e."

When he reached his own tree, he was obliged to ascend to his nest by a
different way, for squirrels cannot leap up to any place that is very
far above them; so he ran along the ground for a little distance, to
the bottom of the oak, which was surrounded by a very close thicket of
brambles.

In this thicket lived several families of dormice, who were Brush's
relations, and the waggish squirrel called out to one of them as he
passed, "Hallo, cousin Gotobed! The summer is almost over. If you don't
make haste, all the nuts and acorns will be gone!" But there was no
possibility of making his cousin Gotobed hear; for you must know, that
a dormouse is a very sleepy little fellow indeed; even more so than a
squirrel.

Brush was soon in his own warm nest, where he found all his family
safe, and sound asleep, as he had left them. This nest, as I have
mentioned, was made in a hole in the upper part of a very large
oak-tree, and was almost as dry and warm as any bedroom in our houses.
It was lined with dry leaves and soft moss, and in another part of the
hole, which was large enough for five or six squirrels' nests, there
was a great heap of nuts, acorns, and beechmast, which the careful
Brush and his family had collected in the autumn.

Besides this stock of food, there were two more hoards, hidden in holes
in different parts of the tree for the cunning squirrels thought, that,
if some thief should wish to rob them of their treasures, he would not
be very likely to discover all three of their storehouses.

If it were not for this large stock of provisions, the poor squirrels
would be starved to death, in very mild winters, because then they do
not sleep so much, and fresh food cannot be procured.

When Brush was in his comfortable nest, safe from the cold wind and
rain, though he had almost filled his stomach with young buds, he
thought he would try one of his nuts, just to see how they had kept
through the winter. Holding the nut in his hands, his sharp teeth soon
gnawed through the shell, and when he had reached the kernel, the
dainty little fellow would not eat a bit till he had carefully removed
every particle of the dry brown skin from it.

"A very sweet nut, I declare," said he, "nuts are not to be despised, after
all. Dear me, I think I feel rather sleepy again! Nuts are not bad things,
but as I was saying before, rather dry, when one has nothing else. But
really I am very sleepy. 'Tis either the cold wind, or