peaches on that tree if they cost the woodchuck 

 what I have seen more than one woodchuck 

 suffer in the horrible jaws of such a trap. 



But is it not perfectly legitimate and gentle- 

 manly to shoot such a woodchuck to save one's 

 peaches? Certainly. So I got the gun and 

 waited— and waited— and waited. Did you ever 

 wait with a gun until a woodchuck came out of 

 his hole? I never did. A woodchuck has just 

 sense enough to go into his hole— and stay in. 



There were too many woodchucks about and 

 my days were too precious for me to spend any 

 considerable part of my summer watching with 

 a gun for this one. Besides, I have been known 

 to fire and miss a woodchuck, anyway. 



So I gave up the gun. It was while thinking 

 what I could do next that I came down the row 

 of young peach-trees and spied the woodchuck 

 out in the orchard, fifty yards away from his 

 hole. He spied me at the same instant, and 

 rose upon his haunches. 



At last we were face to face. The time had 



come. It would be a fight to the finish ; and a 



fair fight, too, for all that I had about me in the 



way of weapons was a pair of heavy, knee-high 



[24] 



