t
last he discovered a place quite to his liking. It was a warm deep
hollow, well up from the ground in a big beech tree, its doorway opening
toward the south.

When Ringtail poked in his furry face, he found another raccoon already
in possession of the snug hollow, but this fact did not trouble him at
all. He slid down into the hole, which was carpeted almost a foot deep
with beech leaves, and, instead of resenting the intrusion, the other
raccoon only sighed comfortably and went back to sleep. Ringtail
squeezed his big body into the warm bed of leaves, cuddling his nose
into the thick fur of his bedfellow and protecting his feet with his own
bushy tail. And there the two slept contentedly, a furry brown ball,
until the warm spring sun peeping in at their doorway called them
forth.

THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF RINGTAIL, THE RACCOON

Late one summer afternoon a hush lay over the wilderness. The air was so
still that even the poplar leaves, which move at the slightest breath,
hung motionless. The swamp steamed in the heat, and even in the more
open forest the air was sultry and oppressive. Birds and wild creatures
waited panting for the relief of darkness, seeming to move more silently
and furtively than usual. The sun sank behind a bank of angry-looking
clouds, but even after dusk had shrouded the trails there was only
slight relief from the heat.

Ringtail climbed from the home tree to which he had returned in the
spring, and set out for the swamp, eager for a meal of frogs and fish in
spite of the strange, oppressive feeling in the air. About midnight,
while he was still abroad, the storm broke and swept over the
wilderness, leaving its path strewn with a tangled mass of brush and
fallen trees. Fortunate it was for Ringtail that he was not at home,
for the great beech crashed to the earth, where it lay upon the forest
floor, the entrance to the raccoon's house buried from sight. Thus
Ringtail found it when he returned from his fishing, having safely
weathered the storm under a ledge of rock.

His comfortable home was gone, but Ringtail was not one to complain. The
next night found him abroad in search of a new dwelling, moving being no
trouble at all for him. In the course of his wanderings he came to the
rail fence which protected the clearing of the Hermit. Standing with his
front feet on the lower rail, Ringtail surveyed the house and the
cleared ground flooded with moonlight. A dark object at the top o