V
BILLY STANDS GUARD
Old Mr. Woodchuck had a great deal of time on his paws. He was always telling people how a stone once rolled off a wall on top of him and hurt his back, so he was not strong enough to do much work.
On pleasant days he was usually to be found sunning himself. And often when he leaned his lame back against a tree where the sun fell squarely upon him he would fall asleep and stay there for hours at a time.
Though he did no work at all, his appet.i.te was always good. And when he heard that there were ripe apples, or lettuce, or some other dainty to be had, he always managed to get to the feast about as early as anybody else. At such times he seemed to forget how much his back hurt him.
There came a day when Mr. Woodchuck dashed home on a run. At first his wife thought there must be a fox chasing him. But as soon as he caught his breath (he was so fat that running always made him puff), he told Mrs. Woodchuck that a party of his friends was going to make a raid on Farmer Green"s clover-field.
"I"m going with them," he said.
"Do you think you ought to?" she asked. "Isn"t it too far? Isn"t your back too lame?"
Mr. Woodchuck clapped his hands to his back and groaned a bit.
"They say there"s nothing better for my trouble than tender young clover-heads," he replied. "So I think I ought to go.... What I came home for is this: We want some spry young fellow to come along with us and be a sentinel. And I"m going to take Billy. He"s old enough now to make himself of some use."
"I don"t want him to go," Mrs. Woodchuck said. "He"s only a child."
"He has ears, hasn"t he? And eyes?" her husband replied. "It"s time he helped me a little, after all I"ve done for him."
Billy Woodchuck was sure that he wanted to go. He was listening to every word.
"What"s a sentinel?" he asked.
"A sentinel is a guard," his father told him. "It is his duty to sit upon a knoll and watch for men and dogs, while his friends eat the clover. And if he sees or hears a man or a dog--or any other enemy--he whistles as loud as he can. That"s the danger signal. And just as soon as they hear it, all the other chucks run away."
"Please let me go, Mother!" Billy begged.
"It"s very dangerous," Mrs. Woodchuck objected.
"No danger at all!" Mr. Woodchuck said. "Come on!"
And off they went, though Mrs. Woodchuck was far from pleased.
Mr. Woodchuck hurried over to a big oak, where his friends were waiting for him. There were almost a dozen of them--fat, elderly gentlemen. But they were very spry about reaching the clover-field.
Billy felt proud as a peac.o.c.k when they left him alone on a knoll at the edge of the clover-patch and told him to keep a sharp ear out.
"And remember! At the first sign of danger, you must give a loud, shrill whistle," his father warned him. Then Mr. Woodchuck hurried away.
Billy could see his father and the others eating clover-tops as fast as they could pull them off. And he soon began to think that they were having more fun than he was. He grew tired of sitting still in one place. And just a little distance away he noticed a clump of fine clover. As the tops waved gently in the breeze they seemed to beckon to him.
Soon Billy was eating clover, too. And it was so good that he forgot all about being a sentinel. He forgot all about listening for danger. And then all at once he heard a cry:
"Sick him, Spot!"
It was Johnnie Green calling to his dog.
VI
BILLY FORGETS TO WHISTLE
When Billy Woodchuck turned around he saw that 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.
[Ill.u.s.tration: "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.
"I said that Billy was too young to take to the clover field," she reminded him.
Mr. Woodchuck groaned again.
"Does your nose still pain you?" she asked.