into a hole too small for any of his foes except, perhaps, A-tos-sa,
whom he dreaded more than any of the others.

All along the stone fence stood nut trees,--oaks, hazels, walnuts,
beeches, and others. And at one end was a cornfield.

This made it very handy for A-bal-ka. He could gather the nuts which
fell upon the stone fence, and when he went for corn, he could keep to
the fence and thus avoid his enemies. Early in the fall he began to fill
his storehouse. To and fro he went along the fence with his
cheek-pouches full of corn and nuts.

Little Luke often amused himself by watching him. He would pick up the
nuts with his paws and put them into his cheek-pouches, and it was
amazing how many they would hold. When he started for home, his cheeks
sometimes looked as if he had a very severe case of the mumps.

One day in the autumn little Luke found out a queer thing about
A-bal-ka. He was going up the trail with Old John. A-bal-ka started to
cross the trail, but seeing the old Indian he became scared and ran up a
tree. This was a thing which he seldom did; never unless he was obliged
to, to escape from his enemies. He is a ground squirrel, and no tree
climber, like his cousins the Red and the Gray Squirrels.

"Now," said Old John, "I'll show you something." So he got a stout stick
and began to tap the tree. Tap, tap, tap, tap, as if he were beating
time to music. This tapping had a strange effect upon A-bal-ka. At first
he was greatly excited and tried to run farther up the tree. Soon he
gave this up, turned around, and began to come down head foremost. He
would lift his little feet and shake them as if something hurt them.