Chapter 2

"Oh, dear!" he cried. "I can't run any more. I'm afraid I can never run again."

Mrs. Woodchuck took one look at him.

"What have you been eating?" she asked.

"Some little green balls," Billy answered.

"Where have you been eating them?" she inquired. To tell the truth, she was the least bit worried.

"It was down in Farmer Green's garden," he told her.

"Ah, ha!" said Mrs. Woodchuck. "Green peas!" she said. "Your father told me this very morning that they were ripe. You ate too many of them."

"Will I get better?" Billy asked her.

"Yes, indeed!" she replied. "But it's lucky no man came and found you like that. I don't believe you could ever have got away."

Billy Woodchuck said nothing more just then. But in a little while he asked his mother another question:

"Is it because they are in Farmer Green's garden that you call them _green_ peas, Mother?"

VIII

A NEW GAME

Billy Woodchuck and Jimmy Rabbit often played together. Though they did not look the least bit alike, they agreed almost perfectly in one thing: they liked the same good things to eat. There was no place they would rather go than Farmer Green's garden.

But after he had had a bad fright one day, when dog Spot chased him away from the lettuce-bed, Jimmy Rabbit did not go near the garden for a long time. But he could not forget the taste of that crisp lettuce. So one day he said to Billy Woodchuck:

"How would you like to play a new game?"

"What is it?" Billy asked. "If it's fun, of course I'd like it."

"Well--did you ever play beggar?" Jimmy Rabbit asked him.

"No! What's it like?"

"It's like this," Jimmy told him. "You sit up on your hind legs, hold your hands in front of you, and let your head hang over on one side. And whenever anybody comes along you say: 'Please give me something to eat! Nothing has passed these lips for two days!'"

"B-but I've just had a good meal," Billy said. "And that wouldn't be true."

"Oh--this is just a game," Jimmy Rabbit said. "It's all right. It's often done. Everybody will understand."

"Well, then--where shall I sit?" Billy Woodchuck asked.

"I'd advise you to go down near Farmer Green's garden," said Jimmy--"there are so many people passing that way. I'll wait here for you. And when you get enough food given you, you can bring it right back here and I'll help you carry it home."

Billy Woodchuck thought that was very kind. So down he went toward Farmer Green's garden. And near the fence, beside the bridge across the brook, where the field-people often passed, he sat up just as Jimmy Rabbit had told him to.

Pretty soon he saw old Aunt Polly Woodchuck come along with a basketful of goodies which she had gathered in the garden.

"Please, ma'am, I'm hungry," Billy said. "Nothing has passed my lips for a whole week." He thought "a week" sounded far better than "two days."

Now, Aunt Polly was a very old lady and almost blind. She could not see how Billy's fat sides stuck out. And though she stopped and looked at him closely, she did not know him--for all he was the son of her own nephew.

"My, my!" she said. "How hungry you must be! Here--you just take this basket and go right home and have a good meal. I live 'way over there under the hill. And you can bring my basket home to-night."

Billy Woodchuck thanked her. He felt somewhat ashamed to take the peas and lettuce and apples and clover-heads. But he remembered it was only a _game_. And Jimmy Rabbit had said it was all right.

Old Aunt Polly Woodchuck trudged back to the garden again. And Billy hurried back to the place where Jimmy Rabbit was waiting.

"See what I've brought!" he said proudly. "Now you take hold of the other side of the basket and we'll carry it home to my mother."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," said Jimmy Rabbit.

"Why not?" asked Billy.

"Well--I just wouldn't. I forgot to remember that it's bad luck not to sit right down and eat whatever's given you like this. And you don't want to have bad luck."

Billy Woodchuck was sure he didn't.

"All right, then!" said Jimmy Rabbit. "And they say it's bad luck if you leave a single scrap uneaten. So I'll sit down too, and help you."

IX

AT AUNT POLLY'S

After Jimmy Rabbit and Billy Woodchuck had eaten the very last goody in old Aunt Polly Woodchuck's basket, Jimmy said that he must hurry away at once.

"Don't you want to go with me while I take her basket home?" Billy asked him.

"I'd like to; but I can't," said Jimmy. "The basket's light, anyway. You won't have any trouble carrying it." And that was the truth. "If you want to play beggar again to-morrow, perhaps I can meet you here once more," Jimmy added. "I'm always glad to help a friend, you know." And then he hopped away.

