PEPACTON 



the remainder of the day he had plenty of time 

 to sleep and rest, and sit on his hips and survey 

 the landscape. One day, sitting thus, he discovered 

 a woodchuck about forty rods from the house, on a 

 steep sidehill, feeding about near his hole, which 

 was beneath a large rock. The old dog, forgetting 

 his stiffness, and remembering the fun he had had 

 with woodchucks in his earlier days, started off at 

 his highest speed, vainly hoping to catch this one 

 before he could get to his hole. But the wood- 

 chuck seeing the dog come laboring up the hill, 

 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 

 176 



