ery little, and let Rollo peep
in.

He did so. Rollo said it looked all dark; he could not see any thing.
Then Jonas opened it a little farther, and Rollo saw two little shining
eyes, and presently a nose smelling along at the crack.

"Yes, here he is, here he is," said Rollo; "look at him, James, look at
him;--see, see."

They all peeped at him, and then Jonas took the box under his arm, and
they returned home.

Jonas told the boys he was not willing to keep the squirrel a prisoner
very long, but he would try to contrive some way by which they might
look at him. Now, there was, in the garret, a small fire-fender, which
had been laid aside as old and useless. Jonas recollected this, and
thought he could fix up a temporary cage with it. So he took a small box
about as large as a raisin-box, which he found in the barn, and laid it
down on its side, so as to turn the open side towards the trap, and then
moved the trap close up to it. He then covered up all the rest of the
open part of the box with shingles, and asked James and Rollo to hold
them on. Then he carefully lifted up the cover of the trap, and made a
rattling in the back part of it with the spindle. This drove the
squirrel through out of the trap into the box.

When Jonas was sure that he was in, he took the old fender and slid it
down very cautiously between the trap and the box, so as to cover the
open part entirely, and make a sort of grated front, like a cage. Then
he took the trap away, and there the little nut-cracker was, safely
imprisoned, but yet fairly exposed to view.

That is, they _thought_ he was safely imprisoned; but he, little rogue,
had no idea of submitting without giving his bolts and bars a try. At
first, he crept along, with his tail curled over his back, in a corner,
and looked at the strange faces which surrounded him. "Let us give him a
little corn," said Rollo; "perhaps he is hungry;" and he was just
slipping some kernels in between the wires of the fender, when Bunny
sprang forward, and, with a jump and a squeeze, forced his slender body
between two of the wires that were bent a little apart, leaped down
upon the barn floor, ran along to the corner, up the post, and then
crept leisurely along on a beam. Presently, he stopped, and looked down,
as if considering what to do next.

The moment he escaped, the boys exclaimed, "O, catch him, catch him,"
and were going to run after him; but Jonas said that it would do no
good, for they