STRIPED CHIPMUNK HAS FUN WITH HAPPY JACK
Thrift is the meat in the nut of success.
_Happy Jack._
Striped Chipmunk would shout in his shrillest voice:
"Hipperty, hopperty, one, two, three!
What do you think becomes of me?"
Then he would vanish from sight all in the wink of an eye. You couldn't
tell where he went to. At least Happy Jack couldn't, and his eyes are
sharper than yours or mine. Happy Jack was spying, you remember. He was
watching Striped Chipmunk without letting Striped Chipmunk know it. At
least he thought he was. But really he wasn't. Those sharp twinkling
eyes of Striped Chipmunk see everything. You know, he is such a very
little fellow that he has to be very wide-awake to keep out of danger.
And he _is_ wide-awake. Oh, my, yes, indeed! When he is awake, and that
is every minute of the daytime, he is the most wide-awake little fellow
you ever did see. He had seen Happy Jack the very first thing, and he
had guessed right away that Happy Jack was spying on him so as to find
out if he had any of the big, fat hickory nuts. Now Striped Chipmunk had
_all_ of those fat hickory nuts safely hidden in his splendid new
storehouse, but he didn't intend to let Happy Jack know it. So he just
pretended not to see Happy Jack, or to know that he was anywhere near,
but acted as if he was just going about his own business. Really he was
just having the best time ever fooling Happy Jack.
"The corn is ripe; the nuts do fall;
Acorns are sweet and plump.
I soon will have my storehouse full
Inside the hollow stump."
Striped Chipmunk sang this just as if no one was anywhere near, and he
was singing just for joy. Of course Happy Jack heard it and he grinned.
"So your storehouse is in a hollow stump, my smart little cousin!" said
Happy Jack to himself. "If that's the case, I'll soon find it."
Striped Chipmunk scurried along, and now he took pains to always keep in
sight. Happy Jack followed, hiding behind the trees. Pretty soon Striped
Chipmunk picked up a plump acorn and put it in the pocket of his right
cheek. Then he picked up another and put that in the pocket in his left
cheek. Then he crowded another into each; and his face was swelled so
that you would hardly have guessed that it was Striped Chipmunk if you
had chanced to meet him. My, my, he was a funny sight! Happy Jack
grinned again as he watched, partly because Striped Chipmunk looked so
funny, and partly because he knew that if Striped Chipmunk was going to
eat the acorns right away, he wouldn't stuff them into the pockets in
his cheeks. But he had done this very thing, and so he must be going to
take them to his storehouse.
Off scampered Striped Chipmunk, and after him stole Happy Jack, his eyes
shining with excitement. Pretty soon he saw an old stump which looked as
if it must be hollow. Happy Jack grinned more than ever as he carefully
hid himself and watched. Striped Chipmunk scrambled up on the old stump,
looked this way and that way, as if to be sure that no one was watching
him, then with a flirt of his funny little tail he darted into a little
round doorway. He was gone a long time, but by and by out he popped,
looked this way and that way, and then scampered off in the direction
from which he had come. Happy Jack didn't try to follow him. He waited
until he was sure that Striped Chipmunk was out of sight and hearing,
and then he walked over to the old stump.
"It's his storehouse fast enough," said Happy Jack.