NOTES BY THE WAY 161 



sprang to the mouth of his den, and, when his pur- 

 suer 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 sus- 

 pect that he revolved the subject in his mind while 

 he revolved the great wheel of the churning-ma- 

 chine, 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 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. 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 outlook, again 

 Cuff was motionless and hugging the ground. As 

 the dog neared his victim he was partially hidden by 

 a swell in the earth, but still the woodchuck from 

 his outlook reported "All right,'' when Cuff, having 



