, I see you are not," spoke Slicko, with a laugh, which showed her
sharp, white teeth. "But what are you doing so far away from your pen?
Or, perhaps it is close by, though I never saw you in these woods
before," she went on, looking around as if she might see the pig pen
under one of the trees.

"No, I have never been here before," Squinty answered. "My pen is far
from here. My master is a boy who taught me to do tricks, such as
jumping rope, but I ran away and had a balloon ride."

"What's a balloon?" asked Slicko, as she combed out her tail with a
chestnut burr. Squirrels always use chestnut burrs for combs.

"A balloon is something that goes up in the air," answered Squinty, "and
it has bags of sand in it."

"Well, I can go up in the air, when I climb a tree," went on Slicko,
with a jolly laugh. "Am I a balloon?"

"No, you are not," said Squinty. "A balloon is very different."

"Well, I know where there is some sand," spoke Slicko. "I could get some
of that and put it in leaf-bags. Would that make me a balloon?"

"Oh, no, of course not," Squinty answered. "You could never be a
balloon. But if you know where there is some sand perhaps you know where
there is some sour milk. I am very hungry."

"I never heard of sour milk," replied the girl squirrel. "But I know
where to find some nuts. Do you like hickory nuts?"

"I--I guess so," answered Squinty, thinking, perhaps, they were like
acorns. "Please show me where there are some."

"Come on!" chattered Slicko. She led the way through the woods, leaping
from one tree branch to another over Squinty's head. The little pig ran
along on the ground, through the dry leaves. Sometimes he went on four
feet and sometimes he stood up straight on his hind feet.

"Can you do that?" he asked the squirrel. "It is a trick the boy taught
me."

"Oh, yes, I can sit up on my hind legs, and eat a nut," the squirrel
girl said. "But nobody taught me. I could always do it. I don't call
that a trick."

"Well, it is a trick for me," said Squinty. "But where are the hickory
nuts you spoke of?"

"Right here," answered Slicko, the jumping squirrel, hopping about as
lively as a cricket, and she pointed to a pile of nuts in a hollow
stump. Squinty tried to chew some, but, as soon as he took them in his
mouth he cried out:

"Oh my! How hard the shells are! This is worse than the sand! I can't
chew hickory nuts! Have you no other kind?"

"Oh, yes, I know where there are some acorns,"