Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-10-09
Bedtime Stories
By THORNTON w. BURGESS
"Hipperty, hopperty, one. two. three!
What do you think becomes of me?"

"Hipperty, hopperty. one. two: three!
What do you think becomes Of me'"
Striped Chipmunk would shout
this in his shrillest voice. Then
he would vanish from sight all in
the wink Of an eye. You couldn't
tell where he went. At least, Hap
py Jack the Gray Squirrel couldn't,
and his eyes are sharper than
yours or mine. Happy Jack was
spying. 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 every
thing. 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
day, he is the widest 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 nuts that Happy
Jack had knocked down from the
tall hickory tree when he had quar-
relied with his cousin, Chatterer the
Red Squirrel, in the top of it. Now
Striped Chipmunk had all of those
fat nuts safely hidden in his splen-
did 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 hav-
ing the best time ever fooling Hap
py Jack.
The corn is riDe: the nuts do fall:
AcornS are sweet and plump.
soon will have my storehouse full
Inside the hollow stump.
Striped Chipmunk sang this just
as if no one was anywhere near
and he was singing just for joy.
OF course, Happy Jack heard 1t,
and he grinned to himself.
so, your storehouse is in hol-
low stump. my smart little cousin"
said Happy Jack to himself. If
that's the case III soon find 1t"
Striped Chipmunk scurried along,
and now he took pains always to do
keep in sight. Happy Jack fol-
lowed, hiding behind the trees.
Pretty soon Striped Chipmunk
picked up a plump acorn and put
it in the pocket in his right cheek.
Then he picked up another and
put that in the pocket in his left
cheek. Then he crowded another
into each. and his face was swelled
out so that you would hardly have
guessed that it was Striped Chip
munk if you had CHANGED to meet
him. MY, my, he was funny sight!
Happy Jack grinned again as he
watched, partly because Striped
Chipmunk looked so funny and
partly because he knew that II
Striped Chipmunk was going to eat
the acorns right away he wouldn't
stuff them into the pockets in his
cheeks. But he had done this very
thing and so he must be going to
take them to his storehouSe.
Off scampered Striped Chipmunk,
and after him stole Happy Jack,
his eyes shining with excitement.
Pretty soon he saw an old stump
which looked as if it must be hol-
low. Happy Jack grinned more
than ever as he carefully hid him.
self and watched. Striped Chip
munk scrambled up on the old
stump looked this wav and that
way as if to be sure that no one
was watching him. and then with a
flirt of his funny little tail he dart
ed in a little. round doorway. He
was gone long time, but by and by
out he popped. looked this way and
that way, and then scampered off
in the direction from which he had
come. Happy Jack didn't try to
follow him. He waited until he was
sure that Striped Chipmunk was
out of sight and hearing and then
he walked over to the old stump.
Its his storehouse, sure enough"