ign of danger he could scamper back there to safety.
Timmy would go some distance, but he was seldom gone long. He liked to
be where he could watch and talk with Whitefoot. You see Timmy is very
much like other people,--he likes to gossip a little.

One evening Whitefoot had found it hard work to find enough food to fill
his stomach. He had kept going a little farther and a little farther
from home. Finally he was farther from it than he had ever been before.
Timmy had filled his stomach and from near the top of a tree was
watching Whitefoot. Suddenly what seemed like a great Black Shadow
floated right over the tree in which Timmy was sitting, and stopped on
the top of a tall, dead tree. It was Hooty the Owl, and it was simply
good fortune that Timmy happened to see him. Timmy did not move. He knew
that he was safe so long as he kept perfectly still. He knew that Hooty
didn't know he was there. Unless he moved, those great eyes of Hooty's,
wonderful as they were, would not see him.

Timmy looked over to where he had last seen Whitefoot. There he was
picking out seeds from a pine cone on the ground. The trunk of a tree
was between him and Hooty. But Timmy knew that Whitefoot hadn't seen
Hooty, and that any minute he might run out from behind that tree. If he
did Hooty would see him, and silently as a shadow would swoop down and
catch him. What was to be done?

"It's no business of mine," said Timmy to himself. "Whitefoot must look
out for himself. It is no business of mine at all. Perhaps Hooty will
fly away before Whitefoot moves. I don't want anything to happen to
Whitefoot, but if something does, it will be his own fault; he should
keep better watch."

For a few minutes nothing happened. Then Whitefoot finished the last
seed in that cone and started to look for more. Timmy knew that in
a moment Hooty would see Whitefoot. What do you think Timmy did? He
jumped. Yes, sir, he jumped. Down, down, down, straight past the tree
on which sat Hooty the Owl, Timmy sailed. Hooty saw him. Of course. He
couldn't help but see him. He spread his great wings and was after Timmy
in an instant. Timmy struck near the foot of a tree and without wasting
a second darted around to the other side. He was just in time. Hooty was
already reaching for him. Up the tree ran Timmy and jumped again. Again
Hooty was too late. And so Timmy led Hooty the Owl away from Whitefoot
the Wood Mouse.

CHAPTER XXIII: Whitefoot Spends A Dreadful Night