d on her, I hope! She's not dependable."

"Well, you can always depend on her to jump at you," Sandy observed.

"She's a coward--that's what she is," Grandfather Mole scolded. "You
never heard of her chasing anybody that was bigger than herself, did
you? You never heard of her attacking Fatty Coon!"

Sandy Chipmunk said that if the cat hunted coons, she kept it to
herself.

"She's too wise to run any risk," said Grandfather Mole. "But if she's
washing her face just because she expects rain, then she's stupid.

"If the cat wants to wash her face, why doesn't she stick her head out
in the rain?" Grandfather Mole demanded. And without waiting for his
young companion to answer, he went on to say that in his opinion anybody
that washed his face in anything but dirt was stupid beyond all hope. "I
claim," said Grandfather Mole, "that there's nothing quite like a dirt
bath."

"There aren't many that would agree with you," Sandy Chipmunk told
him.

"There's a lot of stupid people in this valley," Grandfather Mole
retorted.

Sandy Chipmunk thought deeply for a few moments.

"I know of one person who would say you were right," he remarked at
last.

"Who's that?" Grandfather asked him.

"The boy, Johnnie Green!" Sandy Chipmunk replied. "If you could _see_
his face you'd know that he takes a dirt bath every day!"

XXI

MRS. WREN TRIES TO HELP

"HAVE you found him yet?" Mrs. Rusty Wren asked Grandfather Mole one day
when the old gentleman had left his dark underground home to brave the
dangers of the garden.

"Found whom?" Grandfather Mole inquired.

"Why, your grandson! I saw him wandering about the garden a little while
ago. And I supposed of course that you had come up to find him."

"Now, that's strange!" Grandfather Mole exclaimed. "I wasn't aware one
of them had strayed away from the house.... Which of my grandchildren
was it that you saw!"

"I don't know them by name," Mrs. Wren replied. "But this was just a
tiny chap."

"Then it must be my little grandson Moses!" Grandfather Mole cried.
"He's the smallest of the lot.... I must find him at once, before the
cat catches him."

Mrs. Wren saw that Grandfather Mole was greatly disturbed. And though
she had enough to do--goodness knows!--to look after her own family, she
told Grandfather Mole that she would help him find his grandchild.

"That's kind of you, I'm sure," Grandfather Mole remarked. "If I had
your bright eyes I wouldn't need anybody'