circus, and I guess you would rather jump through the tree branches, and skip about in them, than go as slowly as I have to go, crashing through the bushes. And I certainly never could climb a tree, and sleep in a nest, as you do,” went on Tum Tum, with a jolly laugh. “No, I suppose not,” said Slicko. “You are too big for a nest. Well, if you see Mappo, please send him back to me. I am so lonesome.” [63] “If I see him I will,” Tum Tum answered. And then he walked on back through the woods. “Good-bye, Slicko!” called the jolly elephant. “I have to be in the show this afternoon. I have to make believe play ball, and eat my dinner at a real table, and then I have to play the hand organ with my trunk. Those are some of my tricks.” “Oh, I met a pig who said he could do tricks!” cried Slicko. “Was his name Squinty?” inquired the jolly elephant. “Yes,” said Slicko, “his name was Squinty.” “I met him, too,” said Tum Tum. “He was a comical little pig. But now I must hurry back,” and on he went, crashing his way through the bushes. Some day, in another book, I shall tell you all the adventures of Tum Tum, the jolly elephant. Slicko felt more lonesome than ever when the elephant had left her. She did not know what to do, and she wanted, more than ever, to see her mamma and papa, and sister and brothers again. Then, all at once, Slicko thought of something. “Oh, I forgot to ask Tum Tum to give me a ride on his back!” exclaimed Slicko. “Mappo said he would, as he was such a kind elephant. I’m going to call to him.” [64] So Slicko called, in her chattering voice: “Tum Tum! Tum Tum!” “Yes, I hear you. What is it?” asked the elephant, stopping. “Would you please give me a ride on your back,” begged Slicko. “Mappo, the merry monkey, said you gave children at the circus rides, and I am so little you would hardly feel me.” “Of course I’ll give you a ride!” cried Tum Tum. “I thought I was forgetting something,” he went on, as he crashed back through the bushes. “I meant to invite you for a little ride on my back,” went on Tum Tum. “Why, I shouldn’t feel you any more than I should a feather, Slicko. Besides, I am very strong; I could carry ten children on my back, and hardly know it.” “Oh, indeed you must be very strong!” cried the little squirrel girl. Tum Tum, with a jolly noise that sounded as much like a laugh as any elephant can make, stood under the branch of the tree on which Slicko was perched. “Hop down, little squirrel,” invited the big, jolly elephant. Down hopped Slicko, landing on the back of Tum Tum, and then what a fine ride she had! Tum Tum could step over bushes that would[65] have taken Slicko some time to climb, and some bushes Tum Tum trampled under his big feet as though they were straw. Other bushes the elephant pushed his big body through, as easily as the clown in the circus jumps off the horse’s back through the paper hoop. “Do you like riding on my back?” asked Tum Tum, swinging along. “Oh, it is just fine!” cried Slicko, as she sat there, with her tail held over her head like a sun umbrella. “But don’t go too far with me, Tum Tum, please.” “I won’t,” the elephant said. And pretty soon he turned back with Slicko, and left her on the same branch from which she had jumped—right near her aunt’s nest. “Well, good-bye once more, Slicko,” called Tum Tum. “I may see you again to-morrow. And if you meet that Mappo, tell him he is wanted back in the circus.” “I’ll tell him,” promised Slicko. Once more the little jumping girl squirrel was all alone in the big woods. Somewhere in the forest were her father and mother, and her sister and brothers were somewhere about. But just where, Slicko did not know. “Well,” thought the little creature, in a way squirrels and other animals have of thinking,[66] “well, I guess I shall have to stay alone to-night again. And perhaps for many more nights and days. I wonder what will become of me, and if I shall ever see my folks again. Oh dear!” Slicko felt a little sad for a moment, but then she knew that she would have to be brave, and do things for herself, since there was no one to help her. “I think I’ll put some more leaves, and some cotton from the milkweed plant, in Aunt Whitey’s nest,” thought Slicko. “That will make it warmer.” Fixing up the nest so it would be nicer to stay in took Slicko until nearly dark. Then, after she had carried up some nuts to the nest, so she would have them ready for morning, Slicko curled up in the soft leaves and went to sleep. Nothing bothered her this night. No bad old owl, with big, round, staring eyes, tried to get the little squirrel. Perhaps the owl, which had tried it before, was sure the nest was empty, and that he could not get anything to eat from it. At any rate the owl did not come, and Slicko was glad of it. In the morning, after her breakfast, having had a drink and washed at the spring, Slicko said: “I think I had better go off in the woods nutting, to-day. I shall need many nuts to eat, if[67] I have to stay here all winter, and I had better begin to gather them now before they are all gone.” Slicko knew, as do all squirrels, the best places in the woods to look for nuts. Soon the little girl squirrel had found many chestnuts, acorns, hickory nuts and beech nuts. These she carried, a few at a time, up to her aunt’s nest-house. “If Aunt Whitey should come back, there would be enough for her and me too,” thought Slicko. The store-house of the nest was almost full of nuts, but still Slicko was not satisfied. “I must get more,” she said to herself, “for we may have a long winter, with much snow.” Well, Slicko knew how hard the winter was for squirrels, and all animals. So the next day Slicko went off nutting again. She had not gone very far through the woods before she came to a little grassy place, and there, in the middle of it, Slicko saw a nice pile of nuts, all gathered up, ready to be taken away. “Oh, that’s just fine!” thought Slicko to herself. “The nuts are all in a nice heap, and I don’t have to pick them up, one by one, and carry them home. I can take a whole paw full at once.” Now Slicko was a wise little squirrel in some ways. But she had many things yet to learn.[68] She did not stop to think that nuts in the woods never heap themselves up in a pile without some animal or some person doing it. Slicko thought the nuts were put there just for her. But it was all a trick, as you shall soon see. Of course Slicko did not at once jump down to get the nuts. She knew enough not to do that, for she had often been told some animal might be waiting to grab her. So she looked all around, and, seeing nothing, down she scrambled. As Slicko came nearer to the pile of nuts, and saw how nice they looked, she said to herself: “Oh, there will be enough for all winter. How lovely!” But there was something else besides the nuts there on the ground, though Slicko did not see it. If she had noticed it, and had kept out of the way, she might not have had as many adventures as she did have. But little squirrels are not always wise and smart, any more than real children are. Right up to the pile of nuts scampered Slicko. She took up some chestnuts in her paws, that were like little hands, and then, all of a sudden, something clicked, and snapped, and Slicko felt herself caught by one leg, and held tightly. <hr class="chap" /> [69] <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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