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diff --git a/old/63191-0.txt b/old/63191-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index ecf42e2..0000000 --- a/old/63191-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3241 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Winkie, the Wily Woodchuck, by Richard Barnum - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Winkie, the Wily Woodchuck - Her Many Adventures - -Author: Richard Barnum - -Illustrator: Walter S. Rogers - -Release Date: September 13, 2020 [EBook #63191] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WINKIE, THE WILY WOODCHUCK *** - - - - -Produced by Donald Cummings and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - -[Illustration: “Winkie! It’s my Winkie!” cried Mrs. Woodchuck.] - - - - - _Kneetime Animal Stories_ - - - WINKIE, THE WILY - WOODCHUCK - - HER MANY ADVENTURES - - - BY - RICHARD BARNUM - - Author of “Squinty, the Comical Pig,” “Tum Tum, the - Jolly Elephant,” “Tamba, the Tame Tiger,” - “Toto, the Bustling Beaver,” “Shaggo, - the Mighty Buffalo,” etc. - - - _ILLUSTRATED BY_ - WALTER S. ROGERS - - - PUBLISHERS - BARSE & HOPKINS - NEW YORK, N. Y. NEWARK, N. J. - - - - -KNEETIME ANIMAL STORIES - -By Richard Barnum - -_Large 12mo. Illustrated._ - - - SQUINTY, THE COMICAL PIG - SLICKO, THE JUMPING SQUIRREL - MAPPO, THE MERRY MONKEY - TUM TUM, THE JOLLY ELEPHANT - DON, A RUNAWAY DOG - DIDO, THE DANCING BEAR - BLACKIE, A LOST CAT - FLOP EAR, THE FUNNY RABBIT - TINKLE, THE TRICK PONY - LIGHT FOOT, THE LEAPING GOAT - CHUNKY, THE HAPPY HIPPO - SHARP EYES, THE SILVER FOX - NERO, THE CIRCUS LION - TAMBA, THE TAME TIGER - TOTO, THE BUSTLING BEAVER - SHAGGO, THE MIGHTY BUFFALO - WINKIE, THE WILY WOODCHUCK - - BARSE & HOPKINS - New York, N. Y. Newark, N. J. - - - Copyright, 1922 - by - Barse & Hopkins - - - _Winkie, the Wily Woodchuck_ - - - PRINTED IN THE U. S. A. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER PAGE - I WINKIE PLAYS TAG 7 - II WINKIE HEARS A NOISE 16 - III WINKIE FINDS A WAY OUT 27 - IV WINKIE IN THE WOODS 37 - V WINKIE MEETS DON 46 - VI WINKIE IN A STORM 55 - VII WINKIE IN A TRAP 68 - VIII WINKIE’S NEW HOME 75 - IX WINKIE LEARNS TRICKS 86 - X WINKIE IS IN DANGER 96 - XI WINKIE GETS OUT 104 - XII WINKIE FINDS HER FOLKS 110 - - - - -ILLUSTRATIONS - - - “Winkie! It’s my Winkie!” cried Mrs. Woodchuck _Frontispiece_ - - PAGE - - And run home is what Winkie and Blunk did 19 - - By pulling and hauling they managed to get Mrs. Woodchuck - up and out 43 - - Caused Winkie to bump into a tree full tilt 57 - - Out toppled Winkie 83 - - She came out of her pen and did her tricks 99 - - Winkie ate so much she could hardly waddle 115 - - - - -WINKIE, THE WILY WOODCHUCK - - - - -CHAPTER I - -WINKIE PLAYS TAG - - -“What shall we do next?” asked Winkie, the wily woodchuck. - -“Isn’t it too hot to do anything?” was what Blinkie, her sister, wanted -to know. “Let’s just sit here by the front door, where we can easily -pop down into our underground house if anything happens.” - -“Do you think anything is going to happen?” asked Winkie, who was -called wily because she was so smart and careful, always on the lookout -for traps and danger. “If you think anything is going to happen,” went -on Winkie, speaking to her sister, “I’m going in now and tell mother. -I’d tell pa, only he isn’t home yet from the woods, where he went to -get something special to eat.” - -“Oh, I don’t know that there is any special danger,” said Blinkie, as -she pawed out a bit of thistle that had become stuck to her fur. “But -it’s too hot to do anything, Winkie.” - -“Except to eat clover,” half grunted Blunk, who was the woodchuck -brother of Winkie and Blinkie. “Let’s go over in the farmer’s big field -and eat a lot more clover,” suggested Blunk. You know clover is what -woodchucks like best of all. - -“Clover!” laughed Winkie, tapping her brother playfully on his black -nose. “If you eat any more clover, Blunk, it will run out of your ears, -as grandma says.” - -“Pooh! I never eat too much clover!” boasted Blunk. “And I’m going over -to the field now and get some more. Do you girls want to come?” he -asked. “I know where there’s some clover with red blossoms.” - -“Oh, it’s too hot to move, especially with this thick fur we have to -wear,” said Blinkie. “In the winter it isn’t bad; but now, with summer -coming on, I wish I didn’t have so much fur.” - -“Some of it will fall out, so mother said,” explained Winkie. “She -told me that the fur of all woodchucks and other animals like us gets -thinner in summer.” - -“Well, I’m glad of it,” sighed Blinkie, stretching out her two front -paws lazily. “I’m so warm now I don’t know what to do!” - -“Let’s slide down the back-door hole inside our burrow,” suggested -Winkie. “We can have fun that way, and it’s nice and cool away down -deep underground. Let’s slide down the back-door hole!” - -Woodchucks, you know, have two holes, or doors, leading into their -houses, which are dug in the earth below the surface. The reason for -this is that if a fox, or other pursuing animal, chases them down one -hole they can run out the other. - -“Oh, I don’t want to slide down any holes!” complained Blinkie. - -“Nor I,” added Blunk. “I’m going over after clover.” - -“Don’t let the farmer catch you eating his clover, or he may set a trap -for you or fire his gun at you,” warned Blinkie, as her brother waddled -off, his little short legs slowly carrying his rather fat body. - -“I’ll be careful,” promised Blunk. - -Winkie stood for a moment near the edge of the sloping hole that led -down into the dark underground house. This hole was the front door of -the little woodchuck’s home. The back door was around behind a big -rock. The hole had been used so often by the woodchuck family when -crawling in and out that the bottom of it was worn smooth. When it -rained, and the earth became wet, the front entrance to the burrow was -very slippery. - -But the back door had been dug down through some earth that had in -it many shale-rocks――that is rocks which were little flat pieces of -smooth stone. On these it was almost as easy for a woodchuck to slide -as it is for a boy or girl to slide or coast on the ice or snow. Winkie -knew she did not need to wait until it rained to have a slide on the -shale-covered back-door hole, and this she was now eager to do. Only, -she didn’t want to play alone! - -“Please come on and slide with me,” begged Winkie of Blinkie. - -“No, indeed!” answered the other woodchuck girl. “It’s too warm. I’m -going to sleep.” - -“Well, I’ll have to go by myself then,” said Winkie, a bit sadly. “Will -you play after you wake up, Blinkie?” - -“Maybe――maybe,” answered Blinkie, sleepily. - -“Oh, I never saw such creatures!” murmured Winkie, as she ran along, -giving a look toward her sister and a glance over into the next field -where Blunk was nibbling clover. “All they think about is eating -and sleeping! I’m going to do something! I wish I could have some -adventures! That’s what I wish――adventures! - -“Flop Ear, the rabbit who used to live here before he went away, had -lots of adventures. He told me so when he came here on a visit. Oh -dear! I wonder if I’ll ever have any adventures?” - -Had she only known it, Winkie was, even then, about to start some very -wonderful adventures, which I will tell you about. - -But just at present all there seemed for the little girl woodchuck to -do was to slide down the back-door hole of her underground home. And -this she did until she was tired. - -She would gather her paws under her, sit down on the smooth shale-rocks -at the top of the hole, give herself a little push, and down she would -go, landing in the big underground earth-room, where all the woodchucks -of this one family lived. - -“My goodness, Winkie! what are you doing?” cried her mother, who was -having a nap all by herself. - -“Just sliding down the hole,” answered Winkie. “Blinkie and Blunk won’t -play with me, so I have to slide all alone.” - -Mrs. Woodchuck did not answer, for she had fallen asleep once more. But -she awakened when Winkie came sliding down again, and the mother of the -little animal girl said: - -“I wish, Winkie, you’d go somewhere else to play. I want to sleep, and -you wake me up every time you land.” - -“All right, Mother, I’ll see if I can get Blunk and Blinkie to play -tag,” said Winkie, for she was a good little thing. - -Taking just one more slide, while her mother was still awake, Winkie -crawled up the back-door hole again, and went softly to Blinkie’s side. -Blinkie was still slumbering. - -“Tag! You’re it!” suddenly cried Winkie in her sister’s ear. - -“What’s that? You’re going to put me in a bag? Oh, please, Mr. Farmer, -don’t put me in a bag!” begged Blinkie. “I didn’t take any of your -clover!” - -“Ha! Ha!” laughed Winkie, as Blinkie sat up, rubbing her eyes. “You -must have been dreaming that you were over in the field with Blunk, -taking clover! I’m not a farmer, and I haven’t any bag. I just cried, -‘Tag! You’re it!’ Come on and play!” - -“Oh, it’s you,” said Blinkie, not frightened now that she saw only her -sister. “Yes, I was dreaming. And when you awakened me so suddenly I -thought you were a farmer trying to catch me in a bag.” - -“Well, come on and have a little tag game and you’ll feel better,” -advised Winkie. “I can’t slide any more because mother wants to sleep. -Let’s play tag!” - -“You go and tag Blunk,” suggested Blinkie. “I’ll be wider awake after -that, and then I’ll play. Go and tag Blunk.” - -“All right,” agreed Winkie, who was very obliging. “I hope he hasn’t -fallen asleep from eating too much clover,” she added. - -But Blunk was wide awake. He was sitting up on his haunches, as a dog -sits up to beg, and he was slowly nipping off the sweet clover tops and -the tender leaves, chewing them very contentedly. - -“Hello, Winkie! So you came over, after all, to get something to eat, -did you?” asked Blunk. - -“No, I came to see you,” replied Winkie. “Tag! You’re it!” she suddenly -cried, tapping her brother with an extended paw, and then springing -away before he could touch her. “Come on! Chase me!” - -Blunk was fonder of games than was his sister Blinkie, who, to tell the -truth, was a bit lazy. So when Blunk found he was “it,” he made up his -mind not to stay that way any longer than need be. - -“Oh, I’ll tag you all right!” he cried, racing after his sister Winkie. -“I’ll tag you!” - -“If you do, then I’ll tag Blinkie and we can have a regular game!” -merrily laughed Winkie, as she sprang over a clump of clover. “This is -more fun than sliding down the back-hole door all alone, or even going -to sleep. Come on, Blunk! Let’s see you tag me!” she cried. - -Nearly always when the woodchuck children played a game of tag, or any -other running game, Blunk would easily catch Winkie or Blinkie. For, -being a boy woodchuck and strong, he could go faster than the girls. -And this time Blunk thought he would have no trouble in tapping Winkie -with his paw, tagging her and making her “it.” - -But Blunk forgot about all the clover he had eaten. He had, I am sorry -to say, rather stuffed himself. He had eaten too much, but not enough -to make himself ill, for animals know better than that. But Blunk had -swallowed so much clover that his little stomach was sticking out like -a toy balloon, and this made him so heavy that he could not run fast. - -Because of this, Winkie could easily keep ahead of him. On and on -ran the wily little girl woodchuck, laughing and teasing her brother -because he could not catch her to tag her. - -“Come on! Come on!” cried Winkie. “Why don’t you tag me, Blunk?” - -“I will――in a――minute!” panted Blunk. “I――I haven’t started――running――yet!” - -He was getting out of breath, and he was beginning to wish he had -done what Winkie had asked him to do at first――come and play with -her――instead of eating so much clover. - -“But I’ll catch her after a while. I always do,” thought Blunk to -himself, as he raced on and on, while Winkie, the wily woodchuck, -dashed this way and that, making quick turns, which was the best way of -avoiding her brother. - -“I never knew her to keep away from me so long as this――before. I――I -guess I ate too much clover!” panted Blunk. - -“I know you did!” called Winkie, laughing, for her brother had said -this last thought aloud. “Ha! Ha! You can’t tag me!” - -“Yes, I can! There! Now you’re it!” cried Blunk. - -He gave a sudden jump, and so did Winkie, for she wanted to keep from -being tagged as long as possible. Just as she and Blunk leaped, a harsh -voice cried: - -“Ha! There’s them pesky woodchucks in my clover again! I’ll fix ’em!” - -There was a loud bang, like a clap of thunder, and as Blunk looked back -he saw his sister falling in a crumpled heap. