She held out her hand with three shining brown nuts in it.
“Ought to be a lot more than that here,” said Bert, still poking away among the leaves. “There’s lots of trees and fresh burrs here. I guess the squirrels and chipmunks have been here too.”
“Oh, I’ve found two more! I’m beating you!” laughed Nan, as she picked up more nuts.
“I’ve found one, anyhow, and it’s a big one,” cried Bert, as he picked up his first. “But there aren’t as many as I thought there would be.”
The children continued to pick up a few nuts at a time, but there were not so many scattered over the ground as the lumberman had led them to expect.
“There’s the chap who’s been taking the nuts!” suddenly cried Bert.
“Who?” asked Nan, looking up after stooping to pick two of the brown prizes from a bursted burr.
“That squirrel!” cried Bert, pointing to one of the big-tailed gray fellows, sitting on a tree and looking down at the Bobbsey twins. “He and the chipmunks can soon clean up a chestnut grove.”
Just then a red squirrel, one of the most noisy chatterers of the woods, caught sight of the children and began to “scold” them. Oh, what a racket he made, his thin tail jerking from side to side as he gave his shrill cries! Bert and Nan laughed at him.
“He’s had his share of nuts,” said Bert, “and he’s mad ’cause we’re taking some, I guess. But we aren’t getting as many as we’d like.”