32 THE ADVENTURES OF A NATURE GUIDE 



in the grove the squirrel nearest to my station 

 showed immense curiosity. He was unable to 

 make out what I was about. One day he rushed 

 at me and with a savage outburst threatened either 

 to devour me or to kick me off his premises. As I 

 remained silent and motionless he paused in aston- 

 ishment. Then he backed up and eyed me eagerly. 

 Again he tried bluff and denunciation. At last, 

 doubtless wondering why I was not moving and 

 whether I should remain long, he gave it up, 

 climbed into his tree, and proceeded with his own 

 affairs. 



One day when a swarm of bees started to light 

 upon me I made a lively retreat. This disturbed 

 Mr. Squirrel. He broke out in volleys of peppery 

 chatter that lasted for two or three minutes, then 

 he subsided and sat looking at me. I imagined 

 that he might be thinking or saying to himself, 

 "Well, for the life of me, this is something I cannot 

 understand!" 



From dawn until dusk I once watched the activi- 

 ties of this fellow. Though he was sometimes 

 temporarily out of sight I waited, wondering what 

 the next move would be. 



He climbed into the tree-tops and cut off cones 

 which fell, bounced, and rolled away, and appeared 

 to try to land where he could not find them. Often 

 he stopped to look and listen and make sure that 

 no outsider was capturing his cones. 



My squirrel friend had a sad end. Lightning 



