s trying to say. Cheeko didn't have time to pay attention to
any one except 'Squire Owl, and danced from one branch to another
screaming and chattering until, suddenly, down darted Professor Hawk
with his mouth wide open.

"Oh me, oh my, how that squirrel did hustle! If the Professor had once
got a grip on him, it was good-bye Cheeko, and nobody knew that better
than Master Cheeko himself. He gave one leap for a lot of thorn bushes
which grew near the old oak tree as if somebody had put them there for
the especial benefit of us members of the fur section, and it seemed
to me as if he alighted a good fifty feet from where he started. He
must have torn his coat in more than one place, for when a fellow
jumps like that he can't pick out just the right spot for stopping, as
I know to my sorrow when I've been trying to give Mr. Fox the slip.

"Of course, Professor Hawk didn't stand any chance of getting at him
once he was among the thorns, and he would have sailed off in a huff,
but that the 'Squire shouted for him to stop. Then he came back to the
angry old owl, and the two whispered together a long time without
paying the least little bit of attention to poor Jimmy Crow. I knew
the big fellows were hatching up some kind of plan to get the best of
Cheeko, and at the first good chance I told him the wisest course for
him was to get as far from Crow's Corner as his legs would carry him
between then and sunset.

"It isn't of very much use to give Cheeko advice, for he always thinks
he knows better than any one else, and this time, instead of thanking
me for taking the trouble to find him among all those thorns, he said
as pertly as any sparrow you ever heard:

"'I want you to understand, Bunny Rabbit, that I'm not afraid of those
two old fogies--no, nor of all their families. I've taken care of
myself in these woods a good many years, and I'm not to be scared by
an old owl now.'

"'It's better to be scared than eaten, Cheeko,' I said as I rubbed two
or three spots of blood from his coat, for it was in a shocking
condition by this time. 'You can't stay here among the thorns very
long, because Mr. Weasel is sure to hear all this row, and once he
gets on your trail you're a gone squirrel.'

"'He tried to run me down last fall; but I gave him the slip all
right,' Cheeko said quickly, puffing his chest way out because he was
mighty proud of escaping from the bloodthirsty Mr. Weasel.

"'It isn't likely that a squirrel could