and then
jump. Down he would come in a long beautiful glide, for all the world as
if he were sliding on the air.

The first time Whitefoot saw him do it he held his breath. He really
didn't know what to make of it. The nearest tree to the one from which
Timmy had jumped was so far away that it didn't seem possible any one
without wings could reach it without first going to the ground.

"Oh!" squeaked Whitefoot. "Oh! he'll kill himself! He surely will kill
himself! He'll break his neck!" But Timmy did nothing of the kind. He
sailed down, down, down and alighted on that distant tree a foot or two
from the bottom; and without stopping a second scampered up to the top
of that tree and once more jumped. Whitefoot had hard work to believe
his own eyes. Timmy seemed to be jumping just for the pleasure of it. As
a matter of fact, he was. He was getting his evening exercise.

Whitefoot sighed. "I wish I could jump like that," said he to himself.
"I wouldn't ever be afraid of anybody if I could jump like that. I envy
Timmy. I do so."

CHAPTER XXII: Timmy Proves To Be A True Neighbor

He proves himself a neighbor true
Who seeks a kindly deed to do.
--Whitefoot.

Occasionally Timmy the Flying Squirrel came over to visit Whitefoot. If
Whitefoot was in his house he always knew when Timmy arrived. He would
hear a soft thump down near the bottom of the tall stub. He would know
instantly that thump was made by Timmy striking the foot of the stub
after a long jump from the top of a tree. Whitefoot would poke his head
out of his doorway and there, sure enough, would be Timmy scrambling up
towards him.

Whitefoot had grown to admire Timmy with all his might. It seemed to
him that Timmy was the most wonderful of all the people he knew. You see
there was none of the others who could jump as Timmy could. Timmy on his
part enjoyed having Whitefoot for a neighbor. Few of the little people
of the Green Forest are more timid than Timmy the Flying Squirrel, but
here was one beside whom Timmy actually felt bold. It was such a new
feeling that Timmy enjoyed it.

So it was that in the dusk of early evening, just after the Black
Shadows had come creeping out from the Purple Hills across the Green
Meadows and through the Green Forest, these two little neighbors would
start out to hunt for food. Whitefoot never went far from the tall,
dead stub in which he was now living. He didn't dare to. He wanted to be
where at the first s