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -WINKIE HEARS A NOISE - - -Blunk, the boy woodchuck, was so frightened by what he heard and -especially by what he saw――his sister falling in a heap amid the -clover――that for a little while he could do nothing. He stopped short, -and hid down under a big bunch of the red blossoms and green leaves. - -“Oh! Oh! What has happened?” thought poor Blunk. - -It was not the noise that he minded, for he had often heard thunder -when rain storms made the ground wet. Though now there was not a cloud -in the sky, which was bright blue, and the sun was gaily shining. So it -could not have been thunder. - -“There!” cried the man. “I guess I shot one of them pesky woodchucks -that time! I’ll teach ’em to take my clover!” - -There was a queer smell in the air――a powder smell, though Blunk did -not know what it was then. And there was a little cloud of blue smoke -near Farmer Tottle, for it was he who had fired the gun at Blunk and -Winkie. - -“Yes, sir!” went on the farmer, lowering his gun, from the end of which -more blue smoke floated. “I got one of the woodchucks!” - -“Ha!” suddenly cried Winkie, jumping up from the grass and clover where -she was hidden near Blunk. “He didn’t get me!” - -“Oh!” cried Blunk, who was less quick-witted than his wily sister and -who was very much surprised when Winkie leaped up so suddenly. “Oh, I’m -so glad! I thought something had happened to you, Winkie!” - -“Something really did happen,” said the girl woodchuck. “Keep still, -Blunk! Don’t move! Don’t look up!” - -“Why not?” - -“Because that man might shoot you! He’s got a gun! I saw him pointing -it, and, just in time, I stumbled and fell.” - -“On purpose?” asked Blunk. - -“Yes! Of course! Suppose I wanted to get shot? Keep still now!” - -The two little woodchucks kept close together and hid themselves down -under the clover tops. They could hear the heavy, tramping feet of -Farmer Tottle, though of course they did not know his name. - -“Keep still now――he’s coming!” whispered Winkie to Blunk. The little -girl woodchuck really did not need to tell her brother this. Blunk, -though slower witted than the wily Winkie, was not foolish, and did not -need be warned of his danger. - -Of course they talked in woodchuck language, just as dogs talk in their -language and cats in theirs. Winkie and Blunk could not understand what -the man said, though they understood some of the things he did. Nor -could Farmer Tottle hear, much less understand, what the woodchucks -said. Animals seem able to talk to one another, even if they are from -different countries and are quite different one from the other. - -Nearer and nearer came the heavy, tramping feet of the farmer. Winkie -and Blunk wanted to dart away and hide in their underground house, but -they did not dare come out from beneath the sheltering clover. - -“That’s funny!” muttered the farmer to himself. “I’m sure I shot one of -them pesky woodchucks, but I can’t find it! There were two, but they’ve -got away somewhere. If I only had Buster, my dog, he’d nose ’em out. -Guess that’s what I’ll do――I’ll go get Buster!” - -Winkie and Blunk kept so quiet under the clover that though the farmer -was very close to them he did not see them. And when he turned to go -back to the barn, to get his dog Buster, Winkie and Blunk thought this -would be a good time for them to run home. - -[Illustration: And run home is what Winkie and Blunk did.] - -Of course they did not know the farmer had gone after his dog, but the -woodchuck children knew they had been in danger; and where there is -danger once for an animal, there may be danger a second time. - -“Come on, Winkie!” said Blunk in a low voice, as the footsteps of the -farmer died away in the distance. “Let’s run!” - -“Do you want to play tag any more?” asked Winkie, astonished. - -“Tag? No, indeed!” exclaimed her brother. “All I want to do is to get -home. And you’d better come with me. It’s a good thing Blinkie didn’t -come, for if there were three of us that man might more easily have -seen one of us. Come on now――let’s run!” - -And run home is what Winkie and Blunk did. They ran as fast as when -they had been playing tag. But this was no joyful race; it was a race -full of danger. For there was no telling when the farmer might shoot -his gun again, or when he might return with his dog. - -Though Winkie and Blunk felt pretty safe as they ran through the deep -clover, they also felt their little hearts beating very fast as they -neared their burrow, or underground house. - -“My goodness!” exclaimed Blinkie, in woodchuck talk, as her brother and -sister came leaping up to the front door. “What’s your hurry on such a -hot day?” - -“Hurry?” gasped Blunk. “I guess you’d be in a hurry if you’d seen and -heard what happened to us! Wouldn’t she, Winkie?” - -“Indeed she would!” said Winkie. “Oh, such a terrible time!” - -“What’s the matter?” asked Mother Woodchuck, coming up into the air -after her sleep. “What’s all the excitement about?” - -“We were playing tag,” began Winkie, “when all at once there was a -noise like thunder――” - -“But it wasn’t thunder. It was a man with a gun shooting at us,” -interrupted Blunk. - -“Oh, my dears! A man with a gun, shooting!” cried Mrs. Woodchuck. “Oh, -my poor children! What shall we do? I wish your father was home! Oh, -this is dreadful!” - -“Don’t worry, Mother!” said Blunk kindly. “We ran away from the man -with the gun, and I don’t believe he can find us. And neither of us got -shot. Winkie threw herself down in the clover and hid just in time.” -Blunk was proud of his clever, wily sister. - -“Oh, but suppose he comes here!” cried Mrs. Woodchuck. - -“I don’t believe he can find our burrow,” said Blinkie, a bit proudly. -“Daddy and you made our underground house in a place that isn’t easy -to find.” - -“Besides, it has two doors,” said Winkie. “And you told us that made it -much safer, Mother.” - -“I suppose it is as safe as any house can be,” said the woodchuck lady. -“Still, even with two doors, something may happen. I wish your father -would come home.” - -And a little later Mr. Woodchuck came home. In his paws he carried some -yellow carrots and a white turnip. - -“See what I have brought for you!” he cried, as he scrambled down the -front door of the underground house. - -“Oh, how lovely!” cried Blinkie. - -“Why, what is the matter?” asked Mr. Woodchuck, dropping the carrots -and the turnip in a heap on the floor. “Has anything happened?” he -asked, for he could tell by looking at his wife and children that -something was wrong. - -“Winkie and Blunk were in great danger to-day,” said Mrs. Woodchuck. -“And I am afraid we shall have to move out of our lovely home. Tell -your father about the man with the gun, children!” - -Winkie and Blunk related what had happened in the clover field when -they were playing tag. At the end of the story Mr. Woodchuck looked as -worried as did his wife. - -“What are we going to do?” asked the woodchuck mother, looking -anxiously at her husband. “Shall we have to move?” - -“Let me think a minute,” said the father woodchuck. “Tell me,” he went -on, speaking to Winkie and Blunk. “Did the man follow you all the way -to our burrow?” - -“No. He turned around and went back after he shot at us and didn’t hit -either of us,” said Blunk. - -“Well, then,” went on the father woodchuck, “I think we shall be safe -here for another day or so. Men are stupid creatures. It is only by -accident that he could find this burrow.” - -“Maybe his dog could,” suggested Winkie. - -“Yes, a dog is smarter than a man when it comes to that,” said Mr. -Woodchuck. “But don’t worry any more right away. Eat the good things I -brought home, and I will think what is best to do.” - -The three woodchuck children, Winkie, Blinkie, and Blunk, soon forgot -their troubles in eating the sweet carrots and turnip. Even though -Blunk had eaten so much clover he could hardly run, he was now ready -for the good things his father had brought home. - -“Where did you get them?” asked Blinkie, nibbling the end of a carrot. - -“I found them in a field,” answered Mr. Woodchuck. “There were so many -I don’t believe the farmer will mind my taking a few.” - -“Maybe they were planted by the same man who fired a gun at Winkie and -me,” suggested Blunk. - -“Maybe,” said his father. “Why don’t you eat some?” he asked his wife, -for she had not even nibbled the outside skin of the turnip. - -“I am too worried to eat!” she answered. “I hate to think of having to -move.” - -“Perhaps we may not be driven to that,” said Mr. Woodchuck, who was -more cheerful than his wife. “And if we do, we can easily dig a new -burrow, or find a place to stay. This is summer, and the ground is soft. - -“I’ll tell you what we’ll do,” he went on. “We’ll be ready to run away -at the slightest sign of danger. If that farmer comes to our front door -we’ll run out the back door; and if he comes to the back door we’ll -skip out the front, and all will be well.” - -“It sounds all right,” said Mother Woodchuck. “I only hope it happens -that way.” - -But it did not. Things in the woodchuck world, just as in your world -and mine, very often do not turn out the way they are expected to. -For several days, however, after the game of tag and the shooting of -the gun, nothing happened in the woodchuck home. For a time Winkie, -Blinkie, and Blunk hardly poked their noses outside the back or front -door. But as the days passed and no farmer with his gun and dog came, -the children became bolder. - -They played tag and other games and ate the clover and the other good -things their father and mother brought home. Then, one morning, just as -Mr. Woodchuck was starting out to go to a distant field, and when the -children were about to go out and play, Winkie held up her paw and said: - -“Listen! I hear a noise!” - - - - -CHAPTER III - -WINKIE FINDS A WAY OUT - - -Just as soon as Winkie told the other woodchucks to be quiet and -listen, they all remained as still as though frozen in their places. -Not one made a move. This is what wild animals always do when they -hear or see anything strange. They stay quiet for just a moment or two -before making up their minds what is best to do to save themselves from -danger. And that danger was at hand Winkie, the wily woodchuck, felt -sure. - -As I have told you, she was the smartest of all the woodchuck children, -and that is why her mother nicknamed her “Wily,” which means smart and -cunning. - -“I don’t hear anything!” whispered Blunk. - -“Hark!” cautioned Winkie once more. - -This time they all heard it. Silently they listened in their -underground house to the strange noise. It was up above them――a -thudding, rasping, scraping sound. - -“What can it be?” asked Mrs. Woodchuck. She spoke in a whisper, as, -indeed, they all did, for they knew their little whispering voices -could not be heard outside their burrow. - -“I don’t know what it is,” answered Mr. Woodchuck. “But whatever it is -I’m glad Winkie heard it before I started out; otherwise I might have -run right into danger!” - -“Do you suppose it’s that farmer looking for us?” asked Blinkie. - -“Or his dog?” added Blunk. - -“If it’s a dog maybe I could fool him in some way!” said Winkie. - -“How can you fool a dog?” Winkie’s mother asked. - -“I can poke my nose out of the back door, and when he sees me I’ll duck -down in here again,” explained Winkie. - -“What good will that do?” asked Daddy Woodchuck. “You would only be -running your nose into danger!” - -“Well, but listen!” exclaimed Winkie, and she was so eager that she -forgot to speak in a whisper until her mother said: - -“Hush! Keep quiet!” - -“All right,” hissed Winkie. “But this is what I could do. I could poke -my nose out of our back door. The dog would see me, and run to get me. -I’d duck down in here, and the dog would begin digging at the back door -to make it big enough for him to come down.” - -“Yes, that’s just what the dog would do,” sighed Mrs. Woodchuck. “I -know dogs, to my sorrow! Once one bit me on the leg!” - -“Yes, but wait!” went on Winkie eagerly. “While the dog was digging at -our back door we could run out the front.” - -“That’s a good idea!” exclaimed Blunk. “But I think I’m the one to do -it, and not Winkie.” - -“No! No!” exclaimed Mr. Woodchuck. “I see your trick, Winkie, and it is -very good of you to think of it and good of Blunk to offer to do it. -But it is too dangerous! The dog might dig his way in here through the -back door before we had a chance to run out the front. And who knows -but what the farmer with his gun may be waiting up above for us! No, we -will stay right here safe in our burrow. I don’t believe they will find -us here.” - -“But what is that strange noise?” asked Blinkie. “There it sounds -again!” - -Indeed there came once more that strange noise which Winkie had first -heard. The rumbling kept up, and now and then came a pounding as if -heavy feet were tramping on the ground overhead. - -“Oh, that must be the farmer trying to break his way in here with his -heavy boots!” cried Blinkie. - -“Hush! Do you want him to hear you?” whispered Winkie, and her sister -grew quiet. - -As the woodchuck family listened, the noise grew louder, and then, very -plainly, they all heard a man’s voice shouting: - -“Whoa!” - -Instantly the noise stopped. - -“That was the farmer!” exclaimed Blunk. “I know his voice!” - -“What was he saying?” asked Blinkie. - -No one could tell her, of course, for the woodchucks did not understand -man talk, any more than the farmer understood animal language. But -Blinkie made a guess. - -“Perhaps that farmer was talking to his dog,” she said. - -“Maybe,” agreed her mother. “I hope neither of them finds his way down -here!” - -But the farmer was not talking to his dog. One doesn’t say “whoa!” to -dogs, one says it to horses. And that is to whom the farmer called the -word which means stop. - -“Whoa there now!” cried Farmer Tottle again. “Stand still, can’t you? -Want to drag this plow over all them rocks? I’ve got to blast ’em out. -That’s what I’ve got to do. These rocks and stumps are in the way, and -I’m going to get some powder and blow ’em to bits. What with big stones -on my farm, and the pesky woodchucks eating the clover, I won’t have -enough left to buy me a new shirt at the end of the year. Stand still, -can’t you? Not that I blame you much for not wanting to plow in this -field of rocks,” he went on. “Guess I’ll go and get some powder and -blow ’em up now. I’ll finish plowing to-morrow.” - -It was this noise of the plow rasping and cutting its way through the -earth over their heads, and the heavy thud of the hoofs of the horses, -that Winkie and the other woodchucks had heard down in their burrow. - -There was silence while Farmer Tottle was thinking of the best way to -blast the rocks from his field, not far from the clover patch where -Blunk and Winkie had played tag that day. Then, having made up his mind -what he would do, Mr. Tottle turned his team around and drove them back -to the barn. - -“The noise isn’t so loud now,” whispered Winkie, after a bit. - -“No. Maybe nothing is going to happen after all,” said Blinkie. - -But the danger was over only for a little while. The noise stopped as -Farmer Tottle drove away, and, for a time, the ground-hogs thought -everything was going to be all right. Ground-hog is another name for -the woodchuck. - -“I guess I can go out now,” said Mr. Woodchuck, when an hour or more -had passed and there were no more thumping sounds and no further cries -of “Whoa!” - -Mr. Woodchuck went softly to the back-door of the burrow. He crept up -the little incline, or hill, that led to out-of-doors, and he was just -poking his nose out when, all at once, there sounded a loud: - -_Bang!