clear, when he rushed away headlong with a mouthful.

He did not return that day; but the next morning early I saw him
do the same thing. An hour later Meeko appeared and, finding
nothing on the window-sill, went to the linden. Half his store of
yesterday was gone. Curiously enough, he did not suspect at first
that they were stolen. Meeko is always quite sure that nobody
knows his secrets. He searched the tree over, went to his other
hiding places, came back, counted his peanuts, then searched the
ground beneath, thinking, no doubt, the wind must have blown them
out--all this before he had tasted a peanut of those that
remained.

Slowly it dawned upon him that he had been robbed and there was
an outburst of wrath. But instead of carrying what were left to
another place, he left them where they were, still without
eating, and hid himself near by to watch. I neglected a lecture
in philosophy to see the proceedings, but nothing happened.
Meeko's patience soon gave out, or else he grew hungry, for he
ate two or three of his scanty supply of peanuts, scolding and
threatening to himself. But he left the rest carefully where they
were.

Two or three times that day I saw him sneaking about, keeping a
sharp eye on the linden; but the little thief was watching too,
and kept out of the way.

Early next morning a great hubbub rose outside my window, and I
jumped up to see what was going on. Little Thief had come back,
and Big Thief caught him in the act of robbery. Away they went