that. I could n't understand. But look at that ! 

 The Judas ! " 



Thus, more and more is Chickaree's true char- 

 acter being discovered. My hostess had heard 

 dark stories of Chickaree, but she had scouted 

 them. "Why, he 's a squirrel, not a monster ! " 

 she had said. I had said that, too ; and I was 

 unbelieving until I caught him deliberately kill- 

 ing a brood of young robins. 



It is because he appears to be a squirrel that 

 we are so unwilling to think him evil. "What 

 form in all the world, besides the dove's, is more 

 suggestive of sweet innocence than the squirrel's? 

 Yet here is this red-coated, red-handed little 

 wretch, having the form of godliness, but all 

 scarlet within. The revelation of his true in- 

 wardness is a real pain, a loss of so much faith 

 in the faithful out-of-doors. This squirrel has 

 been masking among us in sheep's clothing. The 

 wolf ! Out with him ! "Who knows what murder 

 he has not done? what he is capable of doing? 



"Where do you get your unholy and horrible 



craving. Chickaree? Is there weasel blood 



mingled with the squirrel in your veins? You 



[234] 



