“Halloa! there he goes again,” said Frank, as he watched a nimble little animal leaping from branch to branch, and from tree-top to tree-top. “He will fall if he does not take care.”
“No fear of that,” said Uncle George. “His home is among the tree-tops. He never falls. That is a squirrel, and I should not be surprised if his nest is somewhere near. Let us sit down on this bank and watch.”
As he spoke, Uncle George took his pair of field-glasses out of the leather case which he sometimes carried on a strap across his shoulder, when he went out to watch the birds.
“Now, Mr Squirrel,” he said, “we can watch your antics from a distance. You are a very cunning and clever little chap, no doubt.”
When Uncle George and Dolly and the two boys first saw the squirrel, the little creature was on the ground, bobbing about among the ferns and the grass. The moment it saw them, however, it bounded into a tree, going swiftly up by jerk after jerk, and always keeping on the far side of the trunk.
They could just see its bushy tail, first at one side of the trunk and then, much higher up, at the other side. When it reached the top part of the tree, it leapt from branch to branch in the most daring manner.
“We have alarmed the creature,” said Uncle George. “But if we sit here quite still for a little while, Mr Squirrel will get over his fright. Ah, there he is.”
Uncle George handed the glasses to Frank.
“Now, tell us what you see,” he said, “and then Tom and Dolly shall each take a look.”
“He is sitting up on his hind legs,” said Frank. “His great, bushy tail is bent right over his head. He is holding a little green thing in his fore-paws. Ah, he is eating it. Look Dolly!” and Frank handed the glasses to his little sister.