I liad made no objection to his huckleberry hole. 

 He used to come down the hillside and waddle 

 into the orchard in broad day, free to do and go 

 as he pleased ; but not since he began to dig 

 under the peach-tree. 



I discovered this new hole when it was only a 

 foot deep, and promptly filled it with stones. 

 The next morning the stones were out and the 

 cavity two feet deeper. I filled it up again, 

 driving a large squarish piece of rock into the 

 mouth, tight, certainly stopping all further 

 work, as I thought. 



There are woodchucks that you can discourage 

 and there are those that you can't. Three days 

 later the piece of rock and the stones were piled 

 about the butt of the tree and covered with 

 fresh earth, while the hole ran in out of sight, 

 with the woodchuck, apparently, at the bottom 

 of it. 



I had tried shutting him out, now I would try 

 shutting him in. It was cruel— it would have 

 been to anything but a woodchuck ; I was 

 ashamed of myself for doing it, and went back 

 the following day, really hoping to find the 

 burrow open. 



[22] 



