Peter looked at Seek-Seek more closely than he had, and at once he made a discovery.  “Why!” he exclaimed, “your coat has more stripes than Striped Chipmunk’s has, hasn’t it?”

“I should hope so,” retorted Seek-Seek.

“And it has little rows of spots, too!” cried Peter.  “If I had noticed those spots at first, I wouldn’t have made such a foolish mistake.  I do believe that your coat is prettier than Striped Chipmunk’s, and I had thought his as pretty as a coat can be.”

Seek-Seek looked rather pleased, though he tried not to.  “Huh!” he sniffed.  “Of course it’s prettier.  It took you a long time to find it out.  I wouldn’t trade coats with Striped Chipmunk or anybody else of my acquaintance.”

“Neither would I if I were in your place,” declared Peter.  “I wish Old Mother Nature had given me a coat like that.”  He said this so wistfully that Seek-Seek, who had started to laugh, turned his head so that Peter might not know it.  “I’m afraid it wouldn’t look so well on one as big as you,” he replied.  “Anyway, you wouldn’t be able to hide from your enemies as you can now.”

“That’s so,” said Peter thoughtfully.  “I would be easily seen in a coat like that, for a fact.  I hadn’t thought of that.  I guess Old Mother Nature knows best.  I—­I wonder how she ever happened to think of a coat like yours.”

Seek-Seek chuckled.  He had quite forgotten that he had felt offended because Peter had mistaken him for his cousin, Striped Chipmunk.  He enjoyed Peter’s admiration of his coat.  He is naturally rather talkative, and like most folks he enjoyed talking about himself.

“This coat,” said he, “has been in the family a very great while.  Of course, I don’t mean this particular coat that I am wearing,” he hastened to add, as he saw Peter beginning to grin.  “I mean this style of coat has been in the family a very long time.  My father was dressed just as I am.  So was his father and—­”

“I know,” interrupted Peter.  “You were going to say that so were all your grandfathers way back to the days when the world was young, and Old Mother Nature made the very first one of your family.  It’s funny to me that all the interesting things happened such a long time ago.  Now wasn’t that what you were going to say?”

Seek-Seek admitted that it was, and looked a little disappointed that Peter had guessed it.  But a second later he felt better when Peter asked him very politely but very earnestly for the story of how the first Ground Squirrel got such a pretty coat.  “There is a story.  I know there is a story,” declared Peter.  “Won’t you tell it to me please, Seek-Seek?”

Now Peter didn’t want to hear it any more than Seek-Seek wanted to tell it, so while Peter squatted down comfortably, Seek-Seek sat up very straight and began the story.