<SPAN name="CHAPTER_V"></SPAN><h2>CHAPTER V</h2>
<h3>HAPPY JACK SUSPECTS STRIPED CHIPMUNK</h3>
<p style='text-align: center;'>
Thrift is one test of true loyalty to your country.<br/>
<br/>
<i>Happy Jack.</i></p>
<br/>
<p><span class='first'>H</span>appy Jack didn't look happy a bit. Indeed, Happy Jack looked very
unhappy. You see, he looked just as he felt. He had set his heart on
having all the big, fat nuts that he had found in the top of that tall
hickory tree, and now, instead of having all of them, he hadn't any of
them. Worse still, he knew right down in his heart that it was his own
fault. He had been too greedy. But what <i>had</i> become of those nuts?</p>
<p>Happy Jack was studying about this as he sat with his back against a
big chestnut tree. He remembered how hard Peter Rabbit had laughed when
Happy Jack and his cousin, Chatterer the Red Squirrel, had been so
surprised because they could not find the nuts they had knocked down.
Peter hadn't taken them, for Peter has no use for them, but he must know
what had become of them, for he was still laughing as he had gone off
down the Lone Little Path. While he was thinking of all this, Happy
Jack's bright eyes had been wide open, as they usually are, so that no
danger should come near. Suddenly they saw something moving among the
brown-and-yellow leaves on the ground. Happy Jack looked sharply, and
then a sudden thought popped into his head.</p>
<p>"Hi, there, Cousin Chipmunk!" he shouted.</p>
<p>"Hi, there, your own self!" replied Striped Chipmunk, for it was he.</p>
<p>"What are you doing down there?" asked Happy Jack.</p>
<p>"Looking for hickory nuts," replied Striped Chipmunk, and his eyes
twinkled as he said it, for there wasn't a hickory tree near.</p>
<p>Happy Jack looked hard at Striped Chipmunk, for that sudden thought
which had popped into his head when he first saw Striped Chipmunk was
growing into a strong, a very strong, suspicion that Striped Chipmunk
knew something about those lost hickory nuts. But Striped Chipmunk
looked back at him so innocently that Happy Jack didn't know just what
to think.</p>
<p>"Have you begun to fill your storehouse for winter yet?" inquired Happy
Jack.</p>
<p>"Of course I have. I don't mean to let Jack Frost catch me with an empty
storehouse," replied Striped Chipmunk.</p>
<div class='poem'><div class='stanza'>
<span>"When leaves turn yellow, brown, and red,<br/></span>
<span class='i2'>And nuts come pitter, patter down;<br/></span>
<span>When days are short and swiftly sped,<br/></span>
<span class='i2'>And Autumn wears her colored gown,<br/></span>
<span>I'm up before old Mr. Sun<br/></span>
<span class='i2'>His nightcap has a chance to doff,<br/></span>
<span>And have my day's work well begun<br/></span>
<span class='i2'>When others kick their bedclothes off."<br/></span></div>
</div>
<p>"What are you filling your storehouse with?" asked Happy Jack, trying
not to show too much interest.</p>
<p>"Corn, nice ripe yellow corn, and seeds and acorns and chestnuts,"
answered Striped Chipmunk. "And now I'm looking for some big, fat
hickory nuts," he added, and his bright eyes twinkled. "Have you seen
any, Happy Jack?"</p>
<p>Happy Jack said that he hadn't seen any, and Striped Chipmunk remarked
that he couldn't waste any more time talking, and scurried away. Happy
Jack watched him go, a puzzled little frown puckering up his brows.</p>
<p>"I believe he knows something about those nuts. I think I'll follow him
and have a peep into his storehouse," he muttered.</p>
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