rated awhile, for I heard the leaves rustle as if he
were making up his mind, when he suddenly broke cover and came for his
hole full tilt. Any other animal would have taken to his heels and fled;
but a woodchuck's heels do not amount to much for speed, and he feels
his only safety is in his hole. On he came in the most obstinate and
determined manner, and I dare say if I had sat down in his hole would
have attacked me unhesitatingly. This I did not give him a chance to
do, and he whipped into his den beneath me with a defiant snort. Farther
on, a saucy chipmunk presumed upon my harmless character to an unwonted
degree also. I had paused to bathe my hands and face in a little trout
brook, and had set a tin cup, which I had partly filled with
strawberries as I crossed the field, on a stone at my feet, when along
came the chipmunk as confidently as if he knew precisely where he was
going, and, perfectly oblivious of my presence, cocked himself up on the
rim of the cup and proceeded to eat my choicest berries. I remained
motionless and observed him. He had eaten but two when the thought
seemed to occur to him that he might be doing better, and he began to
fill his pockets. Two, four, six, eight of my berries quickly
disappeared, and the cheeks of the little vagabond swelled. But all the
time he kept eating, that not a moment might be lost. Then he hopped off
the cup, and went skipping from stone to stone till the brook was
passed, when he disappeared in the woods. In two or three minutes he was
back again, and went to stuffing himself as before; then he disappeared
a second time, and I imagined told a friend of his, for in a moment or
two along came a bobtailed chipmunk, as if in search of something, and
passed up, and down, and around, but did not quite hit the spot.
Shortly, the first returned a third time, and had now grown a little
fastidious, for he began to sort over my berries, and to bite into them,
as if to taste their quality. He was not long in loading up, however,
and in making off again. But I had now got tired of the joke, and my
berries were appreciably diminishing, so I moved away. What was most
curious about the proceeding was, that the little poacher took different
directions each time, and returned from different ways. Was this to
elude pursuit, or was he distributing the fruit to his friends and
neighbors about, astonishing them with strawberries for lunch?

On another occasion I was much amused by three