Billy Woodchuck trotted over to Aunt Polly's house under the hill. He hoped the old lady hadn't reached home yet, for he was afraid she might know who he was the next time she saw him.

Luckily she had not returned. And Billy left the basket just outside the door of her sitting-room and was hurrying back through her neat tunnel, when he heard voices.

And sure enough, as he crawled out of Aunt Polly's front door, there sat the old lady herself. And with her was Billy's own mother, who had come over to pay a call upon Aunt Polly and ask after her rheumatism.

"Well, if here isn't that poor little lad right now!" Aunt Polly exclaimed, the minute she saw Billy Woodchuck. "He's just after bringing home my basket, I know." She had been telling Billy's mother about the starving youngster she had found.

"So this is the young beggar, is it?" Mrs. Woodchuck said. "I must say he looks very fat for a person who has had nothing to eat for a week."

Aunt Polly felt of Billy's pudgy sides.

"Dearie me! He doesn't seem thin, exactly," she agreed. "But you must remember he has just had one good meal."

"No doubt!" said Mrs. Woodchuck. "And it's the fourth, at least, that he's had to-day."

"You don't say so! You know him, then?" asked Aunt Polly.

"I'm ashamed to say I do," Mrs. Woodchuck answered. "I never thought I should be the mother of a beggar. But I see that I am. It can't be helped this time. But I know how to keep it from happening again." She took hold of Billy's ear. "Come home with me, young man," she said.

Billy Woodchuck began to whimper.

"It was just a game!" he cried. "We were only playing. We were having fun."

"_We?_ How many were there of you?" his mother asked.

"Two of us--me and Jimmy Rabbit!"

Mrs. Woodchuck was too upset to notice that Billy said _me_ when he ought to have said _I_.

"I'd like to have Jimmy Rabbit's ear in my other hand," she told Aunt Polly.

X

UNCLE JERRY CHUCK

Not only Mr. Woodchuck, but his friends as well, were angry with Billy, because he forgot to whistle a warning to them, when dog Spot caught them in the clover-patch. And whenever they met Billy Woodchuck anywhere they would scold at him, and tell him that he was a heedless, careless boy.

"It will be a long time before you have another chance to be a sentinel and listen for danger," Uncle Jerry Chuck told him.

After he heard that, there was nothing that Billy wanted to do so much as to stand guard again. Before, he had been happy and contented. But now that he learned that there was something he mightn't do he knew he should never be satisfied until he did it.

Every day Billy went to one of his father's friends and asked him if he didn't want somebody to listen for him. But they all told him that he was a good-for-nothing rascal and bade him be off.

Finally Billy went to Uncle Jerry Chuck's house and fairly begged the old gentleman to let him do some listening.

The sly old gentleman had been waiting for just that thing. He was very fond of taking naps in the sunshine and he wanted to find some youngster like Billy, with sharp ears, to stay near him while he slept and waken him in case some enemy should see him.

Now, if Uncle Jerry had been willing to pay them, he might have found plenty of first-class listeners. But he was stingy. He was always trying to get something for nothing. And now he said to Billy:

"I'll give you just one more chance. Maybe you learned a lesson down in the clover-patch. Perhaps you won't forget to remember to whistle, after what happened that time."

"No, Uncle Jerry!" said Billy Woodchuck. He was very polite. "When may I begin?" he asked.

"Right now!" Uncle Jerry told him. "Come with me, up on top of the big rock." And he walked off at once, with Billy at his side.

"But there's nothing for you to eat there," said Billy.

"Eat?" Uncle Jerry exclaimed. "I'm not going to eat. I'm going to _sleep_."

So Uncle Jerry Chuck went to sleep on top of the big rock. All the time he slept, Billy Woodchuck sat upon his hind legs and listened with all his might and main. But his sharp ears caught no hint of danger.

After a while he began to wish that old Spot would come along--or a skunk or a fox. For it seemed as if Uncle Jerry never would wake up again.

Billy wouldn't have minded quite so much, if Uncle Jerry hadn't snored. But, of course, that made it much harder to listen.

At last Uncle Jerry Chuck opened his eyes and slowly rose to his feet and stretched himself.

"You've done very well, for a beginner," he told Billy. "Come back here to-morrow at the same hour and I'll try you again."

Now, Billy Woodchuck had done enough listening to last him for a long time. But he didn't know just how to tell that to Uncle Jerry. And almost before he knew it he found himself saying:

"Yes, sir!"

