The Mystery of the Night Explorers. Mary Adrian

      The Tree House

      Jimmy climbed to the top of the giant oak tree. He swung out on a limb, curled around it, and managed to get into a sittting position.

      “Hey, Randy, aren’t you coming up?” he called to his cousin, who had started to climb the tree but was not making much progress.

      “Yes, I’m coming,” answered Randy, pulling himself up a bit farther. He was the same age as Jimmy, ten years old, but climbing trees was something new to him because he lived in an apartment house in New York City. However, since he was going to spend two weeks visiting Jimmy in the country, he decided he had better become a tree climber, even if it made him dizzy to look down at the ground below. Randy swung up onto another branch.

      “You’re doing fine,” encouraged Jimmy. “Once you get up here, youll feel you’re sitting on top of the world.”

      Randy grunted, took a deep breath, and climbed higher. He was almost to the top of the tree now.

      Jimmy moved farther out on the limb to make room for him. “This is a strong branch. It will hold us both.”

      “I hope so.” Randy’s voice sounded weak as he. slowly made his way next to Jimmy. Then, holding onto the branch for dear life, he sat there with eyes closed.

      “Why are your eyes closed?” asked Jimmy, glancing at his cousin in surprise. “You’re not scared, are you?”

      “Shucks, no. It’s just I’ve never sat in the top of a tree before.” Randy opened one eye, then the other, and stared straight ahead. He could see the Connecticut town of Hanneford in the distance with its church steeple looming up like a tall candle over roofs of houses. Then, without thinking, he looked down at the brook that was a stone’s throw away from the oak tree. To his delight he no longer felt dizzy.

      “It is fun up here!” he exclaimed. “Why, you can see for miles around, and you can see close up, too.” Randy now was getting a good view of the stone wall that separated the property belonging to Jimmy’s family from their neighbor’s. “What kind of a little animal is that running along the fence?” he asked.

      “It’s a chipmunk,” replied Jimmy. “He lives in a hole under the fence. Boy, can he stuff nuts in his mouth! I watched him take lots of nuts to his hole last fall before he hibernated.”

      “Hibernated?” Randy was puzzled.

      “Before he went to sleep for the winter,” explained Jimmy.

      Randy looked at his cousin with admiration. “You know a lot about animals and things. I wish I did.”

      Jimmy was pleased. Ever since he was a little boy he had showed a great interest in the outdoors. His grandfather had hoped he would become a naturalist. Unfortunately, the old man had died when Jimmy was six years old. It would have made him very happy to see how Jimmy had taken to nature study and to know that he wanted to be a naturalist when he grew up. He also planned to write books on what he saw and discovered about the woodland creatures.

      Right now, as Jimmy looked out from the giant oak tree, an idea suddenly came to him. “You know what, Randy? We should build a tree house up here. Then we’d be able to watch all kinds of animals. We could study different birds, too, and we might find out something about them that no one else knows.”

      “Boy, I think a tree house would be super!” answered Randy. To show his enthusiasm he shouted at the top of his lungs. His cry frightened a gray squirrel. She disappeared into her summer nest in a hickory tree.

      The hickory stood fairly close to the giant oak tree so that by carefully moving farther out on the limb, Jimmy was able to study the squirrel’s nest. It was made of leaves and twigs and looked like a crow’s nest.

      “Let’s camouflage our tree house,” Jimmy said to Randy.

      “Camouflage? What’s that?” asked Randy. “You certainly know a lot of big words!”

      “We’ll disguise the house,” answered Jimmy. “We’ll make it look like the squirrel’s summer nest. Of course, our house will be much bigger, but we’ll cover it with plenty of leaves so that we can watch the red fox. He won’t know we’re spying on him because hell think our tree house is just a bunch of leaves.”

      “Does a red fox really live on your place?’’ asked Randy.

      “I’m not sure, but I hope so,” answered Jimmy. “A couple of weeks ago I saw a red fox from here. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen one on our place. I tried to track him to his den. I lost him, though, before I could find out where he lives. He’s a sly fellow. I’d give anything to know more about him.”

      “I would, too,” said Randy. “The only fox I’ve ever seen was in a zoo. It’s not much fun to watch an animal in a cage, so I’m all for spying on the red fox, and any other animals that come along. When do we start to build our house?”

      “Soon, I hope,” replied Jimmy, “but I’ll have to get Dad’s permission if we have it here. You see, this oak is a hundred and fifty years old, and it’s one of Dad’s favorite trees on the place.”

      “It sure is a whopper,” said Randy. “What will we call our house? I guess it should have a mysterious name if we’re going to camouflage it”—he proudly used the new word—”and make it look like the squirrel’s summer nest.”

      Jimmy agreed, and after that the boys were silent, trying to think up a good name.

      A breeze soon cooled their warm faces. It felt good on that hot summer day. The same breeze blew back a leaf that had been hiding an insect on a branch near the boys. It was long-legged, with a body shaped like a twig. First it moved one leg and then the other along the branch.

      Jimmy spotted the insect and pointed it out to Randy. “It’s a walking stick. I’ll bet it fools many birds by being shaped like a twig, just as we’ll fool the red fox with our camouflaged tree house. Gosh, I wish I could think of a name for it!”