THE CHIPMUNK 149 



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 throat, 

 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 ex- 

 press 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 lurk- 

 ing near. How the black monster had captured the 

 alert and restless squirrel so quickly, under the cir- 

 cumstances, was a great mystery to me. Was not 

 its eye as sharp as the cat's, and its movements as 

 quick ? Yet cats do have the secret of catching squir- 

 rels, and birds, and mice, but I have never yet had 

 the luck to see it done. 



It was not very long before the, chipmunk was 

 going to and from her den as usual, though the dread 



