THE WOODCHUCK. 99 
days, started off at his highest speed, vainly hoping to 
catch this one before he could get to his hole. But 
the woodchuck, seeing the dog come laboring up the 
hill, sprang to the mouth of his den, and, when his 
pursuer was only a few rods off, whistled tauntingly 
and went in. This occurred several times, the old 
dog marching up the hill, and then marching down 
again, having had his labor for his pains. I suspect 
that he revolved the subject in his mind while he re- 
volved the great wheel of the churning-machine, and 
that some turn or other brought him a happy thought, 
for next time he showed himself a strategist. Instead 
of giving chase to the woodchuck when first dis- 
covered, he crouched down to the ground, and, resting 
his head on his paws, watched him. The woodchuck 
kept working away from the hole, lured by the tender 
clover, but, not unmindful of his safety, lifted him- 
self up on his haunches every few moments and sur- 
veyed the approaches. Presently, after the woodchuck 
had let himself,down from one of these attitudes of 
observation, and resumed his feeding, Cuff started 
swiftly but stealthily up the hill, precisely in the at- 
titude of a cat when she is stalking a bird. When 
the woodchuck rose up again, Cuff was perfectly mo- 
tionless and half hid by the grass. When he again 
resumed his clover, Cuff sped up the hill as before, 
this time crossing a fence, but in a low place, and so 
nimbly that he was not discovered. Again the wood. 
chuck was on the outlook, again Cuff was motionless 
and hugging the ground. As the dog nears his victim 
he is partially hidden by a swell in the earth, but still 
the woodchuck from his outlook reports “ all right,” 
when Cuff, having not twice as far to run as the 
‘chuck, throws all stealthiness aside and rushes di- 
