154 RIVERBY 



cruel and fiendish he looked! His snakelike move- 

 ments, his tenacity, his speed ! 



He seemed baffled; he knew his game was near, 

 but he could not strike the spot. The branch, upon 

 the extreme end of which the squirrel sat, ran out 

 and up from the tree seven or eight feet, and then, 

 turning a sharp elbow, swept down and out at right 

 angles with its first course. 



The weasel would pause each time at this elbow 

 and turn back. It seemed as if he knew that par- 

 ticular branch held his prey, and yet its crookedness 

 each time threw him out. He would not give it 

 up, but went over his course again and again. 



One can fancy the feelings of the chipmunk, sit- 

 ting there in plain view a few feet away, watching 

 its deadly enemy hunting for the clew. How its 

 little heart must have fairly stood still each time the 

 fatal branch was struck! Probably as a last resort 

 it would again have let go its hold and fallen to the 

 ground, where it might have eluded its enemy a 

 while longer. 



In the course of five or six minutes the weasel 

 gave over the search, and ran hurriedly down the 

 tree to the ground. The chipmunk remained mo- 

 tionless for a long time; then he stirred a little as 

 if hope was reviving. Then he looked nervously 

 about him ; then he had recovered himself so far as 

 to change his position. Presently he began to moye 

 cautiously along the branch to the bole of the tree ; 

 then, after a few moments' delay, he plucked Jp 

 courage to descend to the ground, where I hope no 

 weasel has disturbed him since. 



