Some people will tell you that a squirrel never hides two nuts in the same place, but this is not quite the fact. As I have said before, we all have a very natural objection to piling a whole score of nuts or other provender together in one place; for then, if any marauder does come along, he naturally gets the whole lot. But it must not be imagined that a separate hiding-place is made for each single nut or acorn. No; when we discover a good place for a larder, such as the hollow I am now speaking of, we often put quite a quantity of food into it, poking each separate morsel into a different crack or corner. That was a royal feast. I am quite certain that neither Rusty nor I had ever been so hungry before in the whole of our short lives; and this makes me suspect that we had been asleep for at least a fortnight, or possibly more. At last Rusty, after a vain rummage in the furthest corner of the hollow, turned on me: ‘You greedy pig, Scud, you’ve eaten the last bit of mast!’ ‘Well, you are a good one!’ I retorted, laughing. ‘I don’t mind betting you a chestnut that you’ve eaten more than me.’ ‘Anyhow, there’s nothing left here,’ replied Rusty in a very aggrieved tone. ‘At this rate our stores won’t last long.’ ‘There is any amount left,’ I told him, ‘and it seems to me that travelling is safer and better than ever. We’ll go round and hunt up some of those hazel-nuts under the hedge next time.’ ‘All very well if this weather lasts,’ grumbled my brother, who always loved a grievance. ‘But suppose it melts. Mother said it often did. Then the grass will be all wet and beastly, and the ditch probably full of water. Or suppose more snow falls; then everything will be covered up.’ ‘’Pon my fur, you’re as bad as a frog!’ I retorted. ‘Never was such a squirrel to croak. Come along out of this dark hole. I want some exercise.’ As we crawled out a bark hailed us from above, and there was Cob sitting out on a low branch over our heads. ‘I say, you fellows,’ he cried, ‘this is jolly, isn’t it? ‘Ripping!’ I answered. ‘Have you had a feed?’ ‘Yes, I’ve had some mast; but we haven’t much, so I thought of going over to the fir-trees and looking for some cones.’ ‘Right you are. We’ll come too. I’m still hungry enough to eat the most turpentiny cone in the coppice.’