UNDER THE APPLE-TREES 



One day I went by a roundabout course and stood 

 three paces from his hole. In the mean time he had 

 loaded up, and he came running over the course in 

 his usual style, but before he left the second base he 

 saw me, or an apparition that was not there before, 

 and became very nervous. He jumped about; he sat 

 up on his haunches and looked; crouched by a wood- 

 chuck's hole and eyed me, his cheeks protruding; 

 changed his attitude a dozen times; then, as the 

 apparition changed not, he started and came one 

 third of the way; then his heart failed him and he 

 rushed back. More posing and scrutinizing, when 

 he made a second dash that brought him two thirds 

 of the way; then his fears overcame him again, and 

 he again rushed to cover. Repeating his former be- 

 havior for a few moments, he made a third dash and 

 reached the home base in safety. How carefully he 

 seems to carry his tail on entering his hole, so as not 

 to let it touch the sides! He is out again in less 

 than a minute, and, erect upon his haunches, looks 

 me squarely in the eye. He is greatly agitated; he 

 has not had that experience before. What does it 

 mean? Erect on his hind legs, he stands almost 

 motionless and eyes me. I stand motionless, too, 

 with a half -eaten apple in my hand. I wink and 

 breathe; so does he. For ten minutes we confront 

 each other in this fashion, then he turns his back 

 upon me and drops down. He looks toward the 

 camp; he remembers the nuts and corn awaiting 



14 



