BILLY AND HANS 



resting-place, as if she suspected the 

 mischievous plans of the boys to hunt 

 then) ; and probably she does. But 

 the nest I made my squirrels in their 

 travellir\g carriage — of hard card- 

 board well lined with fur — suited the 

 hiding and secluding ways of Hans 

 for a long time best of all, and he 

 abandoned it entirely only when he 

 grew so familiar as not to care to 

 hide. They also lost the habit of 

 hiding their surplus food when they 

 found food never wanting. 



When the large cones of the stone- 

 pine came into the market late in the 

 autumn, I got some, to give them a 

 taste of fresh nuts; and the frantic 

 delight with which Hans recognised 

 the relation to his national fir-cones, 

 far away and slight as it was, was 

 touching. He raced around the huge 

 and impenetrable cone, tried it from 



