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Slicko, the Jumping Squirrel

<h2>CHAPTER IX SLICKO DOES SOME TRICKS</h2> Slicko was put back into the wooden box, and Bob fastened the wire over the top again. “Ha! The boy didn’t need to do that!” thought the little squirrel. “I won’t run away—at least not until I see my new house.” The boy and his sisters went to where their mamma had called them, and soon they came running back again. The boy carried a big wire cage, something like the one in which Slicko had once seen a canary bird flying about. But this new cage for Slicko was much larger, and, at one end, was a big round wheel of wire, something like a merry-go-round, only it whirled the other way, like a hoop, and there were no wooden animals, or seats, on this squirrel wheel. “What can it be for?” thought Slicko. Bob, the boy, lifted Slicko up out of her little wooden box. “Let’s see how you like your new cage,” he said. [89] “Oh, but there’s nothing for her to eat or drink in it,” cried one of the girls. “I’ll put in some nuts and water,” Bob said. “Come, Slicko, go into your new cage.” Bob opened a little wire door, and thrust Slicko through it into the cage. The door went shut with a click and a slam, that reminded Slicko of the time she had been caught in the trap. She looked around quickly, wondering if there were a trap near her now. But she saw only the clean, new, wire cage, with little dishes for nuts and water, a little covered-over dark place, where she could crawl in during the day, and go to sleep in the dark; and then there was that great big wire wheel, that spun around very easily when Bob touched it with his finger. “Oh, I’m never going in that!” thought Slicko, somewhat afraid. She crouched down, and looked carefully all around her new cage. She wanted to see if there were any danger near. But all she saw, through the wires, was the boy, his two sisters and Rover, the dog she had grown to like very much. “Oh, I guess it will be all right here,” thought Slicko. “I will not be afraid.” “Doesn’t she look cute in there?” asked Mollie, laughing. “She certainly does,” agreed Sallie. “You wait until I teach her some tricks,”[90] spoke the boy. “Then she’ll be worth looking at.” Slicko made up her mind she would learn the tricks as soon as she could. “Then I’ll be like Squinty, the comical pig,” she said to herself. Soon Slicko felt quite at home in her new cage. She went inside the little bedroom, that was pretty dark, even in the daytime. Squirrels, and all wild animals, like to be in the dark, and off by themselves, once in a while. Inside the little bedroom, which was made of tin and wire, like the rest of the cage, was some soft cotton, and in this Slicko could cuddle up and keep warm, even when winter came. And, as I have said, there was a dish for nuts and another for water. These the boy filled, and soon Slicko was eating her first meal in her new home. “I wish she’d go in the wheel, and ride it,” said Mollie. “She will, after a while,” the boy said. “I know how to make her.” Slicko wondered how he would do it, but she could not guess. For several days the little jumping squirrel lived in her new cage. The boy and his sisters would come to watch her, and bring her nice things to eat, so Slicko soon became real tame. Often other children would come to look at her. [91] Sometimes the boy would take her out, and put her in his pocket, as he had done on the day he brought Slicko from the woods, after she had been caught in the trap. Then Slicko would stick her head out, just a little bit, and all the children would exclaim: “Oh, isn’t she cute!” Slicko did not know exactly what “cute” meant, but she tried to be as nice and polite as she could. “Have you taught your squirrel any tricks yet?” asked Mollie of her brother, one day. “No, but I am going to try one now. Do you want to watch?” “Indeed I do!” said the little girl. Slicko saw the boy take all the nuts out of the eating dish. “I wonder what he is doing that for,” the little squirrel thought. “I’m hungry, and I want to eat those nuts.” But the boy took every one. “What are you going to do?” asked his sister. “You’ll soon see,” he answered with a laugh. “I am going to teach Slicko her first trick.” Then the boy placed two or three nice, sweet, juicy chestnuts inside the wheel of the squirrel cage. This wheel went around and around, just as a barrel rolls over the ground, only the wire wheel of the squirrel cage stayed right in the[92] same place, whirling about as does a merry-go-round. “Now, when Slicko goes in to get the nuts, she’ll make the wheel go around,” the boy said to his sisters. “The faster she runs, the faster the wheel will go, and she’ll be doing a trick.” “Oh, let’s watch her!” cried Sallie. “Well, you may watch all you like,” said Slicko to herself, “but I am not going in that wheel. I’m afraid!” So she stayed in the other part of the cage, looking at the chestnuts, and wishing she could get them, for she was getting more and more hungry every minute. “Maybe I can pull one out without going in the wheel myself,” thought Slicko. She reached her paw in through the little round hole that led into