78 IN THE EOCKY MOUNTAINS. 



to admire the picturesque rapids in the brook, a 

 slight movement drew my attention to a little 

 projection on a stone, not six feet from me, 

 where a small chipmunk sat pertly up, holding 

 in his two hands, and eagerly nibbling was it, 

 could it be a strawberry in this rocky place ? 



Of course I stopped instantly to look at this 

 pretty sight. I judged him to be a youngster, 

 partly because of his evident fearlessness of his 

 hereditary enemy, a human being ; more on 

 account of the saucy way in which he returned 

 my stare ; and most, perhaps, from the appear- 

 ance of absorbing delight, in which there was 

 a suggestion of the unexpected, with which he 

 discussed that sweet morsel. Closely I watched 

 him as he turned the treasure round and round 

 in his deft little paws, and at last dropped the 

 rifled hull. Would he go for another, and 

 where ? In an instant, with a parting glance at 

 me, to make sure that I had not moved, he 

 scrambled down his rocky throne, and bounded 

 in great leaps over the path to a crumpled 

 paper, which I saw at once was one of the bags 

 with which tourists sow the earth. But its pres- 

 ence there did not rouse in my furry friend the 

 indignation it excited in me. To him it was a 

 treasure-trove, for into it he disappeared without 

 a moment's hesitation; and almost before I 

 had jumped to the conclusion that it contained 



