84 NEIGHBORS WITH CLAWS AND HOOFS. 



brought him a happy thought, for next time he showed 

 himself a strategist. Instead of giving chase to the wood- 

 chuck, when first discovered^ he crouched down to the 

 ground, and, resting his head on his paws, watched him. 

 The woodchuck kept working away from his hole, lured 

 by the tender clover, but, not unmindful of his safety, 

 lifted himself up on his haunches every few moments, 

 and surveyed the approaches. 



4. 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 attitude of a cat when she is stalking a bird. 

 When the woodchuck rose up again, Cuff was perfectly 

 motionless, 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 woodchuck was 

 on the lookout, 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, hav- 

 ing not twice as far to run as the 'chuck, throws all 

 stealthiness aside, and rushes directly for the hole. At 

 that moment the woodchuck discovers his danger, and, 

 seeing that it is a race for life, leaps as I never saw mar 

 mot leap before. But he is two seconds too late ; his 

 retreat is cut off, and the powerful jaws of the old dog 

 close upon him. 



5. The next season Cuff tried the same tactics again 

 with like success ; but, when the third woodchuck had 

 taken up his abode at the fatal hole, the old churner's 

 wits and strength had begun to fail him, and he was 

 baffled in each attempt to capture the animal. 



