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 