_ - -And that was not the worst! As the loud noise sounded, louder than any -thunder the ground-hogs had ever heard, Mr. Woodchuck came slipping, -sliding, and half falling back into the burrow. - -“Oh, Nib! what has happened?” cried Mrs. Woodchuck. “Nib” was a pet -name for her husband. “Are you shot?” she asked. “I’m sure I heard a -gun!” - -“It was the biggest gun I ever heard shot off, if that’s what it was!” -said Mr. Woodchuck. “It fairly stunned me! Why, I fell right over -backward, and a lot of little stones and dirt flew in my face!” - -“Did the farmer see you and shoot at you?” asked Winkie. - -“No. He couldn’t see me, for I hadn’t yet poked my nose outside,” -answered the father. “I don’t understand what happened!” - -Blunk, just like a boy, had run to the back-door to be near the scene -of excitement. Now he came running back, all out of breath. - -“Oh, you ought to see!” he cried. “Our back-door hole is closed up! -It’s full of dirt and stones, and nobody can get out that way!” - -“You don’t tell me!” cried his father, who was, by this time, getting -over the shock. “I must take a look!” - -Timidly, all the woodchucks followed him to the back-door. Just as -Blunk had said, a lot of earth and stones had caved in, completely -filling up the passage way and the door. - -“No getting out there,” said Winkie, for she had been quicker than any -of the others to see what had happened. - -“Hurry!” cried her father. “We must try the front-door hole! I think I -know what happened. The farmer shot off his gun down our back-door hole -and blew it shut!” - -But alas for this woodchuck family! As Mr. Woodchuck was patting and -tapping Winkie, Blinkie, and Blunk with his paws to make them run -faster, and just as they were close to the front-door hole, there came -another loud sound, and the earth trembled under the paws of the little -animals. - -“Oh! Oh, dear!” whined Blinkie. - -“Dear me! I hope no one is hurt,” said Mrs. Woodchuck. “This is -dreadful!” - -No one was hurt; but they were all covered with moist earth that had -rattled down on them. But as woodchucks are always burrowing and -digging in the earth, this did not matter. - -Daddy Woodchuck scrambled on ahead of the others until he reached the -front door. - -“Just as I feared!” he sadly said. “This door is closed too! We are -prisoners here in our burrow!” - -“You don’t mean to tell me the front-door hole is closed up, like the -back door!” cried his wife. - -“Yes, that is what happened,” answered her husband. “The farmer has -shot both our doors shut! We can’t get out!” - -This last part was true enough, but not the first. Farmer Tottle had -not exactly shot shut the two door holes of the Woodchucks’ underground -house. He had blasted some rocks in his field, using powder to blow up -the big stones. It was the shock of the blastings that had closed the -doors of the burrow. Dirt and rocks had been shaken into the passages -until they were almost completely filled, and none of the children, to -say nothing of big Mr. and Mrs. Woodchuck, could squeeze their way past. - -“What are we going to do?” cried Mrs. Woodchuck. - -“Shall we have to stay here forever?” asked Blinkie. - -“We can’t stay here forever!” exclaimed Blunk. “There isn’t anything to -eat down here, and we’ll starve!” - -“Oh! Don’t talk that way!” faintly screamed Blinkie. - -“Maybe we can find a way out,” suggested Winkie, who always looked on -the bright side. - -“That’s so!” exclaimed her father. “This is no time for sitting down -and biting one’s paws. We must look for a way out! Come, Blunk, you -and I will try the back-door again. And, Mother, you take Winkie and -Blinkie and try the front-door. Maybe there is a little hole which we -can dig larger, and so get out through it. Look sharp!” - -This was better than sitting still sighing; at least so Winkie felt. -But while her mother and sister went to the front-door hole, and -her father and brother to the back door, the wily little woodchuck -nosed off by herself. She remembered that once, when she was playing -hide-and-seek with Blunk and Blinkie she had hidden herself in a side -passage of the burrow. The passage was larger and longer than she had -at first thought, and she had made up her mind, after the game, to see -where it went. But, somehow or other, she had never done this. - -“But I’m going into that hole now and see if it leads anywhere,” -thought Winkie. “Maybe it’s a tunnel that will let us out.” - -Winkie could see quite well in the dark. She soon found her old -hiding-place, and, going to the far end, where she had never before -been, she looked upward. To her delight she saw a little bit of -daylight gleaming. Scrambling her way forward, Winkie began to dig. She -had soon made a larger hole. She put her nose close to this, and could -smell fresh air. - -Much excited, Winkie climbed down and ran to the middle of the burrow, -just as her father and Blunk came from the back door. - -“There is no way out there,” said Mr. Woodchuck sadly. - -“Nor at the front!” added Mrs. Woodchuck, coming back with Blinkie. -“But where have you been, Winkie?” - -“I think I have found a way out!” cried the wily woodchuck. “Yes, I am -sure I have. Come! I’ll show you!” - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -WINKIE IN THE WOODS - - -The family of woodchucks huddled close together in the middle of the -underground house of earth in which they had lived so happily for many -months. It was dark down there, but they did not mind that. It was home -to them, the same as your house is home to you. And though there were -no tables nor chairs, no pictures on the wall and no piano, still there -were things there that the woodchucks cared for as much as you care for -the things in your house. - -Winkie, Blinkie, and Blunk had brought in bits of wood and stones with -which they played. Their parents had carried in things to eat, and bits -of these were stored in different places that Mrs. Woodchuck might call -her cupboards. - -But the woodchucks were to be driven from their home. In fact, they -were very glad to get out, for, no matter how fine a house is, one -never wants to be shut up there forever. - -If some one closed all the doors and windows of your house tight, so -that no air or sunshine could get in, I think you would be as glad to -find a way out as Winkie was. - -“Do you think you really have found a way to get out, Winkie?” asked -her father anxiously. - -“I’m quite sure I have,” she answered. “I found a hole, near a side -burrow where I played one day. I could stick my nose out and breathe -fresh air. And we can easily make the hole larger.” - -All at once there was another of those loud, rumbling sounds. It shook -the earth, and the woodchucks, cowering in their burrow, trembled in -fear. - -Bang! down came a big clod of dirt from the roof of their burrow, -scattering to pieces in the middle of the floor. - -“Oh my! what’s that?” shrieked Blinkie. - -Again there came a rumble, as another blast was set off. If the -woodchucks had been above ground they would have seen a great rock fly -to pieces as the powder broke it up. But down in their burrow there was -trouble enough. For a second clod of earth fell, almost hitting Winkie. -If it had hit her there would have been no story to tell, for that -would have been the end of poor Winkie. - -“Come! We must get out of here!” cried her father, as the second large -chunk of dirt and stones fell from the roof. “Show us the way out you -think you have found, Winkie. For neither your mother nor I saw any -way.” - -“Come with me!” called the wily little woodchuck girl, and she led -them toward the side burrow where she had seen the daylight peeping -through. - -It was so narrow that there was room for only two of the animals to -walk side by side. Winkie went with her father to show him what she had -found. - -“See! There is daylight!” cried Winkie at last. “And you can smell the -fresh air!” - -“Yes, so you can!” cried Mr. Woodchuck, taking a long breath. “We are -saved, I think!” - -Still there was much digging to be done before the hole could be made -large enough for the woodchucks to get out. They were all rather plump, -for they lived on rich clover. And Mrs. Woodchuck was really quite fat, -though I shouldn’t like to have her know that I called her that, for -perhaps she wouldn’t like it. - -“We must make the hole large enough for your mother,” said Mr. -Woodchuck to Winkie. “It will take some little time.” - -“I’ll help!” offered Blunk, and, as he was a strong woodchuck boy, his -father told Blunk to come up in place of Winkie and use his paws. Of -course girl woodchucks can dig burrows fully as well as the woodchuck -boys can, but there was no need as yet for Blinkie, Winkie, and Mrs. -Woodchuck to work at the digging when there was room for only two to -work and there were two “men” in the burrow. And Blunk was beginning to -think of himself as almost a man woodchuck. - -Now and again, as Blunk and his father dug to make larger the hole -Winkie had discovered, there came that rumbling sound, like far-off -thunder. Farmer Tottle was still blasting. - -But the woodchucks were some distance from it now, and no more lumps of -earth fell on them. With their paws Mr. Woodchuck and Blunk dug away, -throwing the dirt behind them. By this time Mrs. Woodchuck and the two -girl Woodchucks had set to work thrusting the dirt to one side so they -would have room to get out when the time came. - -At last the hole was made large enough, and Mr. Woodchuck could thrust -his head out. He looked all around, sniffed to see if he could smell -danger, listened with both his ears, and then called down to the others: - -“Come on! It’s all right! Thanks to Winkie, we are now getting out of -our stopped-up burrow, though I thought we never should.” - -“Let the children go up first,” said Mrs. Woodchuck. And Winkie, -having found the way, was the first to follow her father outside the -underground house, through the extra hole that had been dug. - -“Why, it’s black night!” cried Winkie, as she scrambled out beside Mr. -Woodchuck. - -“Yes, it’s dark, so much the better for us,” said Mr. Woodchuck. “That -farmer and his dog won’t see us.” - -Night had come while the woodchucks dug to free themselves from the -caved-in burrow. - -Up came Blinkie, and then Blunk. - -“Now, Mother, it’s your turn!” called Mr. Woodchuck down the hole. - -Up scrambled Mrs. Woodchuck. Large as Blunk and his father had made the -opening, it was hardly large enough for fat Mrs. Woodchuck, and she -grunted as she pushed her way through it. Then she came to a sudden -stop, half-way. - -“Come on!” cried her husband. “Come, mother! We must get away from here -and find a new home.” - -“I――I can’t!” panted Mrs. Woodchuck. “I can’t come any farther, Nib!” - -“Why not?” he asked. - -“Because I’m stuck! I――I didn’t know I was so――so stout!” - -“Here, children!” cried Mr. Woodchuck. “Catch hold of your mother by -her front paws and give her a pull. We’ll have to help her out of the -hole.” - -By pulling and hauling, they managed to get Mrs. Woodchuck up and out. -Then the little animal family stood together outside the new hole that -had been dug. Down below them was their burrow, no longer of any use, -for the two door holes had been closed by the fall of rocks and earth, -caused by Mr. Tottle’s blasting. - -“Well, we haven’t any home now,” said Mrs. Woodchuck, giving herself a -little shake to get rid of the dirt that clung to her fur. - -“What shall we do?” Blunk asked sadly. - -“Make a new home, of course!” answered his father cheerfully. - -“But where can we stay to-night?” Blinkie wanted to know. - -“Oh, we shall do very well!” replied Mrs. Woodchuck. “This is the warm -summer time, and we really don’t need an underground house now. We can -stay in a hollow log in the woods.” - -“What is the woods?” asked Winkie. Though the woodland trees grew not -far from the burrow house, Winkie had never been in the forest. - -“Come with your mother and me and we’ll show you,” her father answered. -“Follow me!” - -[Illustration: By pulling and hauling they managed to get Mrs. -Woodchuck up and out.] - -Though it was dark, the other woodchucks could see well enough to -follow Mr. Woodchuck. He led them across the field where Mr. Tottle -had been blasting that day. But now the farmer was asleep in bed, and -his dog was asleep also. There was no one to see the escape of the -woodchucks. - -Through the clover field they went, stopping long enough to eat as much -as they wanted, for they were hungry. Then Mr. Woodchuck ducked under a -fence, the others followed, and soon they found themselves in a darker, -silent place, where the moon did not shine and where the stars did not -glitter. - -“What place is this?” asked Winkie, in a whisper. She was just a bit -afraid. - -“This is the woods,” her father answered. “We shall be safe in the -dark, silent woods. Now we’ll curl up in the warm, dry leaves and go to -sleep. In the morning we’ll find a hollow log, and you can see what the -woods are like, Winkie.” - -Though she did not know it then, Winkie was to have many adventures in -these woods and the country roundabout. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -WINKIE MEETS DON - - -Tired by their hard work in making their way out of their burrow, and -weary with the journey to the woods, Winkie, Blinkie, and Blunk slept -rather late the next morning. Father and Mother Woodchuck were up and -astir early, however, rustling around among the dried leaves. - -“How do you like it here, Mrs. Woodchuck?” asked her husband in a -whisper, for he did not want to awaken the children. - -“Of course,” answered his wife, “it isn’t as nice as the burrow we had -to leave. But it will do very well for the summer. I think it will be -very pleasant, if you think it will be safe.” - -“It will be safe enough,” declared Mr. Woodchuck. “We can hide in the -leaves and hollow logs if danger comes. And we are not far from the -clover field. Besides, there is plenty of bark here to gnaw.” - -“Yes, there is plenty of bark,” agreed Mrs. Woodchuck, looking around -at the trees, through which the morning sun was just beginning to -shine. Woodchucks sometimes eat bark, you know, as well as clover. -“Yes, there is plenty of bark,” said Winkie’s mother again. “And I had -rather eat the _bark_ of a tree than listen to the _bark_ of a dog,” -she added, smiling as she made this little joke. - -Mr. Woodchuck smiled, too――that is, as much as woodchucks ever -smile――and he felt happy. When his wife made little jokes this way he -knew that she, too, was happy. Really, you could hardly have blamed -the woodchucks for being unhappy, when they had to get out of their -underground house in the way they did. - -“Yes, I think we shall like it here in the woods,” proceeded the -woodchuck lady. “But of course it would never do for winter.” - -“Oh, my, no!” agreed her husband. “When winter comes we will dig -ourselves a new burrow.” - -Just then Winkie awakened and cried out in some fear: - -“Oh, where am I?” - -“Hush, Winkie! You’re all right!” her mother called. “We are in our new -home――in the woods. You’ll like it very much!” - -“Oh!” murmured the wily woodchuck girl. “I was dreaming, Mother, that I -was playing tag with Blunk, and he tickled me.” - -“Well, these leaves are tickling me!” cried Brother Blunk, who just -then awakened. - -They