Bunny Rabbits Diary | Page 4

Squirrel knew something about this tree that no one
else knew.
He knew where there was a small hole in one of the branches.
He found it one day when he ran up into the tree to eat a nut.
And when he saw the hole he said to himself, "That is a good place to
hide some nuts for the winter."
The hole was not very large, but Sammy hid ten acorns in it. He packed
them in one by one.
Last of all he put a piece of bark in the hole.
"This is a good door for my store-house," he said, "I am sure no one
will find these acorns."
And no one did find them.
Sammy ran to the hole very often and lifted the door just a crack.
The ten little acorns were just where he had put them.
"I will eat these nuts last of all," he said to himself.
All through the fall the little red squirrel hunted for nuts under the trees.
Sometimes he could not find any on the ground.
Then he would run round and round hunting for holes where he had
hidden acorns away.
If the holes were empty Sammy knew some other little squirrel had
been there before him.
And sometimes Sammy found nuts that other squirrels had stored

away.
The hunting was always good, and no squirrel ever went to bed hungry.
But at last Jack Frost came and covered everything with snow.
All the nuts and acorns were frozen into the ground so the squirrels
could not dig them out.
[Illustration: The squirrel hunted for nuts.]
Then Sammy went to his store-house in the stone wall or in some old
stump.
At last it became very cold.
North Wind blew through the woods.
The water in the little brook was covered with ice.
The birds tried to keep warm among the branches of the evergreen
trees.
The rabbits slept in their warm home and did not come out very often.
The squirrels slept in their nests, and did not come out for days and
days.
Blacky Crow stayed in the deep woods where the largest trees helped to
keep him warm.
The ground had been covered with snow for two or three weeks.
And the squirrels and rabbits had taken long, long naps.

II
A few days before Christmas, Mr. Sun came up from behind the hills

and shone brightly all day long.
He melted the snow in the warm hollows, and softened the ice on the
brooks.
Bunny Rabbit and his brothers came out and hopped around to find
roots to eat.
The squirrels ran up and down the trees, and all around everywhere to
find hidden nuts.
All at once Bunny Rabbit heard a noise.
He sat up on his hind legs and held up his long ears.
The other rabbits listened, too.
Sammy and Bobby heard the noise and scampered up into the little pine
tree.
"Bow-wow-wow!" barked Jip, as he ran through the woods.
"It's the dog!" cried Bunny. "Let's run and hide."
The little rabbits whirled around and hopped back to their house.
Sammy and Bobby were safe in the tree, so they did not try to run
away.
They heard some one talking and they looked to see who it was.
They saw two children and a man.
The man had an axe in his hand.
The two children ran along the path, talking and laughing.
They were looking at all the evergreen trees.

"This is a good one," said the little boy.
"This is a better one," said the girl, and she pointed right at the little
pine tree where Sammy and Bobby were hiding.
"They are going to cut down this tree," whispered Sammy. "What shall
we do? What shall we do?"
But the man did not cut down the tree.
He looked at it and said, "That is too large for our Christmas tree.
"We must find one that is much smaller."
So the man and the two children went along the path into the woods.
And before long the sound of the axe rang out through the stillness.
"I never was so frightened in my life," said Sammy. "I thought they
were going to cut down this tree."
"I thought so, too," said Bobby. "But I was not frightened. I could jump
to that next tree. It is not very far."
"I know that," said Sammy. "But I have a store-house in this tree."
"Where is it?" asked Bobby. "I wish you would show it to me. I am as
hungry as a bear."
"So am I," said Sammy. "Let's have dinner now."
"We will call it a Christmas dinner. The children said this would make
a good Christmas tree," said Bobby.
"I wonder what a Christmas tree