180 NOTES BY THE WAY. 



vainly hop! rig 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, whis- 

 tled 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 revolved the great wheel of the churn- 

 ing-machine, and that some turn or other brought 

 him a happy thought, for next time he showed him- 

 self 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. Pres 

 ently, 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 |j)se 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 outlook, again Cuff 

 was motionless and hugging the ground. As the dog 

 bears his victim he is partially hidden by a swell ir 



