144 BEYOND THE PASTURE BARS 



often found her two out among the trees of the 

 yard, she never was mistaken, nor for an instant 

 made as if to hurt them. 



Yet they could not have been more entirely 

 squirrel had their own squirrel mother nurtured 

 them. Calico's milk and love went all to cat in 

 her own kittens, and all to squirrel in these that 

 she adopted. No single hair of theirs turned 

 from its squirrel-gray to any one of Calico's three 

 colors; no single squirrel trait became the least 

 bit catlike. 



Indeed, as soon as the squirrels could run about 

 they forsook the clumsy-footed kittens under the 

 stove and scampered up back of the hot-water 

 tank, where they built a nest. Whenever Calico 

 entered the kitchen purring, out would pop their 

 heads, and down they would come, understanding 

 the mother language as well as the kittens, and 

 usually beating the kittens to the mother's side. 



So far from teaching them to climb and build 

 nests behind water-tanks, their foster-mother 

 never got over her astonishment at it. All they 

 needed from her, all they needed and would have 

 received from their own squirrel mother, was 

 nourishment and protection until their teeth and 

 legs grew strong. Wits were born with them ; ex- 



