CHAPTER IX

THE TWINS HAVE TO GO HOME

Obedience¹ is good to see,

Especially when up a tree.

Mother Bear.

Boxer² and Woof-Woof were having the best time of their short lives. Climbing was great fun. Although this was the first time they had climbed a tree, they already felt quite at home up there where the branches grew. It was fun just to climb from branch to branch. It was still greater fun to chase that red-coated little rascal³ who had tried to scare them out of that tree. You see, this was the first time the[53] twins had found any one afraid of them, and it made them feel quite important. It made them feel big. They felt twice as big as when they had whimperingly started to climb that tree. So the twins were having a wonderful time.

But Chatterer the Red Squirrel was having anything but a wonderful time. He was wishing with all his might that he had kept his saucy⁴ tongue still; that he had not jumped over into that tree to try to scare those cubs⁵; that he had not followed them in the first place; that they would become dizzy and afraid. He even wished that they would fall. The fact is, Chatterer was[54] so badly frightened that he was capable of wishing almost anything dreadful if it would only give him a chance to escape.

Now if Chatterer had not been so badly frightened, he would have seen that Boxer, the twin who was in the lead, was already hesitating. He had reached a point where the branches were so small that they bent⁶ dangerously when he stepped on them. He had climbed as high as it was safe for him to climb, and he knew it. But having set out to catch that red mischief-maker, he couldn’t bear to give up. That is, he felt that if he did give up, Chatterer would boast that he had been too smart for the cubs[55] and would make fun of them. And this is just what Chatterer would have done.

So while Chatterer was wishing with all his might that something would happen to those twins, the twins were wishing for some good excuse for stopping the chase without losing the respect they knew Chatterer now had for them.

Just then a deep, grumbly-rumbly voice came up to them from the foot of the tree. “Come down at once,” said the voice. It was the voice of Mother Bear.

“Yes’m,” replied Woof-Woof meekly⁷, beginning to climb down.

“I want to catch this fellow who tried to scare us,” whined[56] Boxer, pretending that he didn’t want to come down.

“You heard what I said,” replied Mother Bear, and her voice was more grumbly-rumbly than before. “It is time to go home. Come down this instant.”

“Yes’m,” replied Boxer, and this time he said it quite as meekly as had his sister Woof-Woof. There was something in the sound of Mother Bear’s voice that warned Boxer that it would be unwise to disobey.

So, with a warning to Chatterer that next time he would not get off so easily, Boxer began to climb down after Woof-Woof. When the cubs reached the lowest branches and had only the[57] straight trunk to which to cling, they were once more afraid, and all the way down they whimpered. Somehow it was harder to climb down than up. It often is. But at last they were on the ground. Mother Bear’s eyes twinkled with pride, but she took care that the cubs should not see this.

“Obedience,” said she, “is the first great lesson in life. It saved you a spanking⁸ this time.” Then she led the way home.

And as Boxer and Woof-Woof followed, doing exactly as she did, they heard the jeering⁹ voice of Chatterer the Red Squirrel.

“Couldn’t catch me! Couldn’t catch me!” jeered¹⁰ Chatterer.