his old nest will make us the finest and safest home that ever
was. No one will ever think of looking for us here. We must get busy at
once and fix it up."

Even then Whitefoot didn't understand. Always he had lived either in a
hole in the ground, or in a hollow stump or tree. How they were to live
in that old nest he couldn't see at all.

CHAPTER XXIX: Making Over An Old House

A home is always what you make it.
With love there you will ne'er forsake it.
--Whitefoot.

Whitefoot climbed up to the old nest of Melody the Wood Thrush over the
edge of which little Mrs. Whitefoot was looking down at him. It took
Whitefoot hardly a moment to get up there, for the nest was only a few
feet above the ground in a young tree, and you know Whitefoot is a very
good climber.

He found Mrs. Whitefoot very much excited. She was delighted with
that old nest and she showed it. For his part, Whitefoot couldn't see
anything but a deserted old house of no use to any one. To be sure, it
had been a very good home in its time. It had been made of tiny twigs,
stalks of old weeds, leaves, little fine roots and mud. It was still
quite solid, and was firmly fixed in a crotch of the young tree. But
Whitefoot couldn't see how it could be turned into a home for a Mouse.
He said as much.

Little Mrs. Whitefoot became more excited than ever. "You dear old
stupid," said she, "whatever is the matter with you? Don't you see that
all we need do is to put a roof on, make an entrance on the under side,
and make a soft comfortable bed inside to make it a delightful home?"

"I don't see why we don't make a new home altogether," protested
Whitefoot. "It seems to me that hollow stub of mine is ever so much
better than this. That has good solid walls, and we won't have to do a
thing to it."

"I told you once before that it doesn't suit me for summer," replied
little Mrs. Whitefoot rather sharply, because she was beginning to lose
patience. "It will be all right for winter, but winter is a long way
off. It may suit you for summer, but it doesn't suit me, and this place
does. So this is where we are going to live."

"Certainly, my dear. Certainly," replied Whitefoot very meekly. "If you
want to live here, here we will live. But I must confess it isn't clear
to me yet how we are going to make a decent home out of this old nest."

"Don't you worry about that," replied Mrs. Whitefoot. "You can get the
material, and I'll attend to the rest. L