“I’ll do it—if you whip Sandy,”
Jasper promised. And he laughed so hard that
he almost tumbled off the limb.
ROWDY RUNS AWAY
Rowdy Red-Squirrel jumped from one tree into another
until he reached the beech tree in which Jasper Jay
had caught sight of Sandy Chipmunk.
Now, Sandy had not seen Rowdy stealing upon him.
And the first he knew about the fight was when he
happened to turn around. Then he saw Rowdy Red-Squirrel
right in front of him. And before Sandy could
move, Rowdy had jumped straight at him.
Now, as you know, Sandy Chipmunk was not the most
nimble of climbers. He was a ground-squirrel;
and though he often climbed into the lower branches
of trees, he always felt more comfortable on the top
of a rail-fence or a stone wall.
But Rowdy Red-Squirrel could cling to the smallest
branch. The more it swayed beneath his weight
the better he liked it. His hardest battles had
been fought in the tree-tops. You see, he was
never the least bit afraid of falling.
Sandy Chipmunk was plucky—as you know.
And at first he had no thought of running away, when
Rowdy Red-Squirrel jumped at him. Even when Rowdy
sank his sharp teeth into one of his ears, Sandy fought
his hardest. But when Rowdy pulled on his ear,
Sandy’s feet almost slipped off the limb.
Then Sandy tried to get away. And at last he
tore his ear out of Rowdy Red-Squirrel’s mouth
and scurried quickly to the ground.
Rowdy Red-Squirrel, dashing after him, shouted with
glee.
“He’s running away from me! I’ve
whipped him!” he called to Jasper Jay, who had
come nearer, to see the fight.
Sandy Chipmunk had reached the stone wall between
the woods and the pasture. And he was still running.
But the moment Rowdy Red-Squirrel sprang upon the
wall, to his great surprise Sandy whisked around and
jumped straight at him.
It was Rowdy’s turn to be startled. And
when Sandy gave his nose a cruel bite Rowdy turned
tail and darted off as fast as he could go.
After him dashed Sandy Chipmunk. No longer was
he afraid of falling. He was quite at home on
the stone wall. He knew every stone in it, and
every nook and cranny. He knew exactly the best
way to run along that old wall. So all he had
to think about now was catching Rowdy Red-Squirrel.
But Rowdy escaped. After he had run a long way
he jumped into a tree and climbed to the very top
of it, where Sandy Chipmunk did not care to follow
him.
“Come down here, if you want to fight,”
Sandy called to him.
“You can’t fool me,” Rowdy answered.
“The other six of you are hiding behind
the wall. And the moment I came down you’d
all jump at me again. I said I could whip six
chipmunks. But seven are one too many.”
Sandy Chipmunk didn’t know what Rowdy was talking
about. And he could not understand what made
Jasper Jay laugh so loudly.
