Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-09-18


their foes.
The flying squirrel unlike the impudent and ire
preside red squirrel had great capacity for patience
as we'll as for prudence. Moreover, he had great
liking for activity long the up, his enor
eyes adapting him for the dim life of the night.
died away in the distance, he lay unstirring his
branch his alert to the niest forest whisper, his
nostrls quiverng they Intercepted every subtest
forest scent All at once his wide eyes grew even WIDER
and of spasm of apprehension fitted across the
liquid depths. What that faint dry, rustlng sound
the ghost of whisper, the bark OF the trunk
behind him9 Nervously he turned his head. There
was nothing in sight, but the ghostly sound continued,
slight thin that even his fine could hardly be
of its reality.
The little watcher remained moveless as knot on the
bark The creeping whisper softly mounted the tree.
Then last, fiat, brownsh black, vicious head
into round the trunk and arrested ITSELF swayng
softly, just the base of the branch. 1t the
head of large backsnake.
The snakes eyes, dull yet deadly, met those of the
squirrel and held them For moment the black head
rigid; then it began to sway again, with slow,
hypnotizing motion The eyes-shalow, opaque,
venomous seemed to draw closer together they
centrated their energy upon the mildly glowing orbs of
their intended victim. At last the waving head began
draw near the black body unduatng stealthily into
view behind it. Nearer, nearer it came the flat,
hard eyes shifting till seemed that one lightning
lunge would have enabled to fix its fangs the fascl
mated victims neck.
But at this moment the little aeronaut whsked half
round rted his broad fluff of tail straight out behind
him. and sailed quietly from his perch long gradual
swoop which brought him back to the base of the tree
from which he had originally started. The hypnozing
experiment of the blacksnake had been this instances
unqualified failure. Angry and disappointed, the
snake withdrew to hunt mice or other easier game.
The flying squirrel ran cheerfuy up the tree slipped
back into the hole and curled himself up complacenty
to sleep away the rest of the daylight. OF his COM
panons had already stealthily returned, and the
others crept in soon afterward quite unruff1ed.
THAT night moonrse to the forest close the
= vanishing trail of the sunset. A long white ray,
flooding in through the treetops lit up the hole beneath
the branch of the blasted trunk. Without haste, the
flying squirrels after another to their high
doorway and launched themselves upon the still air
One might have thought that their first purpose would
have been to forage for meal but instead of that they
seemed like children just let out of school, bent moth
ing much relieving their pent-up spirits Prob
ably they not hungry. 1t the season of album
dance and they had perhaps ample store of nuts
and tender young pine within their hollow tree
In any case they knew the forest full of good prov
ender for them, the forest floor covered with berries
for when they should choose to descend and gather
them. There was no hurry. 1t was good to amuse
themselves in their high and dim-lit world.
Their favorite game seemed to be to crisscroSs
another as it were, in their long gliding fights, which,
beginning the top of tree would end generally
the foot of another far away the impetus of
their start and their descent would allow. Thence
they would dart nimbly to the top again, sometimes
with restrained chrr of mrth, to repeat the gay adj
venture. Sometimes, when their descent steep,
they would again toward the end OF it, by altering
probably the angle of their membranes, side planes
As they flashed specially past another touched
suddenly by white finger of moonlight their play
was like aerial game of tag. But they actually
tagged one another Most likely they took good
to avoid any approach to contact in md-aight which
might have meant fall to the dangerous forest floor
the haunt of prowling foxes, skunks, and weasels.
But though their chief dread seemed to be of the far
dark ground and its pers there pes too for the
little aeronauts in their leafy heights In the
midst of their leapng. gliding, and sailing there
hollow cry the treetops 1t melancholy
sound but full of menace repeated
long, uncertain, rackng intervals 1t sounded
enough from the hollow tree; but at its first note