nny was too quick for them.

With a sudden motion he caught up the gray animal and held it close to
him. At the same time he shouted:

"Down, Splash! Down, Dix! Don't dare try to get this poor little
squirrel. One of you has hurt its leg anyhow--that's why it fell out of
the tree."

"Oh, Bunny! Is it really and truly a squirrel?" asked Sue, excitedly.

"That's what it is," said her brother. "It's a big gray squirrel. It
does look something like a cat, but its tail is bigger than a cat's
except when a cat is being chased by a dog."

"I saw the big tail," explained Sue, "and that's why I thought maybe it
was a cat. A cat's tail always swells up like a long balloon whenever it
sees a dog. But is the squirrel hurt, Bunny?"

"I guess Dix must have bit it a little on one leg," said the boy, as he
looked at the gray animal which did not try to get away or bite. "That's
why it couldn't go up any higher in the tree or hold fast any longer.
Its leg is hurt. I'm going to take it to Uncle Tad. He knows how to fix
hurt animals."

Bunny could feel the heart of the frightened squirrel beating very hard,
and the little animal seemed to shrink closer to the boy, as though it
knew it would be taken care of. Dix and Splash bounded about, now and
then leaping up against Bunny as though they wanted to get the squirrel
away from him.

But Bunny stood firm, and cried "Down, sir!" in such sharp tones that
the dogs knew they must mind. They gave up the hope of getting the
squirrel (that is, if they knew it was such an animal) and ran off to
have a game of "tag" together.

"Dix knew it wasn't a cat as soon as he saw it," explained Bunny to Sue
as they walked back toward the big auto, Bunny carrying the injured
squirrel, one of whose legs seemed broken. "Dix knew it was a wild
animal," went on the little boy, "and that's why he chased it."

"I'm glad he didn't get it," murmured Sue, softly.

"So am I," replied her brother. "We'll get Uncle Tad to fix the sore
leg, and then we'll make a cage and keep the squirrel. Some day we may
get up another circus, and we could have it do tricks."

"Don't you think the squirrel would rather be in the woods?" asked Sue,
as she looked at the gray creature.

"Well, maybe yes," agreed Bunny. "After we have it in the circus a while
we'll let it go. 'Member how we played circus, Sue?"

"I guess I do! We had lots of fun, didn't we?"

"We did!"

From across the fields came a call:

"Come to suppe