to
gather his army together. Depend upon it, dear, there is some very
important news. I must tell the woodpecker, and he will find out; he is
very clever at that." The squirrel began to get restless, though he did
not like to tell Bevis to go.

"You promised to tell me about Choo Hoo," said Bevis.

"So I did," said the squirrel, "and if you will come to-morrow I will do
so; I am rather in a hurry just now."

"Very well," said Bevis, "I will come to-morrow. Now show me the way to
the felled tree." As they were going Bevis recollected the weasel, and
asked if he was really so ill he could not move, but was obliged to lick
his paw to cure the pain.

The squirrel laughed. "No," he whispered; "don't you say I said so: the
truth is, the weasel is as well as you or I, and now the council is
broken up I daresay he is running about as quickly as he likes. And,
Bevis dear, stoop down and I'll tell you (Bevis stooped), the fact is,
he was at the council all the time."

"But I never saw him," said Bevis, "and he never said anything."

"No," whispered the squirrel very quietly, "he wanted to hear what they
said without being present; he was in the elm all the time; you know,
dear, that malice-minded elm on the other side of the raspberries, which
I told you was rotten inside. He lives there in that hole; there is a
way into it level with the ground; that is his secret hiding-place."

"I will bring my cannon-stick to-morrow," said Bevis, delighted to have
discovered where the weasel lived at last, "and I will shoot into the
hole and kill him."

"I could not let you do that," said the squirrel. "I do not allow any
fighting, or killing, in my copse, and that is the reason all the birds
and animals come here to hold their meetings, because they know it is a
sanctuary. If you shoot off your cannon the birds are sure to hear it,
and you will not be present at any more of their meetings, and you will
not hear any more of the story. Therefore it would be very foolish of
you to shoot off your cannon; you must wait, Bevis dear, till you can
catch the weasel outside my copse, and then you may shoot him as much as
you like."

"Very well," said Bevis, rather sulkily, "I will not shoot him in the
hole if you do not want me to. But how could the weasel have been in the
elm all the time, when the humble-bee said he found him lying in the
sunshine on a bank licking his paw?"

"Why, of course he told the humble-bee to say that."

"What