the wheel from her cage. She could almost touch the chestnuts, but not quite. “There! She’s going in!” cried one of the girls softly. But Slicko did not go. “If she wasn’t afraid, she’d go in and have a ride,” the boy said. “Come on, Slicko,” he called, “it won’t hurt you.” Slicko did not want to. However, she kept getting more and more hungry, and those chestnuts looked so good! “I’m going to try it!” said the little jumping[93] squirrel to herself, finally. “I don’t believe that boy would do me any harm.” Very slowly and carefully, Slicko stepped into the moving wheel. It rocked gently to and fro. As soon as the squirrel was all the way inside, it moved more. She felt as though she were falling and then, so that she should not fall, she took two or three little steps. The wire wheel seemed to slide out from under her. It went whirling around, and the faster Slicko ran, the faster the wheel went. The little squirrel stayed right in the same place, but the wire wheel went round and round under her pattering feet. “There she goes!” cried Sallie. “Oh, see how fast she can run!” exclaimed Mollie. “Yes, she has learned to do the trick,” said the boy. “I thought she would get so hungry that she would go in after the chestnuts, and then she’d make the wheel whirl.” And that was just what Slicko had done. She was so surprised at the fast motion of the wheel that she did not think to eat the nuts inside. But now, after whirling about for some time, Slicko did not run so fast. The wheel went slower and slower, and finally stopped. The nuts, which had been rattling around with Slicko, dropped down beside her, and she began[94] to eat them, sitting up on her hind legs, and holding them in her front paws, while she gnawed off the shell. “Oh, isn’t she just too cute for anything!” cried Sallie. “Just lovely,” said her sister, Mollie. “Well, that’s one trick,” the boy said. “It’s the easiest of all. Now that she knows the wheel won’t hurt her, she’ll often take a whirl in it.” “Yes,” said Slicko to herself, as she heard Bob say this, “I think I shall.” And, from then on, Slicko was no longer afraid of the whirling wheel of her cage. Bob did not have to put any more nuts in it to get her to go in. Slicko liked it, and went in herself, several times a day. It gave her something to do—like playing a game. The cage where Slicko was kept was too small to let her run about and jump very much, and the wheel was just the very thing. On that, Slicko could pretend she was running a race, as she used to do with her brothers and sister in the woods. “Oh, I wonder what has become of Chatter, and all the rest of them,” thought Slicko many times, as she thought of her former home. “And I wonder if I shall ever see them again!” “What are you doing, Bob?” asked Mollie,[95] one day as she saw her brother pasting some paper over a little wooden hoop. It was just like those the men in the circus jump through, only smaller. “I am getting ready for another trick for Slicko,” he said. “Do you think you can get her to jump through one of those paper covered hoops?” asked Sallie. “I think so,” replied Bob. “I’m going to try.” Slicko was quite tame by this time, and often would be allowed to run about the room, being let out of her cage. Sometimes Bob would sit in a chair, and put some nuts in his pocket. Then Slicko would run along on the floor, crawl up Bob’s leg, dive down into his pocket, and pull out the nuts. “That’s another trick,” Bob would say with a laugh. “My squirrel is getting to be very smart!” “But how are you going to get her to jump through a paper hoop?” asked Mollie. “I’ll soon show you,” said Bob. By this time he had two or three hoops all ready, pasted over with thin red, white and blue paper, so that they looked very pretty indeed. “Now, Slicko,” said Bob, as he took the little squirrel out of her wire cage, “you are going to[96] learn a new trick to-day. And I want you to pay strict attention, and do as I tell you.” Bob took a piece of sweet apple, of which Slicko was very fond, and put it on top of a little box on the dining-room table. Then he put Slicko down at the other end of the table, and stood near her, with one of the paper hoops in his hand. “Now, Slicko,” said Bob, as he pointed at the apple, “that is for you, if you do as I want you to do. Go get the apple, Slicko.” Slicko knew what apple was. She could smell it, and she thought it must be meant for her. She scampered toward it, but, when she had almost reached it she found Bob holding a paper hoop out in front of her. The hoop was between Slicko and the apple. Slicko started to go around to one side, to get out of the way of the hoop, but Bob moved it, so that it was still in front of her. “Well, I can go the other way,” thought Slicko. But, when she turned the other way, there was still the paper hoop in front of her. It was between her and the apple, and she wanted that apple very much. “Ha!” thought Slicko, “if Bob doesn’t take that paper hoop out of my way, I’ll jump right through it and get the apple anyhow!” <hr class="chap" /> [97] <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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