[Then, she scrambled up on Bob’s shoulder and put her cold, soft nose on his cheek]Frontispiece
PAGE
[Then Slicko led the little pig to where there were some acorn nuts, and Squinty ate them]25
[Taking a drink of the cool water, Slicko washed her paws and face in it]45
[“I’m only a little girl squirrel, and I wouldn’t hurt you for the world,” went on Slicko]59
[“Oh, how cruel, to catch a poor little squirrel in a trap!” exclaimed the first girl]81
[Slicko gave a sudden little jump, and, right through the paper she went]99
[Slicko sat up on the table in time to see the man give a jump through the window]119

SLICKO,
THE JUMPING SQUIRREL

[CHAPTER I]
SLICKO LEARNS TO JUMP

Half way up the side of a tall tree there was a round hole in the trunk. The hole was lined with soft, dried leaves, and bits of white, fluffy cotton, from the milkweed plant. And, if you looked very carefully at the hole, you might see, peering from it, a little head, like that of a very small kitten, and a pair of very bright eyes.

But it was not a kitten that looked from the little hole in the trunk of the tree. Kitties can climb trees, but they do not like to live in them. They would rather have a warm place behind the stove, with a nice saucer of milk.

Now if I tell you that the little creatures who lived in this hole-nest had big, fluffy tails, and that they could sit up on their hind legs, and eat nuts, I am sure you can guess what they were.

Squirrels! That’s it! In the nest, half way up the big tree in the woods, lived a family of gray squirrels, and I am going to tell you about them, or, rather, more particularly, about one of the little girl squirrels whose name was Slicko.

One morning Mrs. Squirrel, who had gotten up out of the nest early, to go out and get some breakfast for her little ones, came back very quickly, jumping from one tree branch to another, and fairly scrambling down into the nest where the little boy and girl squirrels of her family were still asleep.