Look not too much on that behind
Lest to the future you be blind.
--Whitefoot.
Whitefoot didn't wait to be told twice of that empty house. He thanked
Timmy and then scampered over to that stub as fast as his legs would
take him. Up the stub he climbed, and near the top he found a little
round hole. Timmy had said no one was living there now, and so Whitefoot
didn't hesitate to pop inside.
There was even a bed in there. It was an old bed, but it was dry and
soft. It was quite clear that no one had been in there for a long time.
With a little sigh of pure happiness, Whitefoot curled up in that bed
for the sleep he so much needed. His stomach was full, and once more he
felt safe. The very fact that this was an old house in which no one had
lived for a long time made it safer. Whitefoot knew that those who lived
in that part of the Green Forest probably knew that no one lived in that
old stub, and so no one was likely to visit it.
He was so tired that he slept all night. Whitefoot is one of those who
sleeps when he feels sleepy, whether it be by day or night. He prefers
the night to be out and about in, because he feels safer then, but
he often comes out by day. So when he awoke in the early morning, he
promptly went out for a look about and to get acquainted with his new
surroundings.
Just a little way off was the tall, dead tree in which Timmy the Flying
Squirrel had his home. Timmy was nowhere to be seen. You see, he had
been out most of the night and had gone to bed to sleep through the day.
Whitefoot thought longingly of the good things in Timmy's storehouse in
that same tree, but decided that it would be wisest to keep away from
there. So he scurried about to see what he could find for a breakfast.
It didn't take him long to find some pine cones in which a few seeds
were still clinging. These would do nicely. Whitefoot ate what he wanted
and then carried some of them back to his new home in the tall stub.
Then he went to work to tear to pieces the old bed in there and make it
over to suit himself. It was an old bed of Timmy the Flying Squirrel,
for you know this was Timmy's old house.
Whitefoot soon had the bed made over to suit him. And when this was done
he felt quite at home. Then he started out to explore all about within
a short distance of the old stub. He wanted to know every hole and every
possible hiding-place all around, for it is on such knowledge that his
life depends.
When at last he returned home he was very well satisfied. “It is going
to be a good place to live,” said he to himself. “There are plenty of
hiding-places and I am going to be able to find enough to eat. It will
be very nice to have Timmy the Flying Squirrel for a neighbor. I am sure
he and I will get along together very nicely. I don't believe Shadow
the Weasel, even if he should come around here, would bother to climb
up this old stub. He probably would expect to find me living down in the
ground or close to it, anyway. I certainly am glad that I am such a good
climber. Now if Buster Bear doesn't come along in the spring and pull
this old stub over, I'll have as fine a home as any one could ask for.”
And then, because happily it is the way with the little people of the
Green Forest and the Green Meadows, Whitefoot forgot all about his
terrible journey and the dreadful time he had had in finding his new
home.