208 THE DRIVE TO GREAT ROCK 



Just then a chipmunk ran along a stone wall we 

 were passing. " Look, look," Philip and I shouted 

 together. 



" See his mate there," Tommy said. The mate 

 was running up a tree. 



For quite a little way then one chipmunk ran 

 along the stone wall. Sometimes he dodged under, 

 and In a minute came up again, but he always kept 

 a sharp eye on us. Perhaps because he wasn't quite 

 sure we would do him no harm. Kate Hood 

 thought he was a red squirrel. 



" Red squirrels don't have those two black lines 

 running along their heads and backs," Philip told 

 her. 



He must have grown a little tired keeping up 

 with the horses, for at last he sat up straight on 

 the wall and let us get ahead of him, or else he 

 wanted to go back to his mate. 



" That's the largest chestnut-tree around here," 

 Tommy called. " Just as soon as the frost cracks 

 the burrs open we'll come and get the nuts." 



Grandmother said: "It's one of the places I 

 used to gather them long ago. The country is al- 

 ways the same." 



" See that old Shagbark? " Tommy shouted. 

 " Last year I picked up over a bushel of Its nuts." 



We didn't wonder that this tree was called Shag- 

 bark, for Its trunk all seemed to be standing out in 

 narrow strips, as if the least little blow might shake 

 them off. 



