.._* 



*/ 



The Story of a Graysquirrel 



low. He had yielded to the slight appe- 

 tite for this weird taste, so that appetite 

 was stronger. He eagerly gobbled the 

 shining, broken bit, and, possessed of 

 keen desire for more, went bounding and 

 pausing and fluffing, farther, farther off, >»•* 

 nor stopped till once more high in the F- 

 hill-country, among the pines and the J.\ 

 banks where the toadstools of black 

 magic grew. 



Very keen was Bannertail when he ^^ 



swung from the overhead highway of the }'. vx r 



pines to the ground, to gallop over banks 

 with nose alert. Nor had he far to go. /f\ 

 This was toadstool time, and a scattered "y 

 band of these embodied earth -sprites was 

 spotting a sunlit bank with their smooth 

 and blushing caps. 



Was there in his little soul still a warn- 

 ing whisper? Yes. Just a little, a final, 

 feeble "Beware, touch it not!" — very 

 faint compared with the first-time warn- 



[177] 



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/± 



