第13章 CHAPTER III(1)

Apparently dissatisfied with the result of an investigation,which proved that the cavity was unfit as a treasure hoard for a discreet squirrel,whatever its value as a receptacle for the love-tokens of incautious humanity,the little animal at once set about to put things in order.He began by whisking out an immense quantity of dead leaves,disturbed a family of tree-spiders,dissipated a drove of patient aphides browsing in the bark,as well as their attendant dairymen,the ants,and otherwise ruled it with the high hand of dispossession and a contemptuous opinion of the previous incumbents.It must not be supposed,however,that his proceedings were altogether free from contemporaneous criticism;a venerable crow sitting on a branch above him displayed great interest in his occupation,and,hopping down a few moments afterwards,disposed of some worm-eaten nuts,a few larvae,and an insect or two,with languid dignity and without prejudice.Certain incumbrances,however,still resisted the squirrel's general eviction;among them a folded square of paper with sharply defined edges,that declined investigation,and,owing to a nauseous smell of tobacco,escaped nibbling as it had apparently escaped insect ravages.This,owing to its sharp angles,which persisted in catching in the soft decaying wood in his whirlwind of house-cleaning,he allowed to remain.Having thus,in a general way,prepared for the coming winter,the self-satisfied little rodent dismissed the subject from his active mind.

His rage and indignation a few days later may be readily conceived,when he found,on returning to his new-made home,another square of paper,folded like the first,but much fresher and whiter,lying within the cavity,on top of some moss which had evidently been placed there for the purpose.This he felt was really more than he could bear,but it was smaller,and with a few energetic kicks and whisks of his tail he managed to finally dislodge it through the opening,where it fell ignominiously to the earth.The eager eyes of the ever-attendant crow,however,instantly detected it;he flew to the ground,and,turning it over,examined it gravely.It was certainly not edible,but it was exceedingly rare,and,as an old collector of curios,he felt he could not pass it by.He lifted it in his beak,and,with a desperate struggle against the superincumbent weight,regained the branch with his prize.Here,by one of those delicious vagaries of animal nature,he apparently at once discharged his mind of the whole affair,became utterly oblivious of it,allowed it to drop without the least concern,and eventually flew away with an abstracted air,as if he had been another bird entirely.The paper got into a manzanita bush,where it remained suspended until the evening,when,being dislodged by a passing wild-cat on its way to Mulrady's hen-roost,it gave that delicately sensitive marauder such a turn that she fled into the adjacent county.

But the troubles of the squirrel were not yet over.On the following day the young man who had accompanied the young woman returned to the trunk,and the squirrel had barely time to make his escape before the impatient visitor approached the opening of the cavity,peered into it,and even passed his hand through its recesses.The delight visible upon his anxious and serious face at the disappearance of the letter,and the apparent proof that it had been called for,showed him to have been its original depositor,and probably awakened a remorseful recollection in the dark bosom of the omnipresent crow,who uttered a conscious-stricken croak from the bough above him.But the young man quickly disappeared again,and the squirrel was once more left in undisputed possession.