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AMERICAN FORESTRY 



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7 



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THE PINE WOODS FOLK 



SQUEAKY CHIPMUNK COLLECTS SOME SEED 



OW that Squeaky Chipmunk 

 had learned the proper 

 time to collect pine seed 

 for his winter stoves, the 

 next thing was to get the 

 seed. He was sitting out 

 on the old pine log which formed the 

 roof of his cozy little home and he was 

 talking over the prohlem with Mrs. 

 Squeaky who was squatting comfort- 

 ably in the doorway. 



"I ought not to have stolen that cone 

 from Chatter Box the other day," 

 said Squeaky sadly. "If it were not for 

 that, I think he would cut me down 

 some cones when he cuts his own." 

 "Maybe he will not find all that he 

 cuts down," said Mrs. Squeaky con- 

 solingly. 



"He may overlook a few," said 

 Squeaky, "but very few unless he cuts 

 a great many at a time. Then he 

 sometimes loses track of them." 



"Oh, well," said Mrs. Squeaky try- 

 ing to comfort him, "he surely will 

 not cut them all, and when the cones 

 open on the trees and the seeds fall 

 out we can gather them up." 



"Yes," said Squeaky, "we can al- 

 ways get them that way, but it is very 

 slow work and very tiresome. Here 

 comes Chatter Box now." 



They both sat very still and 

 watched Chatter Box, the red squirrel, 

 come bouncing through the woods 

 towards the big Norways. He ran 

 straight to the tallest one, ran up it 

 a few feet, and stopped to look around. 

 He immediately saw the two Squeakys 

 watching him. 



"So there you are, you little thief," 

 he called to Squeaky, "waiting for a 

 chance to steal some more of my 

 cones are you?" 



"No," Squeaky assured him, "I am 

 not going to steal any more. I would 

 not have stolen that one the other day 

 only I got so hungry watching you 

 eat that I simply could not stand it 



any longer. I was wondering whether 

 I could not get you to cut me down a 

 few while you were up there." 



Chatter Box climbed up a little far- 

 ther and took a seat on the stub of a 

 limb. 



"I like your nerve," he said from 

 his new position. "Steal from a fel- 

 low one minute and ask him to help 

 you the next." He looked at Squeaky 

 sharply with his bright little eyes and 

 paused. The next thing he said made 

 Squeaky fairly jump for joy and then 

 feel very much ashamed, indeed. 

 "But," he continued, "I suppose I 

 might as well cut you down a few just 

 to be neighborly, for to tell you the 

 truth I did not intend to eat that cone 

 you stole the other day anyway. I 

 had had enough and was going to 

 give it to you." 



With that he scampered on up to 

 the top of the tree and began cutting 

 off cones at a great rate. They fell 

 so fast that it seemed to be almost 

 raining cones. 



"Help yourselves," called Chatter 

 Box, "there are plenty of them." 



They did not wait for a second invi- 

 tation. They scuttled off into the 

 brush and were soon carrying in cones 

 as fast as they could run. 



Pretty soon Chatter Box came slid- 

 ing down the tree to pick up some for 

 himself. 



"Thank you ever so much, Mr. 

 Chatter Box," said Mrs. Squeaky 

 politely. "It would have taken so 

 many days to pick up this much seed 

 loose on the ground." 



"That's all right," said Chatter 

 Box. "I always lose a great many any- 

 way. All of us do. We are forgetful 

 and we forget where we have hidden 

 them. Do you see those three big 

 trees over there so very close to- 

 gether? My great-great grandfather 

 planted those. He buried a cone there 

 and forgot it. Those three are the 

 only ones left." 



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