Slicko was put back into her cage for the rest of the night. She was glad she had come back to Bob. Everybody went to bed.
The next day Slicko did her tricks again, and learned some new ones. She had many nuts and apples to eat.
Still Slicko was not happy. The weather grew warmer. It was very warm in the house, but Slicko was not allowed to be out of her cage.
“I don’t want her to run away again,” said Bob.
Poor Slicko was now very mournful. As the warm days came, she wanted to be free to run in the shady woods. She would rather have sat swinging on the branch of a tree, than whirl around in the wire wheel of her cage.
“Bob,” said the boy’s father to him one day, “don’t you think your squirrel would be happier if you let it go out in the woods to live?”
“What! Let my pet squirrel go?” asked Bob, in surprise.
“Yes,” answered his father. “Slicko is not happy in her cage now. She might have been, in the winter, but now it is summer, and she ought to be out in the open. I think she wants to go.”
Oh, how much Slicko hoped she could go! Her little heart beat very fast, as she looked through the bars of her cage.
“Let Slicko go!” said Bob softly. “Oh, I can’t do that!”