A TREE-TOP AERONAUT 163 



Indian, his eager blue eyes searching every 

 nook and stump and branch as he went, 

 hoping at every step to surprise some secret 

 of the furtive wood-folk. 



Near the foot of the blasted tree he stopped, 

 looking up. 



" I wonder what lives in that hole up 

 there, Jabe ? " he said. 



The lumberman peered upward critically. 



" Jiminy, ef that ain't a likely-lookin' 

 squir'l tree ! " he answered. 



" Squirrel tree ! " echoed the boy. "As if 

 every tree wasn't a squirrel tree, wherever 

 there's a squirrel 'round ! " 



" Aye, but there's squir'ls an' squir'ls ! 

 You'll see ! " retorted the woodman ; and, 

 swinging his axe, he brought the back of 

 it down upon the trunk in three or four 

 sounding strokes. 



Straightway a dark little shape, appearing 

 in the hole beneath the branch, launched 

 itself into the air. It looked like a leap of 

 desperation, as there was no tree within 

 reach of any ordinary quadruped's leap. Yet 

 the daring little shape was plainly that of a 

 quadruped, not of a bird. It was followed 

 instantly, in lightning succession, by six or 

 seven others equally daring ; and all went 

 sailing away, in different directions, across 



