"I'll peck his tongue out!" screamed Mrs. Jay. And somehow it
disturbed Frisky the least bit to hear Jasper's wife say that. He
decided that he would go home at once. And he gave a great spring
toward the hollow limb where he lived.

Then something happened that was a great surprise to Frisky Squirrel.
He was right in the middle of his leap when Jasper struck him with a
wing. The blow did not hurt Frisky. But it sent him tumbling. He
missed the hollow limb, and down he went, head over heels, toward the
ground.

Even while he was falling, Frisky Squirrel laughed. You see, he
thought it was a good joke on himself. And being a merry little
fellow, he was always ready to laugh when anybody played a joke on
him. As for the fall, that did not trouble him at all. He knew that he
could land on his feet.

It was after he had lighted upon the ground that Frisky was really
frightened. For when he looked up, whom should he see but Tommy Fox,
not three jumps away! And Tommy Fox was smiling in the most horrid
fashion, as if to say--"Ah! I've got you now, my fine fellow!" And then
Tommy Fox leaped.

But quick as Tommy was, Frisky Squirrel was even quicker. While Tommy
was making one big leap, Frisky was making three smaller leaps. And
when Tommy came down on the spot where Frisky had been he found
nothing but a heap of dry leaves beneath his paws; and in a moment
more Frisky Squirrel's gray tail was disappearing through the doorway
of his mother's house.