You see the papa squirrel did not want just then to tell the little ones about their mamma having seen a hunter-man, with a dog and gun, for fear, if he did, they might be too frightened to come out of the nest and learn to jump. But Mr. Squirrel knew there was no danger near, just then, at any rate, and he wanted his children to be as brave as they could be.
Soon, after the breakfast nuts were eaten, the four little squirrels went out on a straight branch, that stuck out from the tree trunk near the nest. Papa and Mamma Squirrel stood there with them.
“Now this is the idea,” said Mr. Squirrel, in his chattering language, that you or I could not have understood, but which was as plain to the little squirrels, as a papa dog’s language is to a puppy, or a mamma cat’s mewing to her little kittens. “You are all going to learn to jump,” said Mr. Squirrel.
“What’s a jump?” asked Slicko, who, as I have said, was always asking questions. She asked more questions than her two brothers and her sister together. But Slicko wanted to know about things.
“See!” exclaimed Mr. Squirrel. “This is a jump. Now I am on this limb beside you. Now watch!”
He gave a little spring, or jump, through the air, and landed on the branch of another tree, some distance off.
“That is a jump,” said Mr. Squirrel. “It is getting from one branch to another without running or walking. It is a quick way of walking, I suppose you could call it, and when you are in a hurry, as when some one is chasing you, and you have no time to run or walk, you must jump. Now let me see you jump down here, just as I did. Come on, all of you!”
“Yes, go on!” said Mamma Squirrel, who was still on the tree limb by the nest. “You little squirrels must learn to jump. That is the one, big lesson left for you to learn.”
Slicko looked at Chatter. Fluffy looked at Nutto. Then they all looked down at their papa on the lower limb.
“Come on! Don’t be afraid!” called Mr. Squirrel. “Jump! You won’t be hurt!”