all laughed at this, and at Winkie’s dream, and after they had -washed themselves they were ready for breakfast. I don’t mean to say -that the woodchucks went to a bathroom and washed their faces and paws -or took a bath as you do when you get up in the morning. At least, as -you wash your faces and _hands_ or take a bath. - -But I am sure you have all seen a cat wash its face; and though the -woodchucks did not cleanse themselves in just this way, they made their -ruffled fur smooth and sleek before they ate their breakfast. - -After a few nibbles at the bark of some trees, which they liked very -much, the woodchucks went over to the edge of the woods near the clover -field. There they ate some green leaves and red blossoms. - -All at once they saw a flash of fire and a puff of smoke, and they -heard that rumbling sound which had so frightened them before. - -“Look out!” cried Mr. Woodchuck. - -But there was no danger to the woodchucks now, even though Farmer -Tottle was again blasting stumps and rocks in his field. The -woodchucks, however, were afraid, and back toward the woods they ran. -And as they did not keep together, but scattered, it happened that, -after the first frightened rush, Winkie found herself running along -alone. - -It was the first time Winkie had ever been in the woods, and the first -time she had ever been anywhere alone. Always, except perhaps when very -near the burrow, she had been with her brother or sister, or father or -mother. Now, as she ran along, she looked on either side, she peered -amid the trees and under the bushes and saw――no one! No Blinkie, no -Blunk, no father, no mother! - -“Oh, where are you?” cried Winkie, in woodchuck language, of course. -“Where are you all?” - -But so frightened were the other woodchucks that they had scurried here -and there, one running this way and the other that way until they were -widely separated. Neither Blinkie nor Blunk, neither father nor mother -was within sound of Winkie’s voice. - -“Oh, what is going to happen to me?” cried poor Winkie. “What is going -to happen?” - -If she had been a real little girl, instead of an animal one, Winkie -might have cried, for she was lost for the first time in her life, and -away from father, mother, brother and sister. I believe almost any of -you little girls, and probably a good many of the boys, would have -cried. - -But Winkie was a brave little woodchuck girl, and she was also wily, -which, as I have told you, means smart and cunning. - -“No, I’m not going to cry!” said Winkie to herself. “If I cry, and make -a blubbery noise, some of the farmer’s dogs may hear me and chase me. -Or maybe a fox will hear me. I’m going to keep still and see if I can’t -find Blinkie and the others.” - -So saying, Winkie came to a stop in the midst of her mad, frightened -rush amid the dried leaves. She became very quiet, listened and looked -about her. At first she could hear nothing but the beating of her own -little, frightened heart and the whispering of the wind among the -trees. This last sound came to Winkie’s ears as rather friendly. She -was beginning to like it in the big woods. - -“Perhaps nothing will harm me here,” she said to herself. “And I may -have adventures, such as my father and mother have told me about having -had when they were younger.” - -Thinking thus made Winkie feel better. She was not so frightened. -Though she no longer ran on as fast as when she had heard the distant -blast set off by Farmer Tottle, she still kept running. - -“For,” she said to herself, “I want to find my father and mother if I -can.” - -So Winkie’s wanderings were all done toward the end of finding her -family again, and the adventures came in between, so to speak. - -After her run Winkie began to feel a bit thirsty, as most wild animals -do when they journey fast through the woods or fields. The wily little -woodchuck looked about for some water to drink. Winkie could smell -water as you smell cookies baking in your mother’s oven, and it did -not take the ground-hog girl long to reach a little stream. She was -thirstily drinking when, all of a sudden, she heard a noise. - -She stopped drinking, and looked across the little brook. There she -saw, sitting on the opposite bank, a brown animal, not very much -different from herself, except as to the tail. This animal had a broad, -flat tail, marked in scales like those of a fish, while the tail of -Winkie was round and covered with fur. And, as she looked, somehow or -other Winkie did not feel that this strange animal would harm her. - -“Who are you?” asked Winkie. - -“I am Toto,” was the answer. - -“You aren’t a woodchuck, I know,” said Winkie. “Are you a muskrat?” - -“No. But I can swim under water,” answered Toto. “I am the bustling -beaver, if you please. And who are you?” - -“Oh, I am Winkie, the wily woodchuck, and I’m lost!” came the answer. -“Why do they call you a bustling beaver? Have you seen any of my -family?” - -“My! You are very fond of asking questions!” laughed Toto. “But I will -do my best to answer you. I am a beaver, because I was born a beaver, -that’s all I can tell you about that. - -“But the reason I am called ‘bustling’ is because I am such a fast -worker. I bustle about, digging canals, making dams, cutting down -trees, and all such work as that. And I’ll soon have to run along and -help build a new dam we beavers are putting across the brook.” - -“What’s a dam?” asked Winkie. - -“There you go again! Asking more questions!” laughed Toto. “Well, a dam -is a lot of sticks, stones, and grass piled across a stream to make it -stop running away. Then the water makes a big pond back of the dam, and -in that pond of deep water we beavers build our homes. With our teeth -we gnaw down big trees so they will fall across the brook to help in -making the dam.” - -“My! I should say you were bustling!” exclaimed Winkie. “But in all -your bustling about have you seen Blinkie, Blunk, or my father or -mother?” - -“More questions!” laughed Toto, the beaver. “No,” he answered, after -taking another drink of water from the brook, “I haven’t seen them, I -am sorry to say. Are they lost?” - -Then Winkie told of the blasting, how the Woodchuck family had been -shut up in the burrow, how she had found a way out and how they had all -separated, much frightened, when the big noise came again that morning. - -“You certainly have had a lot of trouble,” agreed Toto. “I wish I could -help you, but I must now bustle back to my work――we beavers are very -busy animals. However, if I see any of your family I’ll tell them where -to find you.” - -“Please do,” begged Winkie, as Toto hastened along. The beaver waddled -off a little way, moving in a queer fashion, for beavers are rather -awkward on land, though very swift in swimming. - -Then Toto came to a stop. He turned and looked at Winkie. - -“I say,” asked Toto, “were you ever in a book, Winkie?” - -“Book? No, I never was in a book,” answered Winkie. “What is a book?” - -“I’ve been in one,” went on Toto. “I haven’t time to tell you about it -now. Maybe I will some other day. Good-bye, Winkie. I’m glad I met you!” - -“Good-bye,” echoed the wily woodchuck. She felt a bit lonesome when -Toto was gone. “I wonder what a book is,” murmured Winkie, as she -walked along after she had lapped up all the water she wanted. “Toto -said book. I wish I knew what a book is!” And she spoke aloud this time. - -“A book! Ha! I can tell you what a book is!” suddenly exclaimed another -voice. “Come over here and I’ll tell you all about a book. I have been -put in one!” - -Winkie looked through the trees, and what she saw made her heart beat -faster than it ever had before. - -“Oh, it’s a _dog_!” she gasped. “One of the farmer’s big dogs! Oh, this -is the end of me! Oh, I must run!” - -Away leaped Winkie. The dog ran after her barking and shouting: - -“Don’t run! Don’t be afraid! I’m only Don! I’m Don, the runaway dog, -but I don’t run away any more, and I won’t hurt you. Wait! I want to -tell you what a book is!” - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -WINKIE IN A STORM - - -Winkie, the wily woodchuck, was so frightened at the sight of the -dog――even more frightened than she had been at the distant blasting -explosion――that she ran on and on through the woods, scarcely looking -where she was going. Racing in this way, not keeping watch, caused -Winkie to bump into a tree full tilt! - -Bang! she slammed against it, so hard that she was thrown down and lay, -for a moment, stunned amid the leaves. - -It was a good thing that Don was a kind dog, and not a savage one -belonging to Farmer Tottle. And it is also a good thing Don was not a -wolf or a fox. For had he been either of these he could easily have -caught Winkie in his teeth when she fell back, stunned by her crash -into the tree. - -But Don did not do this thing. Instead, he went gently up to Winkie as -she lay amid the leaves, smelled her fur, and barked in a low tone. - -“Oh, please don’t bite me! Please don’t!” begged Winkie. - -“Bite you? Nonsense! I never thought of such a thing!” cried Don. “Why -did you run away?” - -“Because you chased me,” answered Winkie, her heart not beating so fast -now, when she found that nothing had yet happened to her. She was so -plump and so covered with fur that running into the tree had not done -her any more harm than to knock her breath from her for a moment or two. - -“How foolish! I didn’t chase you!” declared Don. “I was just running -after you to tell you what a book is.” - -“What is a book?” asked Winkie, and Don told her as well as he could -for a dog who couldn’t himself read. - -“A book,” he barked, “is a sort of long story of adventures.” - -“I know what adventures are,” said Winkie. “They’re things that happen -to you.” - -“Yes,” agreed Don. “And you have had an adventure this morning.” - -“You mean all our family getting lost?” asked Winkie. - -“I didn’t hear about that,” said Don. “But that’s an adventure too. -No, I meant running away from me and bumping into a tree. That was an -adventure.” - -[Illustration: Caused Winkie to bump into a tree full tilt!] - -“Not a very pleasant one,” remarked Winkie, smiling. - -“Oh, well, there are all sorts of adventures,” said Don. “I have had -very many, and they have been put into a book about me, just as have -those of Toto, the bustling beaver, about whom I heard you speaking.” - -“Have you had adventures?” asked Winkie. - -“I should say I have!” barked Don. “Say,” he went on, “did you ever -meet Squinty, the comical pig?” - -“No, I never did,” answered Winkie. “Who is he?” - -“Oh, a jolly chap. Did you ever meet Slicko, the jumping squirrel?” - -“No, not that I know of. Where is Slicko?” - -“Somewhere in these woods, I think. You’ll probably meet Slicko sooner -or later. And then there is Mappo, and there’s Tum Tum.” - -“Who are they?” - -“Animals who have had adventures and been put in books,” answered Don. -“Mappo is a merry monkey, and Tum Tum is a jolly elephant. I hope you -meet them some day.” - -“I hope so, too,” said Winkie. “But just now I should like to meet my -father and mother and Blinkie and Blunk. Have you seen them?” - -“No, I am sorry to say I have not,” answered Don. “But don’t worry, -you may find them, also. And I’m sure you will have lots of adventures. -You are sort of running away, you know.” - -“Yes, I ran away from that big noise,” admitted Winkie. “But what has -that to do with it?” - -“Running away always brings adventures,” answered Don. “At least it did -to me. I was once a runaway dog. But I was glad to get back again, and -I am very happy now.” - -“Are you one of the farmer’s dogs that barked at my father and mother?” -asked Winkie. - -“No,” replied Don. “I never bark at woodchucks. I like them, and -so does my master, who is very kind. But some men don’t like you -ground-hogs, and they are always sending their dogs after you. They -also set traps――those men do.” - -“What are traps?” asked Winkie. - -“Ha! There you go again――more questions!” chuckled the dog. “Well, I -can tell you one thing――traps are very good things to keep out of. Once -I caught my paw in a trap, and I was lame for a month after it. Keep -away from traps, Winkie!” - -“I’ll try!” promised the wily woodchuck. But she did not know what was -soon going to happen to her. - -So much talk seemed to make Winkie hungry, and, seeing some grass -growing under a tree, she began to nibble the green blades. - -“Why don’t you eat something,” she asked Don. “This grass is very sweet -and good.” - -“Thank you; but we dogs don’t eat grass,” Don answered. “That is unless -we take it as medicine when we aren’t feeling well. But I feel fine -now――I don’t need grass, but I would like a juicy bone. And speaking of -bones makes me hungry. I think I’ll trot to my kennel and get a bone.” - -“What’s a kennel?” asked Winkie. - -“My! I never knew any one to ask as many questions as you, unless it -might be Mappo, the merry monkey,” barked Don. “A kennel is a house in -which I live.” - -“We call our house a burrow,” said Winkie. “Only we haven’t any now.” - -“It wouldn’t do for all of us to live in the same kind of houses,” Don -said. “I’d feel rather silly in a nest, and yet a nest is a home for -a bird. Well, I’m going to trot along, Winkie. I hope I shall see you -soon again.” - -“I hope so too,” murmured Winkie, who knew that she was going to be -lonely when Don went away. - -Don started off, wagging his tail in a friendly farewell to Winkie. She -was watching him and did not notice where she was walking until, all -of a sudden, she felt herself falling into a hole with a lot of leaves -and sticks. - -“Oh! Oh!” cried Winkie. “Help me, Don! I’m in a trap!” - -With a bark Don bounded back, and, with his paws, he helped Winkie up -out of the hole. - -“That wasn’t a trap,” he said. “You can’t get out of traps as easily as -that. You just fell into a hole where once there was a stump or stone. -The hole was covered with dried leaves and you didn’t see it, I guess. - -“Some traps are like that, and others are like a box that shut you up -tight. Other traps have strong, sharp teeth that snap shut on your leg. -That’s the kind of trap I was once in.” - -“I hope nothing like that happens to me!” sighed Winkie, and Don hoped -the same. - -“Now I must go,” said the dog, when he found the little woodchuck girl -was all right. “See you later! Good-bye!” And soon he was lost to sight -among the trees. - -Poor Winkie felt very lonely now, for, having talked to Toto, the -beaver, and to Don, the dog, she began to have a very friendly feeling -for these animals. - -But she was a brave little thing, as well as wily and smart, and