The next day, as Slicko was jumping through the woods, she came to a tree that she was sure she had seen before. Half way up was a big lump, on which she knew she had often sat. A little farther up was a broken limb, and, close to that limb was a hole.
“Why, that’s the nest where I used to live,” said Slicko. “I wonder if papa and mamma, and Chatter and Fluffy and Nutto have come back! I’m going up to see.”
Up the tree scrambled Slicko. She looked in her old nest. Something inside it moved.
“Hello!” said Slicko.
“Why—why—why it’s Slicko—come back!” cried Chatter. “Papa—Mamma! Nutto, Fluffy! Come here. Slicko has come back!”
Out of the nest rushed all the Squirrel family. They sat on their tails and looked at Slicko.
“My! How she has grown!” cried her mother, patting Slicko with her paws.
“How long have you been here?” asked Slicko. “That time you sent me to Aunt Whitey’s, I couldn’t find her—she wasn’t home.”
“No, Slicko,” said her papa, “your aunt had hurriedly moved to another nest. We didn’t know it when we sent you there. And, not long ago, we all came back here. For it is safe now. The hunter-man and his dog have gone from these woods.”
“And so we are all together again,” said Fluffy. “I’m glad.”