Part 4

At last this sly person made a quick dash at Reddy Woodpecker one day. He discovered, then, that Reddy was both wide-awake and spry. For Reddy slipped off the tree trunk where he had been clinging and easily escaped the greedy clutches of the stranger.

It's no wonder that Reddy was angry. No one would care to have his breakfast interrupted in such a fashion.

"I knew that sneak meant to catch me if he could," Reddy muttered to himself as he went on with his breakfast.

A few moments later his cousin Mr. Flicker settled upon an ant hill below him.

"Who is that stranger?" Reddy Woodpecker asked Mr. Flicker.

Mr. Flicker glanced at the sly person who was just dodging behind a limb.

"He's no stranger," said Mr. Flicker. "He has lived here a good deal longer than you have. That's Frisky Squirrel."

"Well, he's a little too frisky," Reddy Woodpecker scolded. "He just jumped at me. He has been trying to catch me ever since I came to the farm."

Mr. Flicker laughed.

"That's a regular trick of his," he remarked. "He's always jumping off a fence post at me. But I have no trouble dodging him."

"I don't see why he wants to catch me," Reddy grumbled. "He can't know--yet--that I'm fond of nuts. But in the fall, when the nuts are ripe, I expect I'll make him almost crazy."

The next time Reddy met his tormentor he called to him as pleasantly as if there'd never been any trouble between them.

"How's this place for nuts?"

"Fine!" cried Frisky Squirrel. "The woods beyond the meadow are famous for their beechnuts."

"That's good news," said Reddy. "I'm glad I settled here."'

Frisky gave him a sharp look. "You don't like beechnuts, do you?" he asked.

"Don't I? Oh, don't I?" Reddy cried.

Strange to say Frisky Squirrel knew the answer to that question.

"Oh! You _do_ like them!" he chattered. "Well, maybe there aren't as many beechnuts as I thought. Maybe the beechnutting is poor here. No doubt I'm mistaken about it. Why don't you go over on the other side of Blue Mountain to live? You're _sure_ to find plenty of beechnuts over there next fall."

Reddy Woodpecker laughed heartily. Frisky Squirrel could not deceive him.

*XXIII*

*BEECHNUTS*

"I'm going to stay right here on this farm," Reddy Woodpecker declared. "I like this place."

"Perhaps you expect to leave for the South before the beechnuts are ripe," Frisky Squirrel suggested hopefully.

"Not I!" replied Reddy Woodpecker. "If I leave, I shall wait until the last beechnut is eaten. And no doubt I shall not leave at all. This looks to me like a good place to spend the winter."

Now that Frisky Squirrel knew Reddy Woodpecker ate beechnuts he was more determined than ever to catch him. He had hunted Reddy before. Now he haunted him. He dogged Reddy Woodpecker's footsteps. He crept up behind him and jumped at him a dozen times a day.

Though Frisky didn't know it, he couldn't have captured Reddy Woodpecker in a thousand years. Reddy was too wary to be caught. He always chuckled after dodging. And he always called mockingly, "Not this time, young fellow!"

All summer long the chase went on. Frisky Squirrel seemed to think that if only he hunted Reddy long enough there would come a time when he would catch him napping.

Now, every year as fall drew near it was Frisky's custom to go each day to the woods, to inspect the beechnuts. He went very slyly. It was a business of great importance. Of course he didn't care to have everybody know what he was doing.

Imagine his annoyance, then, on his first trip to the beech grove, to hear Reddy Woodpecker call out to him, "What do you think of 'em? Will they be ready to eat soon?"

Reddy was high up in a beech tree. And Frisky Squirrel was so angry that he could only look up at him and chatter.

"You haven't answered my questions," Reddy observed presently. "Perhaps you aren't a good judge of beechnuts. Perhaps I'd better ask Jasper Jay."

That threat made Frisky Squirrel angrier than ever. He darted up the tree as fast as he could scramble. If he hadn't been so angry he would have known how utterly useless it was to try to catch Reddy Woodpecker when Reddy was looking right at him.

Reddy calmly moved to another tree. Frisky Squirrel leaped into the top of it. Again Reddy moved.

Then Frisky sat up on a limb and glared at him.

