city."

And then Mother Red Squirrel would have to stop work and tell all about
it. But the worst of it was nobody knew the way back to the park.

Pretty soon Mother Red Squirrel had an idea. "Mr. Bat is a great
traveler," she said, "even if he does go to places only at night, I'll
ask him." Now, nobody likes to be waked out of a sound sleep to be asked
questions. Mr. Bat blinked his eyes very hard, though by that time the
sun was too bright for him to see a thing, and at first he said he
didn't know the way either. Then Mrs. Red Squirrel flattered him a
little and told how she had asked everybody the way to the park and
nobody knew. "I felt sure you'd know," she added, at which Mr. Bat
remembered he did and promised to take the little runaways home, just
as soon as it should be dark enough!

When Bushy-Tail and Hazel learned that they were going home that night,
they jumped up and down for joy. I forgot to tell you Mrs. Red
Squirrel's two children were called Pinky and Rusty. They were such
lively, frolicsome children that you just couldn't help but laugh to see
them, and pretty soon Bushy-Tail and Hazel had forgotten all about how
their parents must be worrying.

"How would it be if we all went on a picnic today?" asked Mother Red
Squirrel. "I know where there are hazel nuts." I need not tell you what
they answered. So she gave them each a little basket and took two
herself and whisk--they were springing through the air, leaping from the
ends of teetering branches or spinning along the tops of fences in a
jiffy.

[Illustration: THE SQUIRRELS GO ON A PICNIC]

By and by they came to a lot of bushes and Mrs. Red Squirrel put down
her basket "Let's not stop here," cried Bushy-Tail. "See, the burs
don't open a bit, they are much too green to eat."

But Mrs. Red Squirrel said, "If we wait for the wind to rattle them out
for us, chipmunks and children from over the hill will not leave us one.
If we even wait until the burs open, crows and jays will carry them
off."

Then she showed them how to cut off the little clusters of burs and soon
they had their baskets full. What fun that picnic was. There were so
many new things to see in that woods. Bushy-Tail kept crying, "Oh, look
here, Hazel," and she was kept busy calling, "Come quick, Bushy-Tail."

Bushy-Tail had one eye open for the wonderful tree where all kinds of
nuts grew side by side on the same branch. He could remember just how it
looked in his dream, so he