she -began to feel that she must look after herself now, since it might be -many days before she would find her family in the big woods. - -Sitting down and crying about things never makes them any better, and -Winkie was not going to do this. Instead she felt that she must find -some place to stay during the night, which she knew would come when the -sun went down. - -“But first I am going to see if I can’t find my family,” thought -Winkie. “There’s no sense in giving up so soon. I’ll make believe we -have been playing hide-and-seek and I’ve got to find them so I won’t be -it.” - -She had often played this game, and it was not hard to imagine she -was doing it again. On through the woods she wandered, now and then -stopping to listen or to call. She cried the names of Blinkie and Blunk -as loudly as she could, and also shouted for her father and mother. - -But the only answers she heard were the sighing of the wind in the -trees, the murmur of the brooks as they flowed over the green, mossy -stones, and the songs of the birds. To the birds Winkie spoke, for she -could talk their language, and she asked them if they had seen anything -of her father, mother, Blinkie or Blunk. - -“You birds fly high above the trees,” said Winkie, “and you can look -down and see many things I can not see. Please help me look for my -people.” - -“We will!” sang the birds. So they flew here and there, peering down -through the tree branches. But they did not get a glimpse of any of the -woodchucks. For, truth to tell, the other four ground-hogs had run away -at the time Winkie had, and now they were all scattered. Blinkie, Blunk -and Mr. and Mrs. Woodchuck were separated one far from the other, and -as much lost as was Winkie herself. - -Later on the four woodchucks found each other and made a new home for -themselves, but Winkie did not know this for a long time, and not until -after she had had many adventures about which I must tell you. - -For several days Winkie wandered through the woods, all alone except -that once or twice she met Toto, and again, she spied Don. But the dog -was walking with his master and he did not come near Winkie. For this -the woodchuck girl was glad, for she was afraid of men, even of one as -kind as Don’s master seemed to be. - -Look as the fluttering birds did, they found no trace of Winkie’s -relatives, and they told the woodchuck girl this. - -One day, as Winkie was wandering about, she suddenly heard a noise in -the bushes. She was going to run and hide, thinking it might be a wolf -or a fox, when a jolly voice grunted: - -“Don’t be afraid, little ground-hog girl, I won’t hurt you!” - -“Who are you?” asked Winkie. - -“Squinty, the comical pig,” was the answer. - -“Oh, I have heard Don speak of you,” said Winkie, as the pig came -rooting his way through the underbrush. - -“Yes, Don and I are friends,” Squinty replied. “But you had better find -a good place to stay to-night, Winkie.” - -“Why?” asked the wily woodchuck. - -“Because there is going to be a big storm,” was the pig’s answer. “I -am going back to my pen. I really oughtn’t to have come out, but I get -tired of staying shut up so much, and, once in a while, I root my way -out with my rubbery nose. But I’m going back now before I am caught in -the storm, and you, also, had better find a place of shelter.” - -“Thank you; I’ll look for one,” said Winkie. - -She went on a little farther, after bidding good-bye to Squinty. All at -once, she heard a sound in a tree over her head. - -“Oh,” cried Winkie, “is that one of the birds come to tell me he has -found my family?” - -“No, I’m not a bird,” was the answer; “though I stay in the trees a -great deal of the time. I am Slicko, the jumping squirrel. I know -you, Winkie. Don told me about you. Have you a good place to stay this -night?” - -“No, I have no home,” sadly answered Winkie. - -“Then you had better stay in this hollow tree,” said Slicko kindly, -pointing to one near by. “There is going to be a big storm, and you -will be frightened if you are out in it. I can always tell when a storm -is coming, hours before it gets here.” - -“That’s what Squinty said,” remarked Winkie. - -“Oh, do you know that comical pig?” asked the jumping squirrel. “Isn’t -he funny?” - -“I don’t know him very well. I just met him,” answered the wily -woodchuck. “But he seemed very kind. And thank you for telling me about -the hollow tree.” - -“Don’t mention it!” chattered the squirrel. “We animals must be kind to -one another. I hope you’ll rest well. I have my nest higher up in this -same tree.” - -“Then we shall be company for each other in the night,” said Winkie. - -She found the hollow tree to which Slicko had pointed. Inside were some -dried leaves, which would make a soft bed for the woodchuck girl. When -night came Winkie crawled in and went to bed, and up higher in the tree -she could see Slicko crawling into a hole where the squirrel’s nest -was made. - -Winkie slept very well the first part of the night, even though the -wind sighed and moaned among the trees. Then, all of a sudden, she was -awakened by a great flash of light and a loud crashing sound. - -“Oh! Oh!” cried Winkie. “The farmer and his dogs are after us again! -He’s going to shut us up in the burrow again!” - -“No, this is no farmer!” chattered Slicko. “This is a big storm, with -thunder, lightning and rain! I’m afraid this tree will blow down! Look -out, Winkie!” - -Before Winkie could crawl out of her bed of leaves in the lower hollow -place there was another blinding flash of light and a great thundering -sound, following by a cracking noise. - -“Oh, the tree is struck! The tree is falling!” cried Slicko. “Save -yourself, Winkie!” - -A moment later the wily woodchuck found herself tossed out into the -storm. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -WINKIE IN A TRAP - - -Slicko, the jumping squirrel, had told the truth about the storm. The -tree, in the upper part of which the squirrel had a nest and in a lower -hollow part of which Winkie had been sleeping, was struck by lightning, -and broken down. - -But neither of the animals, nor some birds nesting under the leaves of -the tree, was hurt by the lightning, though all were stunned by it for -a moment. The birds fluttered into other trees, glad to hide themselves -under the leaves as much out of the rain as they could get. Slicko, -feeling the tree falling, had leaped safely into another. - -And what happened to poor Winkie? - -At first the wily woodchuck hardly knew what was taking place. She had -been awakened so suddenly by the storm, with its lightning, thunder, -wind, and rain, that she was dazed. - -But she heard what Slicko said, and she knew enough to jump when she -felt the tree going over, so she was not caught under it and pinned -down, as sometimes happens to beavers in the woods. - -“Where are you? Where can I get in out of the rain?” called Winkie to -Slicko. But either she could not make her voice heard above the storm, -or else Slicko was too far away to hear. I think it was a little of -both. - -At any rate Winkie stood for a moment beside the fallen, split tree -that had been a sort of “hotel” for her during the first part of the -night. But the warm leaf-lined nest where she had so cozily cuddled was -no more. And as she felt the rain falling on her and heard the noise of -the storm, Winkie knew she must get under some kind of shelter. - -Winkie, like most wild animals, could see pretty well in the dark, so -she walked along. - -Every now and then a flash of lightning came, and this showed her still -better which way to go. She did not need to keep on any path. She could -wander where she wished. And, really, the rain did her little harm, for -this was summer. If it had been winter, with a rain that froze as fast -as it fell, that would have been very sad indeed. Winkie wore a coat of -fur, and though this was wet through, she knew it would soon dry in the -sun. - -She looked about her for a hollow tree, but could find none. Then she -spied a hole under some rocks, and in another moment she had crawled -into this little den, away from the wind and the rain. In the hole were -dried leaves, and cuddling up in these Winkie soon began to feel warm -again. - -Outside the rain splashed down, the wind lashed the branches of the -trees, breaking some off and tossing them to the ground, the thunder -roared, and the lightning flashed. But, safe in the little cave she had -found, Winkie, the wily woodchuck, soon went to sleep again. - -So, after all, Winkie came through the storm with nothing worse than -a fright and a wetting. Of course she missed Slicko, for when morning -came and the warm sun shone once more, there was no sign of the jumping -squirrel. - -“Slicko! Slicko! Where are you?” called Winkie, as she came out of the -little cave. - -“Slicko has gone away!” chirped a bird. “I saw Slicko scampering off -through the tree tops long before the sun was up.” - -“Well, then I shall have to get a new friend,” said Winkie. “Have you -seen any of my family?” she asked the bird. - -“No, I am sorry to say I have not,” was the answer. “I have only been -in these woods a short time. I came just before the storm, and I met -Slicko only by chance. I can’t tell you anything about your family.” - -“Then I shall have to travel on and try to find them,” said Winkie. -“But first I must get something to eat.” - -This was easy for the woodchuck girl. She did not have to go to the -store, nor yet wait for a meal to be cooked or a table set. Eating was -very easy for her. - -All she had to do was to look about for some grass or something green -growing, and for some bark to gnaw. Winkie did not really care as much -about bark as did Toto the beaver, for ground-hogs live mainly on -clover, grass, and other soft plants. But when a woodchuck is hungry, -as Winkie was, it will eat almost anything in the vegetable line. - -“I’d like to find some turnips, carrots, or cabbage,” she thought to -herself, for woodchucks are very fond of these, and that is one reason -why farmers do not like woodchucks. “But I don’t see any around here,” -went on Winkie. - -Indeed there was no garden near the woods, and after eating what she -could find in the forest and on the edge of it, Winkie started off to -look for more adventures. - -Of course, she really didn’t especially look for them, nor did she know -she was going to have them, but adventures happened to her, and some of -them were not very pleasant. - -The woods were washed clean by the storm, and now the day was warm and -sunny. The birds sang, many animals scurried here and there between the -trees and under the bushes, and Winkie was one of them. - -Now and then she would hear some large animal moving in the bushes, and -at such times Winkie would crouch down and hide, for she feared a wolf, -a fox or a dog might be coming after her. - -“I shouldn’t mind meeting Don, or even Tum Tum, the jolly elephant, -he told about,” thought Winkie. “But I don’t want to meet any strange -dogs.” - -Don, however, was far away, as was Tum Tum. So Winkie had to wander -along by herself. All day she roamed through the woods, now and then -stopping to give a sort of whistle, which is one way woodchucks have of -talking. Again she would also chatter her teeth with a rattling sound, -as owls clatter their beaks. This is another way woodchucks have of -speaking to one another. - -But to all Winkie’s calls there came no answer from any of her family. -She did not see Blinkie nor Blunk, and her father and mother might have -been a hundred miles away for all she knew. - -Once, indeed, she met another woodchuck, a fat, lazy old man of a -ground-hog, and at first Winkie thought he might be her grandfather. -But he was not, and this woodchuck knew nothing of Winkie’s family. - -“But I can tell you where to get a good meal of clover,” said the lazy -old ground-hog. - -“Where?” eagerly asked Winkie. - -“Go straight along the way you are headed, and on the edge of the woods -you will see a field,” was the answer. “Crawl under the fence and -you’ll find some clover.” - -Winkie thanked him, and waddled on. She found the clover just where she -had been told it would be and ate her fill. She ate so much she felt -sleepy, and about sunset she curled up in a hollow log and slept all -night. - -When morning came Winkie started on her travels again. By this time she -was getting rather used to wandering around alone. Not that she liked -it, but it was the best she could do. She would have been very glad -to have had a game of tag with Blinkie or Blunk, but this was not to -happen for a long time. - -That noon Winkie found a field where a farmer was raising some carrots, -and, as she saw no man in sight, and no dogs, and did not hear any -dogs barking, Winkie went into the field, dug up some carrots, and ate -them. It was because of this that, a few days later, something dreadful -happened to Winkie. - -For she liked the carrots so much that she looked for more everywhere -she went. One day Winkie, who was very hungry at the time, saw another -carrot――a large yellow one――in a fence corner. - -“Some one must have left this carrot here specially for me!” thought -Winkie. “How kind of him!” - -Winkie was not quite as wily and smart then as she ought to have been, -for if she had only known it, this carrot was placed where it was as -a bait. But Winkie did not know this. Up she went quite boldly, and -reached out to take the carrot. - -A moment later she heard a clicking sound, and something closed with a -snap on her left hind leg. She felt a great pain in it, and tried to -run away. - -But Winkie could not run! She was caught fast in a trap! The carrot had -been placed there just for that――to trap some animal――and Winkie was -caught! - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -WINKIE’S NEW HOME - - -Just as soon as Winkie felt the pain in her leg, a hard pinching and -pulling, she knew what had happened just as well as if her mother had -told her. - -“I’m in a trap!” cried the girl woodchuck, who was not as wily now as -she ought to have been. “I’m in a trap! Oh, dear! What shall I do?” - -She had often heard her father and mother talk of animals being caught -in traps. Some traps were of one kind and some of another. Winkie -was glad this was not a box trap, shutting her away from the air and -sunlight. She was glad it was not a bear trap with sharp teeth, like -those of a saw, for they would have cut her leg and caused it to bleed. - -This trap was just a common, spring one, with smooth jaws, and though -it pinched Winkie very much, and held her so fast that she could not -pull her leg loose, she was not cut. - -“I must run away!” thought poor Winkie. “I must run away and take this -trap with me. Then, maybe, when I am in a safe place, I can pull my leg -out! Oh, how it pinches! I wish I had never tried to get the carrot!” - -The little woodchuck no longer thought of the yellow carrot which was -placed near the trap. She seemed to have got over her hunger because of -the pain in her leg. - -“Yes, I must run away and take this trap with me!” thought Winkie. - -But that was easier said than done. As Winkie tried to walk away, with -the spring trap still fast to her leg, she was suddenly stopped with a -jerk that gave her another pain. She almost fell down, and she had to -cry “Ouch!” Of course, in the way woodchucks say it. - -Then she looked and found there was a chain attached to the trap, and -the other end of the chain was fast to a big log. If Winkie should walk -away with the trap, she would also have to drag the log with her. And -this was more than the little woodchuck girl could do. - -“Oh dear! Oh dear!” thought poor Winkie, lying down on the soft grass -near the trap. “This is dreadful!” - -And indeed it was! It was worse than the blasting in the field which -had closed the door holes of the burrow house. It was worse than Farmer -Tottle and his dog. It was worse than the big storm when the tree in -which Winkie was sleeping had been struck by lightning. - -“Oh, what shall I do?” sighed poor Winkie. - -Well, there was little she could do. She again tried to pull her leg -out of the trap, but it would not move, and the pain each time she -tried made her chatter her teeth and whistle. Then she tried to pull -the trap loose from the log to which it was chained. But she could not -do that, either. - -“Oh, I shall have to stay here forever!” thought poor Winkie. “I never -can get loose! I shall never see Blinkie nor Blunk again, nor my father -and mother! Oh dear!” - -Winkie looked at the carrot which was the cause of all her troubles. -Even yet she did not feel hungry enough to nibble it, though just -before she had stepped into the trap she had been very anxious for some -vegetable. - -“I must do something!” thought Winkie. “I can’t stay here forever.” - -She was just going to tug again at the trap and chain when, all of a -sudden, she heard a noise. It was a whistling sound, almost like that -which woodchucks make. For one happy moment Winkie thought it might be -her father or mother coming to set her free. But a moment later, as the -whistling became louder, Winkie saw coming toward her a boy. It was the -boy who was whistling. - -On he came, trilling a merry air. Well might he whistle! He was caught -in no trap that pinched his leg! - -Suddenly the boy caught sight of Winkie, the wily woodchuck. - -“Oh, ho!” he cried. “I’ve caught a ground-hog! I’ve caught a woodchuck -in my trap! My, but I’m lucky!” - -Of course Winkie could not understand what the boy said, but if she -thought anything at all she must have thought that she was very unlucky. - -“It’s a nice fat woodchuck, too!” exclaimed Larry Dawson, which was the -boy’s name. “It isn’t hurt, either. I’m glad it’s a smooth trap and not -one with teeth! I set it to catch a skunk, but it caught a woodchuck -instead. I guess she isn’t hurt much. A woodchuck’s fur isn’t any good, -like a skunk’s. But I’ll take this ground-hog home, and maybe I can -tame her and teach her tricks.” - -If Winkie could have understood all the boy said she would not have -been so afraid of him, for Larry was a kind boy and gave no needless -pain to animals. But the woodchuck did not understand, and when Larry -came closer, intending to loose her from the trap, she crouched down, -showed her sharp, biting teeth, and squealed and chattered. - -“Oh, ho! You’re going to be ugly, are you?” exclaimed the boy. “Well, -I can’t blame you. It isn’t any fun to be caught in a trap. I wouldn’t -like it myself, and I’ll take you out if you don’t bite me.” For Larry -knew that woodchucks can bite very severely when they are caught and -when they fear they are in danger. - -“I’ll go and get a bag to carry you in,” said Larry, still speaking -aloud, as though Winkie could understand him. “I’ll get a bag, and then -take you home. My sister Alice will like you. We’ll teach you tricks -after we tame you. Wait here while I go for a bag!” - -There really wasn’t any need of telling Winkie to “wait there.” She -couldn’t get loose. And of course she remained until Larry came back. -He had gone to his father’s barn and gotten a strong bag in which feed -came for the horses. - -Dropping this bag over Winkie, who was now more frightened than ever, -Larry reached in from the outside, the strong bag keeping Winkie from -biting, though she tried to do this, and soon the boy had loosened the -spring and taken the trap off the woodchuck’s leg. - -“Oh, how good it feels not to be pinched any more!” thought Winkie. -“Oh, how good it feels!” - -And she curled up in the bottom of the bag, as Larry slung it over his -shoulder, and closed her eyes, for she felt so much better than she -had in the trap. - -“I wonder what is going to happen to me?” thought Winkie. - -She was going to have more adventures, though she did not know it just -then. - -Across the fields went Larry, carrying the wily woodchuck in the bag -over his shoulder. Winkie did not mind the bouncing, for the pain in -her leg, where the trap had pinched her, was growing less now. - -“Oh, Larry, what have you got?” cried his sister Alice, as he reached -the house. - -“A woodchuck,” the boy answered. “She was in my skunk trap.” - -“Is she dead?” asked Alice. - -“No, she’s very much alive,” replied Larry. “Don’t go near the bag or -she may bite you. We’ll tame her, and she’ll do tricks for us. Get me -a piece of cord, Alice, and I’ll tie this bag up. Then the woodchuck -can’t get out until I build a pen for her.” - -“Oh, are you going to do that?” asked Alice. - -“Yes, I’ll make a strong pen, so she can’t get out. You’ll help me, -won’t you? After she’s been in the pen a while, and we feed her every -day, she’ll get used to us and grow tame. Then we can teach her some -tricks.” - -“Oh, that will be fun!” cried Alice. - -The cord which Alice brought was tied around the neck of the bag, so -that the woodchuck could not get out, though she tried to do this as -soon as Larry set the bag down on the ground. - -“Oh, we have you safe!” exclaimed the boy, as he saw the form of the -ground-hog scurrying about inside the bag. “But we’ll soon give you -a better place than that to live in. Come on, Alice, we’ll make a -woodchuck pen!” - -The brother and sister hammered away, nailing boards together, and -soon the pen was finished. Larry took the bag, loosed the string, and -held the open end of the bag over the pen. Out toppled Winkie, her -eyes blinking on account of being so suddenly thrust into the bright -sunlight from the darkness of the bag. - -The first thing Winkie did, after tumbling from the bag, was to stand -very still, crouching on the ground. Then she looked about for a way of -escape. In one corner of the pen she saw a square black hole. - -“Maybe that’s a burrow door,” thought Winkie. “If I can run down that -I’ll be safe.” - -She waddled over to the square black hole, and went through it. But she -only found herself inside a small box, with no way out. - -“Oh, she went into her bedroom!” laughed Alice, clapping her hands. “I -guess she’s sleepy!” - -“I guess she thought she could get out that way,” said Larry. “But she -can’t. That inside box is for her to sleep in, but she can’t get out -that way.” - -And, to Winkie’s sorrow, she could not. She was fast in a pen which was -to be her new home. The woodchuck remained inside the inner box for a -little while, seeking some hole through which she might crawl. But when -she saw none she came out into the open pen again. - -The pen Larry and Alice had made, which was to be Winkie’s new home, -was really a large box set on the ground. It had a bottom to it, and -four sides, but no top. In place of the box cover Larry had put on -some strong chicken wire. Winkie could not push her way up through -this wire, nor could she bite it, though she had very strong teeth for -gnawing bark and nipping clover. - -In one corner of the larger box Larry and Alice had set a smaller box, -with wooden sides and a wooden top. There was a square hole for a door -in this smaller box, and this was Winkie’s bedroom. - -[Illustration: Out toppled Winkie.] - -“You’re safe here now, little woodchuck!” said Larry. “I’m going to -feed you and then teach you tricks when you get tame.” - -“Maybe she wants a drink of water,” suggested Alice. - -“Yes, I guess she does,” said Larry. “I’ll get some for her.” - -When a basin of water was set down inside the pen the woodchuck was so -thirsty that she began to drink at once. The boy and girl laughed to -see her drink. - -“She’s getting tame already,” said Alice. - -“Well, sort of beginning,” agreed Larry. “Now I’ll get her something -to eat. But I guess I’d better bait that trap with something besides -carrot if I want to catch a skunk. I guess skunks don’t like carrots, -for none has come near the trap since I set it.” - -Larry was right. Skunks are not carrot-eating animals, though they may -take a nibble now and then if they are very hungry. - -The children had started to get something for Winkie to eat when, -all at once, there came a noise which was a dreadful sound to the -ground-hog. - -It was the barking of a dog! - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -WINKIE LEARNS TRICKS - - -Though Winkie had never been very close to any dog except Don, the wily -woodchuck knew the bark of this dog meant danger. It is this way with -many wild animals, and even with your cat, perhaps, which is not so -wild as a woodchuck. - -Little kittens, if they are brought up with dogs from their earliest -days, may not be afraid of Rover or Towser, whom they know. But they -may be afraid of a strange dog. However, almost any cat will arch up -its back, hiss and, if it gets a chance, will run away from almost any -dog. It was the same with Winkie, though she did not arch her back nor -fluff out her tail――woodchucks don’t do that. But Winkie tried to run -away as soon as she heard the bark of the dog. - -Only she could not get out of the pen. But she did run and hide in her -sleeping box, which was partly filled with hay. - -“Oh, here comes Buster!” exclaimed Alice. “Don’t let Buster get the -woodchuck!” - -“No, indeed!” cried Larry. “Uncle Elias’s dog shan’t get my woodchuck!” - -“I thought you said she was part _my_ woodchuck,” observed Alice. - -“Yes, that’s so. You may have half,” agreed Larry. “Go on back, Buster! -Go away!” shouted Larry, as a big dog came bounding into the yard, -barking and wagging his tail, for he was glad to see the children, and -often played with them, being a friendly dog except toward wild things. - -All at once Buster stopped barking and stopped wagging his tail. He -stood still, his nose pointed toward the pen, and he began to sniff. He -had caught the wild smell of the woodchuck, even though he could not -see Winkie, who was hiding in her sleeping chamber. - -Then Buster growled, away down in his throat, and came nearer the pen. -Alice ran to get in front of the dog, and again Larry cried: - -“Go on away, Buster!” - -Just then Uncle Elias Tottle, who was a brother of Larry and Alice’s -mother――being, in fact the children’s uncle――came along. He saw the boy -and girl standing near the pen, and he heard his dog growling. - -“What’s the matter with Buster? What have you youngsters got there?” -asked Uncle Elias, in rather a harsh voice. He had no children of -his own, and owned the farm next to that of Mr. Dawson, who was the -father of Larry and Alice. “What have you in that box that makes Buster -growl?” demanded Uncle Elias Tottle. - -“I have a woodchuck,” answered Larry. “I caught her in my skunk trap. -But she isn’t hurt. I’m going to tame her.” - -“We’re going to teach her tricks,” added Alice. - -“Huh! Woodchuck!” cried Uncle Elias. “The pesky creatures! If I had my -way they’d all be shot or trapped. They eat my clover. I saw some of -’em eating it the other day.” - -If he had only known it, Winkie was one of those very woodchucks! But -Uncle Elias didn’t know. - -“Woodchuck!” he exclaimed. “Eating up everything a poor farmer can -raise! I’ll kill that woodchuck of yours if I catch her out!” - -“Well, you won’t catch her, for we aren’t going to let her out,” said -Alice, and she and her brother felt bad because of the harsh words of -Uncle Elias. - -It is true, in some places, that woodchucks do harm when they are very -numerous, and farmers don’t like them. But Larry and Alice did not see -what harm poor little Winkie could do, especially if they kept her shut -up in a pen. - -“Look here!” said Uncle Elias at last. “Will you sell me that woodchuck -for a dollar, Larry?” - -“A dollar?” repeated the boy. - -“Yes, I’ll give you a dollar for her,” went on Uncle Elias, putting his -hand in his pocket. - -Larry shook his head. - -“I want my woodchuck,” said the boy. - -“And she’s half mine,” broke in Alice. “Even if Larry would sell his -half, I wouldn’t sell my half! So there, Uncle Elias!” - -“Huh!” grunted the farmer, who was a hard and sometimes a cruel man. - -“What do you want of a woodchuck, Uncle Elias?” asked Larry. “Do you -want one to teach tricks to? If you do I’ll try to catch one for you in -my trap.” - -“Nonsense! As if I’d try to teach a woodchuck tricks!” snorted the old -man, while his dog sniffed and snuffed at the wild smell and Winkie -cowered down in her dark box. “If I had that ground-hog of yours――which -I’m willing to pay a dollar for”――went on Mr. Tottle, “I’d turn her -loose and set Buster on her! Woodchucks are no good!” - -“Well, you aren’t going to get this one!” said Larry. - -“I guess not!” exclaimed Alice. “I love my woodchuck!” - -“Huh!” snorted Uncle Elias. “Come on, Buster!” he called to his dog. -“This isn’t any place for us! We don’t like woodchucks!” - -Then, to the relief of Larry and Alice, their cruel-hearted uncle went -away, followed by Buster. The dog, however, did not want to go. He -growled and whined as he sniffed toward the woodchuck’s pen. Had poor -Winkie been outside and if Buster had chased her there would not have -been much left of her. - -“The idea!” exclaimed Alice, when Mr. Tottle was gone. “To want to kill -our woodchuck!” - -“I wouldn’t sell her for two dollars――no, not for _five_!” cried Larry. -“When we teach her tricks maybe we can put her in a circus!” - -“Oh, wouldn’t