"Don't mention these nuts to Jasper Jay!" he cried. "I've been hoping he'd forget about them. Eat what you want--if you must. But for goodness' sake don't go and tell the whole neighborhood about them. Just between you and me, these nuts will be ready to eat as soon as there's a frost to sweeten them."

"You're very kind," Reddy Woodpecker told him. "Very kind indeed!"

Well, in about two weeks there was a frost. When Reddy Woodpecker awoke one morning the fields were white and a thin coating of ice covered the watering-trough in the barnyard.

Some of the birds in Pleasant Valley had long since left for the South. And many of those that hadn't announced that they expected to start for a milder climate that very evening.

The weather soon grew warmer. And on the following day Reddy Woodpecker and Frisky Squirrel met at the beech grove.

"These are good nuts, eh?" called Reddy.

"They'd taste sweeter if you weren't here," Frisky Squirrel mumbled out of a full mouth.

*XXIV*

*THE WINTER'S STORE*

After Frisky Squirrel had enjoyed a hearty meal of beechnuts he began to make hurried trips to a hollow tree nearby. He lived in that tree. It had a fine big storeroom. And there he carried beechnuts in his cheeks. Frisky did not intend to go hungry when winter came.

Meanwhile he watched Reddy Woodpecker out of the corner of his eye. He still hoped to catch Reddy unawares. And at last Frisky saw something that he hadn't expected to see. It made him stop short and stare.

He saw Reddy Woodpecker loosen a bit of bark and hide a beechnut under it. Soon he beheld Reddy stowing beechnuts away in a hole in an old stump.

Frisky Squirrel was wild with rage.

"I told you you might eat as many nuts as you pleased, if only you wouldn't mention beechnuts to Jasper Jay. I didn't say you might hide beechnuts. But I've caught you hoarding them!"

Reddy Woodpecker was not ruffled--not even a single feather.

"I'm putting away a few nuts," he admitted. "I expect to spend the winter here. And of course I shall need something to eat."

"Don't you dare hide another nut!" Frisky Squirrel scolded.

"You're hoarding nuts yourself!"

"That's different," Frisky blustered.

All at once a loud, harsh voice squalled right above their heads. It belonged to Jasper Jay. "A quarrel!" he bawled. "A quarrel over beechnuts! I must do what I can to stop it. I'll gather as many beechnuts as I can; because when they're all gone there won't be anything to quarrel about."

"Another hoarder!" chattered Frisky.

And Jasper Jay was not the last to appear. For Johnnie Green soon came hurrying up with a basket. And Frisky regarded him with great disfavor.

"Another hoarder!" Frisky groaned. And he began to scold Johnnie. "Go away!" he cried. "We don't want you here." To his great disgust Johnnie Green shied a stone at him and told him not to be saucy.

Jasper Jay jeered loudly at Frisky.

"That's what you get for being a pig," he told him. And turning to Reddy Woodpecker, Jasper added, "You see the pigs aren't all in the pigsty!"

Frisky Squirrel pretended that he didn't hear any of Jasper Jay's remarks. He set to work again to gather beechnuts enough to last him all winter and never once stopped to dash at Reddy Woodpecker nor even look at him.

That was only the first of many busy days for Reddy. Having made up his mind to spend the winter at Farmer Green's place he hid nuts everywhere.

No doubt he never could remember all of his hiding places. But he found enough of them when winter came. And though Frisky Squirrel had stowed away all the nuts he could possibly need, he never could bear to watch Reddy Woodpecker pull out a beechnut from beneath a strip of bark.

He said he never did like to see a bird eat nuts.

THE END

* * * * * * * *

_*TUCK-ME-IN TALES*_

(Trademark Registered)

BY ARTHUR SCOTT BAILEY

AUTHOR OF SLEEPY-TIME TALES (Trademark Registered)

The Tale of Jolly Robin The Tale of Old Mr. Crow The Tale of Solomon Owl The Tale of Jasper Jay The Tale of Rusty Wren The Tale of Daddy Longlegs The Tale of Kiddie Katydid The Tale of Buster Bumblebee The Tale of Freddie Firefly The Tale of Betsy Butterfly The Tale of Bobby Bobolink The Tale of Chirpy Cricket The Tale of Mrs. Ladybug The Tale of Reddy Woodpecker The Tale of Grandmother Goose