24 The Story of Scragg/es 



Fessor put me in the basket. For, 

 though he was not so gentle as my 

 mother was, somehow I felt that he felt 

 more gentle towards me, and so, though 

 I was still very much afraid of him, I 

 began to get a new feeling in me that 

 seemed to drive some of the fear away. 

 Then came the pinion nuts. Now, 

 you need n't laugh ! It certainly was 

 those pinion nuts that had a great deal 

 to do with it. As you no doubt know, 

 the pinion is a kind of small pine tree 

 that grows " Out West," and it has a 

 tiny white nut in it that I have heard 

 Fessor say is " the sweetest nut in exist- 

 ence." Now I don't know what " in 

 existence " means, but I do know that 

 the little white nut he gave me was the 

 most delicious morsel I had ever tasted 

 in my life. And how do you think he 



