He ran and ran. But strange to say, all his running took him nowhere
at all. At first he couldn't discover what was the matter. But after a
while he saw that he was inside a broad wheel, made of wire. And when
he ran the wheel simply spun 'round and 'round.

He stopped running then. For he thought of the horses that made the
horse-power go. He was in just the same fix that they were in. He
could run as fast as he pleased, but he would still stay right there
inside the wheel.

Poor Frisky Squirrel crept back into his cage. He remembered what his
mother had said, when he wished he could be a horse, and make the
tread-mill go. "You'd soon grow tired of it," she had told him.

At the time, Frisky hadn't believed her. But now he knew that his
mother was wiser than he was. And he wondered if he was ever going to
see her again.




XX

Johnnie Green Forgets Something


Although Johnnie Green took good care of Frisky Squirrel, that once
lively young chap did not like his new home in the wire cage at all.
His young master gave him plenty to eat--nuts and grain--all the things