hat dog Spot was coming
straight toward him. Billy dropped the big clover-top he was just
cramming into his mouth; and he ran as fast as he could go for a
little way. Then he stopped and crouched low in the thick clover.
But old Spot came bounding after him.

Again Billy made a quick dash. Again he stopped to hide. And this
time what should he see right in front of him but the door of an
old woodchuck's burrow! He whisked inside it in a hurry and plunged
headlong down to the long tunnel, where he knew he was safe. Above
him he could hear old Spot barking, and Johnnie Green talking. But
he was no longer afraid.

[Illustration: "What's the Matter?" Billy Asked]

Then suddenly Billy remembered that he was a sentinel. And he had
forgotten to whistle! He had forgotten to warn his father and his
friends that they were in danger!

Billy Woodchuck wondered what would happen to them. Though Spot
soon stopped barking, Billy did not dare leave his hiding place. He
only hoped that the old chucks had heard the noise and had run away
in time. Of course, he would be very sorry if any of them should
get caught--especially his father. And yet the more he thought, the
surer he was that if his father reached home the old gentleman
would be very angry. No matter what happened, Billy Woodchuck saw
that he was in great trouble.

It was almost dark when Billy at last left the old burrow and stole
home. Even before he had reached the end of the long tunnel he
could hear a loud groaning in the family bedroom beyond.

It was his father. And as Billy slipped inside the chamber he saw
that his mother was bending over Mr. Woodchuck and trying to quiet
him.

"What's the matter?" Billy asked.

And at that Mr. Woodchuck sprang to his feet. But his wife made him
lie down again. And she seemed pleased to see her son once more.

"Your father has been in a fight," Mrs. Woodchuck said. "When the
dog chased him he ran into an old woodchuck's burrow."

"That's just what I did, too!" Billy exclaimed.

"Yes; but there was a weasel in the one in which your father hid,"
his mother explained. "And your poor father's nose is badly
bitten."

"It's all _his_ fault," Mr. Woodchuck said, meaning Billy, of
course. "He was a sentinel--and he ran away without warning us."

"I didn't have time," Billy whimpered.

"If he were a soldier, he would be shot," his father said, crossly.

Mrs. Woodchuck told her husband that he had better try to go to
sleep.