We were all very sorry for the unfortunates. A worse time for squirrels to emigrate could hardly be imagined, for, of course, they had been forced to abandon all their winter stores and their nest, which had been strengthened against the cold weather. It was now too late in the season to collect a proper provision, and they stood a very good chance of starving if the winter should turn out a severe one. You will understand that we young ones, who had never yet been through a winter, were not able to realize quite how serious the misfortune was; but mother, who had seen the snows of three years, thoroughly comprehended the situation, and at once bade Rusty and myself do all we could to assist the unlucky family. Next morning we paid a visit to their temporary quarters, a large untidy hole in a hollow oak, and after first showing them where the last few nuts were to be found in the ditch below the hazel-bushes, set to work to discover better quarters for them. Of course, by this time we knew our coppice from end to end. There was not a tree we were not familiar with from root to topmost branch. But after a good deal of consideration and discussion, we decided that the best refuge was another hole lower down in our own tree. It was one that mother had thought of seriously, after father’s death, as a residence for ourselves, but had decided against as being rather too small. However, we found on making a thorough examination that the wood on one side of it was so rotten that it could easily be dug out, and then the hollow would be amply large enough to accommodate the three wanderers. They, on their part, were devoutly grateful for the trouble we had taken on their behalf, and thanked us most cordially. Cob’s sister, whose name was Sable, a little, dark-furred creature, quite touched me by her shyly-expressed gratitude. Autumn was now far advanced, and we had had several very sharp frosts. Except for the oaks, to which their dead, dry leaves still clung, the trees were bare. Rusty and I took our morning exercise among the denser foliage of the evergreen firs and larches, of which there were fortunately a good number in our coppice. I say fortunately because, where these trees are handy a squirrel need never starve even in the hardest weather. Not that squirrels are given to starving. Unless owing to some quite unforeseen and unusual accident we are as well able to fend for ourselves even in the hardest winters as any inhabitants of the woodland.