“I looked over at the foot of the tree-trunk and there was a little squirrel trying to dig up the hard frozen ground. I s’pose he had some nuts buried there and wanted to get them out for his dinner. As I stood watching him for a few minutes, my hands grew cold, so I pulled the mittens out of my coat pocket.
“Out flew a peanut with one of the mittens and no sooner did it roll on the ground than Mr. Squirrel hopped over and had it. He jumped back to the tree and sat upon his haunches cracking and eating the nut.
“He must have been awful hungry, ’cause he hurried back to me the minute he finished the peanut, and jumped upon my arm, looking in my pocket for more.
“I waited, as still as a mouse, so he wouldn’t get ’fraid, then he looked up in my face as much as to say: ‘Haven’t you any more?’
“I laughed at that, and he jumped away and sat a few yards off watching me. Then I had an idea. I ran in and asked Mose for some nuts, telling him about the squirrel. He gave me a handful from the pantry and I ran back to feed the little fellow.
“He came right up and took them from my hands and when he had carted most of them over to the foot of the tree and eaten some, he carried one at a time to a bough and sat eating it. When that was gone he ran down and carried another nut up and ate it.
“I told Billy about it and he said he guessed we could tame that squirrel if we fed it every day. So we gave it things to eat all Winter and now it is as tame as can be.”
When Edith concluded her story the audience applauded and Big Chief declared she must have the coup, for the story was well told.
Edith was so delighted at hearing this praise from the Chief at Headquarters that she could not be restrained that day—she ran about showing everyone the coup presented her.
The Council ended with the Sunset Song, and the meeting was pronounced to be one of the best Wako Tribe ever held. Miss Miller felt confident that the plan had united all the girls again and now they would work together as before, for the progress and advancement of the entire Tribe.