"I like to eat the seeds. I might find an apple on one of the trees."
Bobby skipped through the woods and across the field.
He came to the stone wall that ran along one side of the road.
Bobby jumped up on the highest stone to look around and see if any one were in sight.
He looked up the road, and he looked down the road. But no one was in sight.
He jumped down from the wall, and then he stood still.
Right at his feet wag a paper bag.
And the bag smelled so good that the little squirrel stopped to take another sniff.
"That smells like peanuts," Bobby said to himself.
"I will make a hole in the bag and see what is inside."
Bobby took hold of the bag with his sharp little teeth and tore a big round hole.
He tore a hole big enough to put his paw through.
And then he was just like little Jack Horner.
He put in his thumb And pulled out a plum,
And said, "What a big squirrel am I."
He pulled out the kind of plum he liked best of all. It was a peanut.
He pulled out one peanut, and then he pulled out another.
"This bag is full of peanuts," he said to himself. "There are so many here I can never eat them all."
[Ill.u.s.tration: "This bag is full of peanuts."]
"I know what I can do. I can have a party."
Now squirrels must like to have parties just as well as little boys and girls.
Because when Bobby thought of the party he jumped up and down and clapped his hands.
Then he started off to invite all the other gray squirrels.
But he stopped when he reached the top of the wall.
He had just thought that some one might come while he was away and find the peanuts.
"I will hide them in the wall," he said to himself. "Then they will be out of sight."
So Bobby jumped down again and began to carry the nuts to a safe place.
It took so long, and Bobby worked so hard that he had to go back home to take a nap when he had finished.
II
Bobby Gray Squirrel slept and slept.
But Sammy Red Squirrel was not asleep.
He had been wide awake all day.
He had seen Bobby hiding the peanuts in the old stone wall.
He was sitting up in the maple tree watching him all the time.
"I wonder what Bobby is hiding all those nuts for," he said to himself.
"I think I will wait here and see what he is going to do."
So for a long time Sammy sat still in the maple tree watching Bobby work.
When the last nut was hidden Bobby skipped off toward home.
"Now is my chance," said Sammy. "I am going to play a trick on Bobby."
Sammy skipped down the tree and ran along the wall to the place where the nuts were hidden.
He took the nuts out of their hiding place and carried them to a hole behind the big rock.
It took a long time to do it, but Sammy liked to play tricks.
Back and forth he ran until the very last nut was stored away in the new hiding place.
Then he skipped around to tell the red squirrels about the joke he had played on Bobby Gray Squirrel.
"Run to the maple tree near the stone wall," said Sammy. "You will see what Bobby does when he finds his nuts are gone."
So the red squirrels all ran to the maple tree to watch for the gray squirrels to come to the party.
At last Bobby waked up. And the minute he opened his eyes he thought of the peanuts.
He skipped down the tree and ran to tell his friends about the party.
"Meet me at the old stone wall," he said. "That is where I am going to have my party."