3
They carried them away in bags and stored them
in several hollow stumps near the tree where they
had built their nest.
When these stumps were full, they began to
empty the bags into a hole high up a tree, that
had belonged to a wood-pecker; the nuts rattled
down—down—down inside.
"How shall you ever get them out again? It’s like a
money-box!" said Goody.
"I shall be much thinner before spring-time, my
love," said Timmy Tiptoes, peeping into the hole.
They did collect quantities—because they did not
lose them! Squirrels who bury their nuts in the
ground lose more than half, because they cannot
remember the place.
The most forgetful squirrel in the wood was called
Silvertail. He began to dig, and he could not
remember. And then he dug again and found
some nuts that did not belong to him; and there
was a fight. And other squirrels began to dig,—the
whole wood was in commotion!
