Sandy Chipmunk was somewhat disappointed. But
he was glad of one thing: The man left the lid
of the box open. And as soon as he had driven
on again, Sandy crept down the tree and crawled right
inside the mail-box.
Though he was not expecting a letter from anybody,
he thought it would be just as well to look and see
if the man had left one for him.
Now, Sandy had never learned to read. And you
might think it would do him no good at all to look
at the envelopes. But he soon came upon one which
he was sure was his. And the reason for that was
that he had found an envelope with the picture of
a chipmunk in one corner of it!
That was enough for Sandy.
“I’m glad I came!” he said to himself.
“Here’s a letter for me! And how
surprised everybody will be!”
So he took the letter in his mouth and started down
the tree.
The very first person he surprised was Farmer Green
himself. He had walked to the cross-roads from
his house. And he had almost reached the oak
when he saw Sandy Chipmunk spring from the tree to
the stone wall, with a letter in his mouth, and scamper
away.
Farmer Green ran after Sandy. And he threw stones
at him. But Sandy Chipmunk ran so fast that Farmer
Green soon lost sight of him.
“I’d like to know what was in that letter,”
Farmer Green said, when he told his family what had
happened. “I’ll have to warn the letter-carrier
to be sure to close the mail-box after this, for I
can’t have any more of my letters stolen.”
Johnnie Green couldn’t help laughing, when he
heard his father tell about the chipmunk running away
with a letter in his mouth.
[Illustration: “Here’s a Letter for
Me!” Said Sandy Chipmunk]
But Farmer Green didn’t seem to see anything
to laugh at.
“I only hope,” he said, “the letter
was nothing of importance.”
SANDY GETS A LETTER
After Sandy Chipmunk, with the letter in his mouth,
escaped from Farmer Green, he ran home and showed
his letter to everybody he met. He felt very
proud.
“See!” he said. “There was
a letter for me in the mail-box. It’s lucky
I found it when I did, for I believe Farmer Green
would have taken it if I hadn’t reached the
box before him.”
Old Mr. Crow laughed mockingly when Sandy called to
him that he had a letter.
“I see you have one,” Mr. Crow
said. “But the question is, to whom does
it really belong? If the truth were known, I guess
that letter rightfully belongs to a farmer named Green.”
That remark made Sandy angry.
“The letter belongs to me!” he told Mr.
Crow. “Here’s my picture on it.
You can see for yourself.”
Now, Mr. Crow could not read either—for
all he was so old. And when he saw the picture
of a chipmunk on the envelope, exactly like Sandy,
he was very much surprised.
