“I’ll soon have you loose, little squirrel,” the boy went on. Then he quickly pressed on the spring of the trap with one hand, while he held Slicko with the other. The jaws of the trap came open, and Slicko’s leg was loose. And oh! how good it felt not to be squeezed as she had been.
Then, all of a sudden, Slicko felt herself lifted up, and put into a soft, dark place—a place as dark as the deepest, darkest part of the nest at home—the cellar part where the nuts were stored away for winter.
[CHAPTER VIII]
SLICKO’S NEW HOME
Slicko, the jumping squirrel, found herself all huddled up in a heap in the soft, dark place. She did not feel much like jumping just then—indeed she could not have jumped if she had wished, for there was no room.
Besides, her leg, that had been caught in the trap, hurt her quite a lot, though not so much as it had at first.
“I—I wonder where I am,” thought Slicko, as she tried to look about her. Soon she could see better than at first, and, as a squirrel’s eyes are made to see in the dark, much as are the eyes of the owl-bird, Slicko could soon make out where she was.
She was down inside a sort of bag, very soft and cozy, but even though it was so soft, Slicko could not get out. She tried, but there was no hole. Even the top, through which she had been put in, was tightly closed.
Slicko tried her teeth on some of the soft stuff, but it tickled her little red tongue, so she stopped.