72 DAN BEARD'S ANIMAL BOOK 



dog ran by, the squirrel became very much excited 

 and kept up a continuous scolding as long as his 

 enemy remained in sight. The scolding consisted 

 of a continued repetition of its own name, Cudjo! 

 Cudjo ! Cudjo ! 



It has always been my habit to rise early, but as 

 a regular custom I awakened earlier while 



CUDJO AND I 



occupied the same room, than I hav before, or 

 since. This was because Cudjo himself was a very 

 early riser. How he knew when daylight came 

 while he was down in the dark toe of 

 that boot, in the dark end of the room, is 

 a mystery still unsolved. With the first light upon 

 the eastern horizon Cudjo would awaken, and, 

 climbing to the top of the boot leg he would poise 

 himself on the edge of the leather, give a mighty 

 spring and alight upon my chest with a resounding 

 thump. 



Cudjo knew me to be a kind master, a boy with 

 a gentle, even temper, but he had also learned that 

 it is not always safe to awaken suddenly even a 

 good-natured boy by jumping with all four feet 

 on his chest, so, no sooner did he knock my breath 

 from my body than he was instantly off again, 

 and while I lay in bed and said things, Cudjo the 

 squirrel, from a safe distance on the mantle-piece 

 or the top closet shelf, would sit and chatter back 

 volubly in squirrel language. 