that be wonderful!” cried Alice, clapping her hands. -“Let’s start teaching her tricks right away. But what shall we name our -woodchuck?” - -“Yes, we must think of a name,” agreed Larry. - -Just then Winkie, no longer hearing the barking of the dog, poked her -head out of the square hole in the smaller box, into which she had gone -to hide. Coming out of the dark, as she did, made Winkie’s eyes open -and shut until they became used to the glare of the sun. Larry and his -sister, watching their new pet, saw her eyes winking this way. - -“Oh, I know what to call her!” cried Alice. - -“What?” asked her brother. - -“Winkie!” replied the little girl. “See her wink!” - -“Yes, Winkie will be a good name,” agreed Larry. - -And so Winkie was given by the children the same name the father and -mother of the little ground-hog had given her when she lived in the -burrow. - -“Come here, Winkie! Come here!” called Alice. - -Winkie remained with her head out of the bedroom, but she did not come -to the side of the larger, outside pen, near which Alice stood. - -“I guess Winkie is a little afraid,” said Larry. “I’ll get her -something to eat. That will make her tame quicker than anything else.” - -Out to the barn ran Larry, and soon he came back with some yellow -carrots. He cut off little pieces of them and tossed them into the pen -through the open meshes of the chicken wire on top. - -At first Winkie was a bit timid about taking these chunks of carrot. -But they smelled so good, and she was so hungry, that she at last -ventured to nibble one. Then, finding no harm came to her, she grew -bold and took more. She limped a little on the leg that had been -caught in the trap, but it was quickly getting over its soreness. - -“Oh, isn’t Winkie cute!” cried Alice, as she watched the woodchuck eat. - -“Yes,” agreed Larry. “And I want to teach her soon to eat out of my -hand.” - -“We want to be careful that she doesn’t bite us,” said his sister. “See -what sharp teeth she has.” - -Indeed Winkie had very sharp teeth and Larry knew this. - -“I’ll be careful!” he said. - -For two or three days Winkie would not take any food from Larry’s hand -or that of Alice. But she grew bolder when she saw that the boy and his -sister meant to be kind, and one day, about a week after being caught -and put in the pen, Winkie took a piece of carrot right from Larry’s -fingers. - -“Oh, she’s getting tame! She’s getting tame!” cried the boy. “Now I can -teach her some tricks!” - -“Let me feed her!” begged Alice. And the little girl was delighted when -Winkie took some pieces of carrot from her fingers. - -It was several days longer before either Larry or his sister dared -reach in to stroke Winkie’s fur. The first time this was tried Winkie -scurried back into her sleeping box as though Buster were after her. -But the next time she was not so timid, and soon the little woodchuck -came to know that the children intended no harm. - -“Though why they want to fuss over me and rub me is more than I can -tell,” thought Winkie to herself. “I wish I had some one to talk animal -talk to――Squinty, the pig, or Slicko, the squirrel. Or even Tum Tum, -the elephant. I wish he were here!” - -Winkie had never seen an elephant like Tum Tum, and of course she did -not know how large elephants are. - -Tum Tum could hardly have gotten more than one of his big feet in -Winkie’s pen! - -One day Larry came running into the house much excited. - -“Oh, you ought to see!” he cried. “You ought to see Winkie!” - -“Has she gotten out?” asked Alice. - -“No, but I’ve taught her a trick. She’ll sit up on her hind legs and -beg like a dog! Come and see!” - -Alice followed her brother out to the yard where Winkie’s pen had been -built. Larry took off some of the top wire. - -“She’ll get away!” cried Alice. - -“No, she won’t,” said Larry. “Winkie is tame now, and won’t run away. -I’ve taught her a trick! She’ll sit up and beg! Look!” - -Taking the woodchuck out of her cage――and Winkie did not try to bite -Larry now――the boy stood her on the ground. Then, holding a piece of -turnip in front of the ground-hog, the boy exclaimed: - -“Sit up, Winkie! Sit up!” - -Slowly, because she was now very fat, Winkie sat up on her hind -quarters. This is easy for woodchucks to do, since they often sit that -way outside their burrows to watch for danger. - -“Look! She’s begging!” laughed Larry. “And here’s your piece of -turnip!” he added. “Isn’t that a good trick, Alice?” - -“A lovely one! I wish I could teach Winkie some tricks!” - -“Maybe you can,” said Larry. “Here, see if she’ll beg for you.” And -Winkie, who was standing with all four feet on the ground, again stood -up as Alice held out a bit of carrot and told her to “beg!” - -“I don’t know why they want me to do that,” thought Winkie. “But they -give me something to eat each time after it, so I may as well do what -they want.” - -Once again Winkie rose up on her haunches, and she looked very cute -when she did that. Larry and Alice laughed to see her. - -“But one trick isn’t enough,” Larry said. “We must teach her another.” - -“What one?” asked Alice. - -“We’ll teach her to lie down and roll over,” said the boy. - -It took nearly a week to get Winkie to understand this trick, which, -though no harder than the other, was quite different. But at last -Winkie got to the point where she would lie on her back and roll over -like a dog whenever Larry or Alice told her to. And of course each time -the trick was done Winkie was given something good to eat. - -One day, when Larry and Alice came home from school, they ran out -toward the woodchuck pen, for Larry had said he was going to teach -Winkie a new trick. As brother and sister neared the pen they -heard the loud barking of a dog, and the frightened whistling and -teeth-clattering of the little ground-hog. - -“Oh, Buster is trying to get Winkie!” cried Larry, dropping his books -and rushing toward the pen. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -WINKIE IS IN DANGER - - -Alice followed her brother, also dropping her books on the path that -led around the house. What did a few school books matter when Winkie, -the wily woodchuck, was in danger? - -And that’s just what Winkie was――in great danger. Buster, the big dog -belonging to Uncle Elias Tottle, had come over, all by himself, and -was trying to tear some boards off the pen so that he might get in at -Winkie. - -“Here! Get away from there, Buster!” cried Larry. - -“Go away! Go away, you bad dog!” shrieked Alice. - -Buster had not expected to see the children, and when they came running -around the corner of the house the dog was evidently surprised. He -stopped barking at once and his tail dropped between his legs, as -always happens with dogs when they are caught doing something they -ought not to do. - -And this is what had happened to Buster. Finding nothing special to do -at the farm of Mr. Tottle, Buster had wandered over the fields to the -home of Larry and Alice. Buster had not been over to see the children -for some time, and he may have forgotten all about the woodchuck in a -pen in the back yard. - -But Buster had no sooner come close to the yard than the wind blew to -him the wild smell of Winkie, for, like most animals, Winkie had a wild -smell about her, and a dog’s nose is very keen for smelling. - -“Oh, ho!” thought Buster to himself, in a way dogs have of thinking. -“That woodchuck! I forgot all about her! Guess I’ll go and tease her, -as I haven’t anything else to do!” - -With a loud bark Buster made his way into the yard. As it happened, -Mrs. Dawson was not home just then, or she would have driven Buster -away. But the children’s mother had gone to call on a neighbor, and -Buster had everything his own way. - -“Now I’ll get you!” cried the dog in animal language, as he made a dash -against Winkie’s pen. - -“Stop! Stop! Go on away! Let me alone!” begged Winkie, whistling and -chattering her teeth, because she was so frightened. - -“Oh, I’m not going to hurt you! I’m just going to chase you out of that -pen and make you run!” said Buster. “I like to chase rabbits and other -wild animals. I won’t bite you. I just want to chase you! Come on out!” - -“No! No! I’m not coming out!” declared Winkie. “You aren’t nice like -Don!” - -“Pooh! I wouldn’t be a dog like Don――afraid to chase a rabbit or a -squirrel!” sneered Buster. “I’m going to chase you, and if you don’t -come out I’ll make you!” - -“No, I’m not coming out!” chattered Winkie, and she ran into her -sleeping box to hide in the hay. - -“I’ll break open your pen and chase you out!” barked Buster. And the -dog was trying to do this when Larry and Alice came home from school. - -“Make Buster go away, Larry!” half sobbed Alice. “He won’t go for me! -Oh, Buster, go away!” - -“I’ll make him!” cried Larry, and he stooped over as if to pick up a -stone or a stick. I don’t believe that Larry would really have stoned -Buster, or have struck him with a stick, any more than I believe Buster -would have bitten Winkie. But the boy knew he had to do something to -make Buster run away, and pretending to pick up a stone was one of the -best ways. - -[Illustration: She came out of her pen and did her tricks.] - -Away ran Buster, with his tail between his legs, giving a little howl -as he ran, as much as to say: - -“Don’t throw anything at me! I was only in fun!” - -But this was the kind of fun Larry didn’t want Buster to have with the -woodchuck, and it was time the dog learned this. - -“Is Winkie all right?” asked Alice, as Larry looked into the pen. - -“Yes, I guess Buster didn’t do any more than scare her,” the boy -answered. And indeed poor Winkie’s heart was beating very fast, for she -was dreadfully frightened. - -But when she saw Larry and Alice, and heard the kind voices of the -children, and smelled the sweet carrot pieces they brought her, Winkie -was no longer frightened. She came out of her pen when Larry opened the -door, and did her tricks for the boy and his sister. - -“It’s a good thing Buster didn’t open the pen door,” said Alice, as she -stroked Winkie’s head. “What are we going to do, Larry? If we leave -Winkie in her pen, Buster may come over to-morrow when we’re at school -and bite her.” - -“I’m going to get daddy to speak to Uncle Elias about his dog,” said -the boy. “I like Buster, and he’s a good dog; but we can’t have him -chasing over here and scaring our woodchuck. I’m going to make him -stop.” - -That night Mr. Dawson spoke to his brother-in-law about Buster, telling -the farmer how the dog had nearly caught the woodchuck. - -“I wish Buster really had caught that ground-hog!” exclaimed the uncle. -“Woodchucks are a nuisance. They spoil my clover crop. A lot of ’em had -burrows in my meadow. But I plowed the place up, and I blasted out a -lot of rocks and stumps and now the pesky creatures have cleared out.” - -“I should think they would,” said Mr. Dawson. “I hope none of them were -killed.” - -“I wish they were all killed!” snarled Mr. Tottle. “And if your -children will sell their woodchuck for two dollars I’ll buy her and let -Buster chase her.” - -“I don’t believe Larry and Alice will sell Winkie,” said Mr. Dawson. - -Mr. Tottle came to them the next day and offered two dollars for Winkie. - -“Let me take her,” said Uncle Elias with a grin, “and you’ll never have -to bother to feed her again.” - -“Oh, but we like to feed her,” said Alice. - -One day Uncle Elias came over to the Dawson home very much excited. - -“There! What did I tell you!” he cried. “A lot of my clover’s been -spoiled by your woodchuck!” - -“It couldn’t be by Winkie,” said Larry, who was just then making his -pet do some of her tricks. “She hasn’t been out of her pen for a week, -except just in our yard. She couldn’t have taken any of your clover!” - -“Well, some pesky ground-hog did!” stormed the farmer. “And I’m going -to pay ’em back!” - -“Oh, what are you going to do?” asked Alice. - -“Never you mind!” snapped her uncle. “But I’ll fix these woodchucks!” - -He hurried away, muttering to himself. That night Winkie was in danger -again. After ten o’clock, when it was quite dark, Elias Tottle left his -home and with a big club in his hand walked across the field toward the -home of his sister, where Winkie slept in her pen. - -“I’ll fix that woodchuck!” muttered Mr. Tottle to himself. “I’ll fix -her!” - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -WINKIE GETS OUT - - -That night, for some reason or other, Alice could not sleep. She had -played in the evening with her brother, after they had put Winkie -through some of her tricks. Then the wily woodchuck had curled up in -her nest of hay in the smaller box, and Alice and Larry had studied -their lessons and gone to bed. - -But Alice could not sleep. She tossed restlessly from one side of the -bed to the other, and, all the while, she could not help thinking of -Winkie. - -“I hope Buster doesn’t come over in the night and break into her pen,” -thought Alice. “And I hope Uncle Elias does nothing to her! Poor -Winkie! I would rather turn her back into the woods than have anything -happen to her!” - -Alice tried to keep Winkie out of her mind, but, try as she did, the -little girl kept thinking of the pet ground-hog. - -“If anything should happen to Winkie,” said Alice over and over again -to herself, “I――I’d cry――that’s what I’d do!” - -And, almost before she knew it, some tears came out of the blue eyes of -Alice and wet the pillow on which her head rested. - -“Oh dear! Oh dear!” thought Winkie’s little mistress. “What am I going -to do? I feel so bad about Winkie! I――I’d almost rather have her get -out than to have Uncle Elias buy her, even for ten dollars, and sic -Buster after her. - -“And maybe Buster will come in the night,” thought Alice again, her -ideas chasing one another around in her poor little tired head as -if playing tag. “Or maybe Uncle Elias might come over and――and do -something to Winkie!” - -This was too much for Alice to bear. She sat up in bed, and a new idea -came to her. Carefully she listened. There was not a sound in the -house, for all the family had gone to bed rather early. And then, as -she listened, Alice thought she heard, faint and far off, the barking -of Buster. - -It may have been some dog barking on a distant farm, or it may have -been Buster. Alice was sure it was. And then, in her fancy, she heard -Winkie’s whistle. - -“And she’s chattering her teeth, too!” said Alice half aloud. - -She really thought she heard this, and perhaps she did. - -“I know what I’m going to do!” said Alice at last. “I’m going down the -back stairs, out into the yard, and I’m going to let Winkie run out! -I shan’t