But spying on Striped Chipmunk isn't the easiest thing in the world.
Happy Jack was finding it the hardest work he had ever undertaken.
Striped Chipmunk is so spry, and whisks about so, that you need eyes all
around your head to keep track of him. Happy Jack found that his two
eyes, bright and quick as they are, couldn't keep that little elf of a
cousin of his always in sight. Every few minutes he would disappear and
then bob up again in the most unexpected place and most provoking way.
"Now I'm here, and now I'm there!
Now I am not anywhere!
Watch me now, for here I go
Out of sight! I told you so!"
With the last words, Striped Chipmunk was nowhere to be seen. It seemed
as if the earth must have opened and swallowed him. But it hadn't, for
two minutes later Happy Jack saw him flirting his funny little tail in
the sauciest way as he scampered along an old log.
Happy Jack began to suspect that Striped Chipmunk was just having fun
with him. What else could he mean by saying such things? And yet Happy
Jack was sure that Striped Chipmunk hadn't seen him, for, all the time
he was watching, Happy Jack had taken the greatest care to keep hidden
himself. No, it couldn't be, it just couldn't be that Striped Chipmunk
knew that he was anywhere about. He would just be patient a little
longer, and he would surely see that smart little cousin of his go to
his storehouse. So Happy Jack waited and watched.
CHAPTER VII
STRIPED CHIPMUNK HAS FUN WITH HAPPY JACK
Thrift is the meat in the nut of success.
_Happy Jack._
Striped Chipmunk would shout in his shrillest voice:
"Hipperty, hopperty, one, two, three!
What do you think becomes of me?"
Then he would vanish from sight all in the wink of an eye. You couldn't
tell where he went to. At least Happy Jack couldn't, and his eyes are
sharper than yours or mine. Happy Jack was spying, you remember. He was
watching Striped Chipmunk without letting Striped Chipmunk know it. At
least he thought he was. But really he wasn't. Those sharp twinkling
eyes of Striped Chipmunk see everything. You know, he is such a very
little fellow that he has to be very wide-awake to keep out of danger.
And he _is_ wide-awake. Oh, my, yes, indeed! When he is awake, and that
is every minute of the daytime, he is the most wide-awake little fellow
you ever did see. He had seen Happy Jack the very first thing, and he
had guessed right away that Happy Jack was spying on him so as to find
out if he had any of the big, fat hickory nuts. Now Striped Chipmunk had
_all_ of those fat hickory nuts safely hidden in his splendid new
storehouse, but he didn't intend to let Happy Jack know it. So he just
pretended not to see Happy Jack, or to know that he was anywhere near,
but acted as if he was just going about his own business. Really he was
just having the best time ever fooling Happy Jack.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account