CHAPTER VI

CHAPTER VIWITH THE CHIPMUNKS

It wasa little hard to follow the Chipmunks at first, as they were so very much smaller and could of course run like lightning along the woody road. However, they would always stop and wait for Ready very politely, and several times when they found some nuts under a hickory tree he had to wait for them.

Everything went on pretty well until they reached a funny little cabin in the wood. Here a dark little creature jumped off the roof and whispered “Peanut Butter!” Then he was off again as quick as a wink.

“Peanut Butter! Peanut Butter!” chatteredall the Chipmunks, and ran after the darting little figure. Up they jumped on the roof and in a moment were out of sight.

He knew that chipmunks love peanut butter

What was poor little Ready to do? This delay might upset all his plans. Perhaps they would forget to come back altogether. He knew that Chipmunks love peanut butter, because he had heard a Chipmunk that very evening boasting between dances of stealing into a Boy Scout’s tent and prying open the lid of a peanut butter jar.

Ready thought and thought, and finally decided to go around to the cabin door and give quite politely three little barks. They would mean, of course, “Ready, Ready, Ready.”

At first there was no answer to his call. Then he barked again a little louder. This time he said, “Please,please, come.”

At this, somebody in the house jumped out of bed, and stamping to the window called out, “Get away, little beast of a dog!”

Then Ready heard the peanut butter can fall to the floor with a bang; and suddenly out ran the Chipmunks, their coats flying behind them.

Out ran the chipmunks

So fast did they run that they did not see Ready at all until they were about one hundred yards away from the house. As soon as they really came to themselves and saw Ready,they cocked their little heads on one side and pointed their paws towards a little figure vanishing in the distance.

“He made us do it,” they chattered.

“It was only a few minutes,” one of them apologized.

“You needed a little rest,” another remarked.

Ready did feel a little put out by the delay, but he remembered that after all they had offered to be his escorts and had only lost their heads for a few minutes. Had not he too once lost his head?

So he only wagged politely when he might have said, “If it were not for my barking, you would still be eating that peanut butter.”

Then they all started on again. To tell the truth, the Chipmunks really felt ashamed ofthemselves and thought that Ready was behaving splendidly. You would know this by the little things they tried to do for him.

“He made us do it,” they chattered

Chippy, the oldest, actually kept waiting for him and once admired the spots on his coat. Snippy, the youngest, offered to show him a place where they all had some nuts stored for winter. Of course that was a foolish offer to make to a dog, but Ready knew it was meant to be a great attention, so he said at once, “I thank you very much, but think I will notstopto-night, as it is growing quite late.”

They were getting near the end of the woods now and all was going beautifully when a sudden flash of lightning was followed quickly by a clap of thunder. Then came a downpour of rain, drenching everybody in about two seconds.

There was nothing to do but take refuge in a hollow log near by. That is to say, the Chipmunks went in, while Ready curled up under a rhododendron bush which kindly acted as an umbrella.

At first the Chipmunks seemed to fuss a good deal, and complain about being crowded. Ready remembered how much they loved to chatter, so he barked, “Speech, speech, everyone make a speech!”

These words acted like magic. Such a jabbering never before was heard from a hollow log.

Chippy recited a poem he had written about himself. Snippy told of an adventure he had had with a gray squirrel, and as for Clippy, he just squeaked and thrashed around, saying, “Here, here, nuts, nuts!”

It was all rather mixed up as you can guess, and sounded something like this:

“I am great big Chippy,My brother’s name is Snippy.”“Here, here, nuts, nuts!”“And the old gray squirrel put his tail in my face.”“When something is the matter,I’m always sure to chatter.”“Nuts, nuts, here, here!”“Then I jumped on the gray squirrel’s back,Giving him a tremendous whack.”

“I am great big Chippy,My brother’s name is Snippy.”

“I am great big Chippy,

My brother’s name is Snippy.”

“Here, here, nuts, nuts!”

“And the old gray squirrel put his tail in my face.”

“When something is the matter,I’m always sure to chatter.”

“When something is the matter,

I’m always sure to chatter.”

“Nuts, nuts, here, here!”

“Then I jumped on the gray squirrel’s back,Giving him a tremendous whack.”

“Then I jumped on the gray squirrel’s back,

Giving him a tremendous whack.”

By this time the rain had stopped and a tiny streak of light was coming in the East. The Chipmunks suddenly ceased chattering. Ready pricked up his ears. Everything in the world was very still. Far, far away in the distance you could hear the birds beginning to wake up.

“Dawn is coming,” whispered Chippy, “and we are not yet out of the woods.”

Without another word they were all scampering along the road. Ready had never gone so fast in his life. On and on they went. It was a race with the coming dawn.

Five minutes of wonderful animal running brought Ready to the edge of the wood, and just as they reached the last oak tree, the beautiful rose-colored light had come behind the purple hills.

Five minutes of wonderful animal running brought Ready to the edge of the wood

Ready whispered a “thank you” to the Chipmunks, and an invitation to visit him for a week-end as soon as he found his master’s home. The Chipmunks put their little heads to one side and then curtsied. They are really quite polite little creatures when they remember to be.

They were gone before you could say “JackRobinson,” and Ready was left alone, waiting for his breakfast under the last oak tree in the forest.

Waiting under the last oak tree

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