have Buster chase her or Uncle Elias do anything to her. I’m -going to let Winkie go back to the woods.” - -Alice swung her bare feet over the edge of her bed. She listened again, -but there was not a sound in the house. Even the distant barking of the -dog had stopped. - -“But maybe he stopped because he’s running over here to get Winkie!” -thought Alice. “I must hurry down!” - -The early part of the evening had been dark, but now the moon had -risen, and, shining in the windows, gave light enough for the little -girl to see her way. Softly in her bare feet, clad only in her night -dress, she pattered down the back stairs. - -It was an easy matter to open the back door and go down the rear steps. -Her bare feet made scarcely any sound, and the boards of the walk were -warm and dry from the day’s sun. - -“Ouch!” Alice could not help exclaiming, as she stepped off the boards -into the grass. It was cool and damp to her bare feet, but she minded -it but for a moment. Then, stopping a second or two to get used to the -tickling feeling of the grass, she went on. - -Winkie’s pen was plainly seen in the moonlight. Alice walked over -toward it, and if any one had been looking then they might have thought -the little girl, in her night dress, was some good fairy floating on a -moonbeam to help Winkie. - -And that, really, is what Alice was. She stooped down and began to -fumble with the catch of the door in the side of the pen. The children -had cut a little door hole and had hung a board on for a door, swinging -it on leather hinges. They had done this so Winkie could easily come -out to do her tricks. - -As soon as Alice touched the pen Winkie was awake, and, with a little -low whistle of greeting, the wily woodchuck came out of her small -sleeping box to see what was going on. - -“Oh, Winkie!” half sobbed Alice, putting in her hand and patting her -pet, “I’m so afraid something will happen to you that I’m going to open -your door and let you go. I hope you will be happy. I’d never be happy -if Buster caught you or if Uncle Elias did anything to you. So I’m -going to let you go, Winkie.” - -Of course Winkie did not understand this talk, but the woodchuck knew -when any one was kind to her, and Alice was certainly kind. Alice gave -Winkie a final pat, stroked her fur, and then, leaving the door open, -Alice ran back into the house, softly pattering in her bare feet over -the grass and boards. - -“Good-bye, Winkie, good-bye!” whispered the little girl, as she closed -the back door, went upstairs, and jumped into bed, nobody having heard -her. - -Then, almost as soon as her head touched the pillow, Alice fell asleep. -Her mind was now at rest about Winkie. - -But now let us see what happened to the wily woodchuck. It did not take -Winkie long to notice the open door. She knew in what part of her pen -it was, for she often went in and out when doing her tricks. And now, -in the moonlight, the open door plainly showed. - -“I guess they want me to go out,” thought Winkie. “Some more of that -funny business, I suppose, rolling over and sitting up. Well, I don’t -mind, for they give me good things to eat.” - -But when Winkie reached the outside of her pen neither Larry nor Alice -was in sight, for Alice had gone back to bed and Larry had not gotten -up. - -“Why――why, it looks as if I could run away!” was the sudden thought -that came into the woodchuck’s mind. “Yes, I can run away. I can go -back to the woods and maybe find my family! Oh, how lovely that will -be!” - -So away ran Winkie in the moonlight. She was only partly tame, and even -animals that have been in captivity a long time, and have come to love -their masters very much, will run away and turn wild again if they get -the chance. - -Winkie’s chance had come. - -Perhaps for an instant she felt sad at leaving the pen that had come to -be her home, and she may have felt sorry at going away from Larry and -Alice, who had fed her and been good to her. But this thought lasted -only a moment, and then Winkie scudded away. - -What new adventures would she have? - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -WINKIE FINDS HER FOLKS - - -Out of the yard, over the brook, and across the meadow hurried Winkie, -as fast as her fat little body could waddle. Woodchucks, especially -when they are fat from much eating, are not very fast travelers, and -Winkie could not go very rapidly. Besides, she was in no great hurry. -She did not think any danger would come to her in this beautiful, -moonlight night. - -But danger was near! - -As Winkie waddled along she suddenly heard a tramping noise. It was -the noise of heavy boots on the ground. Winkie knew footsteps when she -heard them, for she had listened to those of Larry and Alice running -home from school every day to feed her. But these footfalls were big -and heavy. - -“Maybe this is a farmer coming with a dog!” thought Winkie. “I guess -I’d better hide!” - -And hide she did, under a bush. It was well she did so, for, a little -later, along came Uncle Elias with a big club in his hand. Uncle Elias -walked as softly as he could as he neared the house of his sister, in -the yard of which he knew was Winkie’s pen. - -“I’ll fix that woodchuck!” muttered the man. “It’s all right for -children to have pets, but let ’em get a dog or a cat that doesn’t eat -clover and gnaw vegetables. Woodchucks are pesky creatures! I’ll soon -put an end to this one.” - -Mr. Tottle came to the fence, paused to look up at the house, and, -seeing it was all in darkness, he climbed over and walked softly toward -Winkie’s pen. It was a good thing Alice had been down and gone back -again, or she might have been frightened by the big figure of a man -stalking through the moonlight, with a club in his hand. - -And perhaps if Uncle Elias had seen the white-robed figure floating -over the grass in the moonlight he might have thought it was a fairy. -But then, he didn’t believe in fairies. - -“Now you pesky woodchuck, this is the end of you!” fiercely exclaimed -Uncle Elias, as he reached the pen and raised his club. - -But what a surprise for him! The door of the pen was open and there was -no woodchuck to be seen! - -“Gone!” gasped Mr. Tottle. “That pesky creature’s gone! I guess she -broke out and has gone over to my clover field. I’ll fix her!” - -Away he strode, muttering to himself. Back over the fence he climbed, -and, had he but known it, he passed close to Winkie’s hiding place. But -the wily woodchuck crouched down in the grass and neither moved nor -made a sound. - -Uncle Elias tramped on his way, muttering about “pesky creatures” over -to his own clover patch. He thought he might find Winkie, or some other -woodchucks, eating his crops. But he saw none, and that seemed to make -him more angry, for he had tramped around in the night for nothing. - -“But I’ll get that ground-hog when she comes back to her cage,” he -muttered. “I will, or I’ll sic Buster on her!” - -Uncle Elias angrily tossed his club on the wood pile and went to bed. -Meanwhile Winkie, waiting until his tramping feet had gone away, came -out of her hiding place. - -“Now for something good to eat!” thought the little woodchuck. - -She was always ready to eat, and, somehow or other, the grass she now -nibbled tasted sweeter than any she had ever chewed in her pen. It was -almost as good as carrots. Perhaps it was because Winkie was free. - -On through the night wandered the little ground-hog girl. She did not -know which way she was going――she did not care as long as no dogs, -wolves or foxes chased her. She ate some more, and then, finding a -hollow log, she curled up in it and went to sleep. - -Winkie awakened before daylight, and crawled out. She felt that she -must be on her way again. - -“I want to find my folks,” she said wistfully. She was getting tired of -going about by herself, and even when she had been with Larry and Alice -she had longed for a game of tag with Blinkie and Blunk. - -Wandering on, Winkie came to a farmhouse. Though she did not know it, -this was the place where Uncle Elias lived. But the cross man was -asleep now, and so was Buster, curled up in the straw of his kennel. - -“I smell something very good!” suddenly whispered Winkie to herself. -“It smells like carrots and turnips and other good things!” - -She sat up on her haunches, as Larry had taught her to do, a trick she -would have learned by herself, anyhow, and again she sniffed. The good -smell came from a side porch of the farmhouse, and, going softly up the -steps, Winkie saw and smelled some baskets of vegetables. - -“Oh!” thought the little woodchuck. “Some one must have known I was -coming and they left these here for me! Oh, how good they are!” - -She stood up and gnawed the potatoes, cabbages, turnips and carrots in -the basket, eating her fill. And even a small woodchuck has a large -appetite. Winkie ate so much she could hardly waddle, and then she went -off into the wood a little distance, lay down in another hollow log, -and went to sleep. - -Daylight came. Uncle Elias came downstairs early, for he was going to -take a load of vegetables to the city. He had packed them in baskets -the night before and set them on the side porch. As he went to load -them into his wagon he gave an angry cry. - -“Look here! Look here!” he shouted. “Some pesky woodchuck has been here -and sampled all my vegetables! Look here!” - -“Oh, a woodchuck would hardly come right up to the house,” said his -wife. - -“But this one did!” cried Mr. Tottle. “I know the mark of a ground-hog’s -teeth. And look, here are paw marks in the dirt! Yes, a woodchuck has -been here. And I know which one it was!” - -“Which one?” asked Mrs. Tottle. - -“The pesky creature Larry and Alice keep for a pet! I was over last -night――I mean I’m going over now,” and Uncle Elias corrected himself -quickly. “I’m going over now and make ’em get rid of it!” - -[Illustration: Winkie ate so much she could hardly waddle.] - -Over to his sister’s house he hurried. - -“Look here!” he stormed. “You’ve got to get rid of your woodchuck! She -chewed up a lot of my best vegetables. Where is she? I’m going to get -rid of her!” - -He went out to the pen, followed by Alice and Larry. Alice said -nothing, but Larry was crying and saying that if Uncle Elias did -anything to Winkie, Larry would tell his father. - -But Winkie was not in her pen! The door was open as Alice had left it. - -“She――she’s gone!” gasped Larry. “Our Winkie is gone!” - -“I knew she got out, because she was over at my place!” said Uncle -Elias. “I was here――I mean I’m here now to see that she doesn’t get out -again. She came over in the night and ate my best vegetables. I thought -she’d be back here by now.” - -“No, Winkie isn’t here,” said Alice. “And I――I’m glad of it, Uncle -Elias!” she said bravely. - -“Oh, you are, are you!” snorted the unkind man. “Well, when she comes -back I’ll fix her.” - -“Maybe she’ll never come back,” said Larry sadly. “I wonder how she got -out? I fastened the door last night.” - -Alice knew, and later on she told Larry. She didn’t want Buster or -Uncle Elias to catch the woodchuck. And the angry farmer or the big dog -never did. - -After her fine feast of the vegetables belonging to Uncle Elias, -Winkie slept until nearly noon. Then she awakened in the hollow tree, -stretched herself and walked out. - -There were woods not far away, and Winkie, feeling thirsty, thought she -might find a brook there. - -“But I must be careful to keep out of traps,” she thought to herself. -“The next one I get caught in may not be as easy on me as the one Larry -set.” - -Carefully Winkie made her way through the woods. As she was drinking -she heard a noise on the other side of the brook. Looking up she saw -Toto, the beaver. - -“Hello, Winkie!” called the bustling chap, who was floating a little -log of wood into a canal he had dug. “Say, where have you been, -Winkie?” Toto asked. - -“Oh, lots of places,” answered the woodchuck. “The last place I was in -was a pen, but a little girl let me out. Why do you ask?” - -“Because some new woodchucks, who have just come to these woods to live, -have been asking for you.” - -“Asking for me?” cried Winkie. - -“Yes, there was a girl woodchuck named Blinkie and――――” - -“That’s my sister!” cried Winkie. - -“And a boy woodchuck named Blunk!” - -“He’s my brother!” cried Winkie. “Oh, where are they? And are my father -and mother with Blinkie and Blunk?” - -“Well, there are four woodchucks living not far from our beaver dam,” -said Toto. “They just moved there last week. They said they had been -driven out of their burrow by a big noise, and then, when they were -all walking along together to find a new home, they heard another big -noise, and they separated. The four of them came together some time -later, but the fifth one was lost.” - -“I am that fifth one!” cried Winkie. - -“I’m beginning to think so!” chuckled Toto. “Come, and I’ll take you to -the other woodchucks!” - -He led the way. Winkie saw a big pile of grass, sticks, stones, and mud -across a pond of water. This was the beaver dam. A little distance off -was a smaller pile of dirt near a hole in the side of a hill. - -“That’s where the new woodchuck family lives,” said Toto, pointing with -his flat tail. - -Winkie hurried over. She saw a woodchuck come to the edge of the burrow -and look out. - -“Oh, Blinkie! Here I am!” shouted Winkie. “Don’t you know me? I’ve come -back. Here I am!” - -The woodchuck at the edge of the burrow gave a whistle and a chatter. -Three other ground-hogs came rushing out. - -“Winkie! It’s my Winkie!” cried Mrs. Woodchuck. - -“Oh, Mother!” sobbed Winkie. “How glad I am to be home again! Oh, such -adventures as I’ve had! But now I’m home!” - -Winkie had found her folks again! And she lived happily with them -until, as a grown-up woodchuck, she went away to make her own home in -her own burrow. - - -THE END - - - - - Transcriber’s Notes: - - ――Text in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_). - - ――Printer’s, punctuation and spelling inaccuracies were silently - corrected. - - ――Archaic and variable spelling has been preserved. - - ――Variations in hyphenation and compound words have been preserved. - - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's Winkie, the Wily Woodchuck, by Richard Barnum - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WINKIE, THE WILY WOODCHUCK *** - -***** This file should be named 63191-0.txt or 63191-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/1/9/63191/ - -Produced by Donald Cummings and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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