Like his cousin, Happy Jack,
Rusty is a great help to me."
Seeing how surprised everybody looked, Mother Nature explained.
"Both Happy Jack and Rusty bury a great many more nuts than they
ever need," said she, "and those they do not dig up sprout in the
spring and grow. In that way they plant ever so many trees without
knowing it. Just remember that, Chatterer, the next time you are
tempted to quarrel with your cousin, Happy Jack. Very likely Happy
Jack's great-great-ever-so-great grandfather planted the very tree
you get your fattest and best hickory nuts from.
"Way out in the mountains of the Far West you have a cousin called
the Douglas Squirrel, who is really a true Red Squirrel and whose
habits are very much like your own. Some folks call him the Pine
Squirrel. By the way, Chatterer, Happy Jack forgot to say that
you are a good swimmer. Perhaps he didn't know it."
By the expression of Happy Jack's face it was quite clear that he
didn't know it. "Certainly I can swim," said Chatterer. I don't
mind the water at all. I can swim a long distance if I have to."
This was quite as much news to Peter Rabbit as had been the fact
that a cousin of his own was a good swimmer, and he began to feel
something very like respect for Chatterer.
"Are there any other Tree Squirrels?" asked Jumper the Hare.
"Yes," replied Old Mother Nature, "there are two--the handsomest
of all the family.
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