Little Partner. 



yellows, browns, reds and purples held sway. This and the 

 falling leaves that came whirling down at our feet told the 

 story of the summer's close and that Mother Earth had com- 

 pleted her work for another year. We were happy, and little 

 did we think it would be our last tramp together in those dear 

 old woods. 



For several years I had been trying to get a snap-shot at 

 Little Partner when she was in the act of shooting or intent on 

 getting a shot at a sly old grey, while he was trying to keep a 

 tree between-himself and her rifle. So, when we got among the 

 large trees, I handed her the rifle, while we both kept a sharp 

 lookout for squirrels. I had the camera set, and was on the 

 alert for my shot. The frosts and stormy weather had stripped 

 the larger trees of their leaves, and kept the squirrels closely 

 indoors for a couple of weeks, and, as they were quite sure to 

 be out in force, laying up their winter store, we expected to 

 catch some of them on the ground among the small oaks. But 

 in this we were disappointed. Most likely they had been down 

 earlier in the day and were now in the tree tops or basking in 

 their nests. We passed through the grove, to the corn field on 

 the north side, without seeing the saucy flirt of a single gray 

 plume. South and west of us extended a large tract of the 

 finest kind of "squirrel timber" oaks and walnuts, and many 

 of them hollow. Edging this wood was the creek we had 

 crossed ; the land sloping to the stream, and cut into ridges 

 by a number of small ravines coming down from the hills. This 

 made the best of hunting when the leaves had fallen from the 

 large trees on the ridges, as in the ravines there was cover to 

 conceal us, and we could see without being seen. 



We had proceeded but a short distance up a nearby 

 ravine, when we heard a squirrel barking in a suppressed way 

 a short distance ahead of us. I pointed to a big red-oak and 

 said, "Our squirrel is in that tree." We approached the tree 

 carefully, but Little Partner could not get sight of his squirrel- 

 ship, so she handed me the gun. Taking it, I moved a little, 

 to get a better opening. I could only see the top of his head 



[1351 



