THE CHIPMUNK 149 



thought, with only a dreamy kind of interest. 

 I fancied she thought it a hopeless case there 

 amid that pile of posts. "That is not your 

 game, Nig," I said, "so spare yourself any 

 anxiety. " Just then I was called to the house, 

 where I was detained about five minutes. As 

 I returned I met Nig coming to the house with 

 the chipmunk in her mouth. She had the air 

 of one who had won a wager. She carried the 

 chipmunk by the tliroat, and its body hung 

 limp from her mouth. I quickly took the 

 squirrel from her and reproved her sharply. It 

 lay in my hand as if dead, though I saw no 

 marks of the cat's teeth upon it. Presently it 

 gasped for its breath, then again and again. I 

 saw that the cat had simply choked it. Quickly 

 the film passed off its eyes, its heart began 

 visibly to beat, and slowly the breathing became 

 regular. I carried it back and laid it down in 

 the door of its den. In a moment it crawled or 

 kicked itself in. In the afternoon I placed a 

 handful of corn there, to express my sympathy, 

 and as far as possible make amends for Nig's 

 cruel treatment. 



Not till four or five days had passed did my 

 little neighbor emerge again from its den and 

 then only for a moment. That terrible black 

 monster with the large green-yellow eyes — it 

 might be still lurking near. How the black 

 monster had captured the alert and restless 

 squirrel so quickly, under the circumstances, 

 was a great mystery to me. Was not its eye 

 as sharp as the cat's and its movements as quick ? 



