But when Christmas was over and January had come and gone, the young
squirrels got restless and tiresome, and began to behave very badly--
so badly that sometimes they did not come home for a couple of nights
and days, and at last they went away altogether.

But the parent squirrels did not seem to mind it, and it was rather a
relief to be quiet and peaceable, and not have so much noise and
quarreling, and as Mother Earth was beginning to look green again,
Sentre and Siccatee felt very happy and were scarcely ever apart.

They began to find mice, young birds and insects again, and very glad
they were, for they were tired of dried roots and odd scraps.

All that spring they were very busy, as usual, for squirrels always
seem to be busy, no matter what time of the year it may be. They are
busy in the spring getting ready for the little baby squirrels; busy
all the summer attending to them and feeding them; busy all the autumn
collecting their winter stores, and busy all the winter finding their
food and teaching their children the manners and customs of
squirreldom.

As the spring went on the two squirrels grew more busy, if possible,
than ever, and by the beginning of summer, in the old nest which they
had done up and renovated, were four, tiny baby squirrels, and both
Sentre and Siccatee were fully convinced that they were finer babies
than they had ever had before. They both took the greatest care of
them all through that summer, and when autumn came round once more
began the same thing over again--collecting food for the winter and
teaching their little ones how to eat eggs and nuts; how to climb