“Yes, I think maybe I could manage it for you,” replied Ben, carefully brushing all the crumbs of food into the wooden box on which he had sat during the lunch.
“O, I just saw the cunningest gray squirrel!” exclaimed Elsa, running to the doorway, hoping for another glimpse of the little creature.
“You can see plenty of gray squirrels and chipmunks round here, ’most any time,” said Ben, following her. “And a man told me that last year a pair of screech-owls built their nest and raised their family in that old hollow tree there.”
Elsa listened with closest attention.
“This is a fine place to get acquainted with birds and animals,” Ben said, encouragingly. “But you never can get acquainted with them till you learn to be quiet, like them, and to walk through the woods without making twigs snap every step you take.”
Ben put the box of crumbs among the alder bushes at the side of the hut. “Mr. Gray Squirrel and his family will have those crumbs almost before we are out of sight,” he said.
“We must start for home,” called Miss Ruth, coming out from the hut with Alice and Betty.
While Ben locked the door, the others stood for a moment watching the brilliant red sunset light in the western sky. The deep baying of a hound sounded through the quiet woods. Alice drew a little nearer to Ben.
“You are all safe, Peggy,” he said, patting her hand, his thoughts busy with other things. “If I were a bird way up in the top boughs of those tall trees, you would look like grasshoppers down here,” he said, with his face turned to the sky.
“And you would look like the teentiest, tontiest little bird,” replied Betty quickly.