XI

BILLY ASKS FOR PAY

The next day, at the same hour, Uncle Jerry Chuck went to the big rock. This time he was looking forward to even a longer nap in the sun than he had had the day before. If Billy Woodchuck was willing to listen, without pay, Uncle Jerry was more than willing to let him.

Billy Woodchuck was somewhat late. But he arrived at last.

"You must be more prompt," Uncle Jerry told him, severely. "I have no time to waste waiting for a young chap like you. When I'm good enough to let you do my listening, it seems to me you ought to be on time," he grumbled. That is often the way with people who get things for nothing. They are very likely to find fault.

Now, Billy Woodchuck had been doing some thinking since the day before. And while Uncle Jerry was hunting for a soft spot on the big rock, where he could lie, Billy suddenly surprised him by saying:

"Don't you think you ought to pay me for listening for you, Uncle Jerry?"

Uncle Jerry grunted. He was not at all pleased.

"This is not a good time to speak of _pay_," he said. "I am so sleepy that I can hardly keep my eyes open. However, I'll see what I can do for you--after I've had my nap."

And then he fell asleep, and snored ever so much louder than he had the previous day. He slept longer, too. And by the time he awakened, Billy Woodchuck was quite worn out, and ready to fall asleep himself.

This time Uncle Jerry did not wait to stretch himself. As soon as he opened his eyes he leapt to his feet and started off.

"Meet me here to-morrow at the same hour," he ordered.

"But you haven't paid me for to-day!" Billy Woodchuck cried.

Uncle Jerry stopped.

"I declare, I'd forgotten all about that," he said. "I'll tell you what I'll do.... You know, turn about is fair play. So if you want to take a nap, you can lie right down here and take it. And I'll do more for you than you did for me. I'll keep track of the time. And when the sun gets over the big elm by the brook, I'll wake you up."

Billy Woodchuck agreed. And as soon as he was fast asleep Uncle Jerry left him. You see, old Uncle Jerry Chuck was a sly old gentleman. He had said nothing at all about listening for danger.

So Billy Woodchuck slept on.

If the Great Horned Owl had happened along then, he could have caught Billy without any trouble.

But it was not Mr. Owl who passed that way, before the sun climbed above the big elm. Though some one did spy Billy, as he lay there sleeping.

Who do you suppose it was?

XII

WHAT JIMMY RABBIT SAW

It was Jimmy Rabbit who came along and caught sight of Billy Woodchuck, sound asleep on top of the big rock.

Jimmy was surprised. It seemed to him that it was a very careless thing to do. And while he was wondering whether he would just waken Billy, or play some trick on him, he saw Uncle Jerry Chuck come puffing up the hill and go to Billy and give him a good, hard shake.

Billy Woodchuck at once jumped up, rubbing his eyes to get the sleep out of them. And Uncle Jerry started to waddle down the hill. But before he had gone far he turned around; and Jimmy Rabbit heard him call:

"Remember! To-morrow at the same hour!"

Jimmy wondered what he meant. He waited till Uncle Jerry was out of sight and then he stepped out from behind the blackberry bush where he was hiding and hopped over to the big rock.

"Hello, Billy!" he said. "What's going on to-morrow?"

"I listen, while Uncle Jerry sleeps," Billy explained. "And then, after he's had his nap, I sleep while he listens."

"Oh, ho!" said Jimmy Rabbit. "And _where_ does he listen--if I may be so bold as to ask?" So long as he put his questions like that, Jimmy Rabbit always seemed to think that he could ask anyone anything he wanted to.

"Why, he listens _here_," said Billy.

"What makes you think so? Did he say he would?"

"Yes--er--n-no! He said he would wake me up at this time," said Billy. "But, of course, he was right here all the while."

"Of course he was _not_!" said Jimmy. "When I first came along, you were all alone. And pretty soon I saw Uncle Jerry come up the hill and shake you. I tell you, it's lucky for you nothing happened, while you were taking your nap."

Billy Woodchuck saw that he had been tricked. And he was very angry. He was so angry that he wanted to run straight down to Uncle Jerry's house and tell him just what he thought about him.

But Jimmy Rabbit said "No!" He knew something better to do than that. "Let's see----" he said. "Didn't I hear Uncle Jerry mention something about 'to-morrow at the same hour'?" he asked.

"Y-y-e-s-s!" Billy Woodchuck was so angry that his teeth were chattering and clattering; and he found it very hard to talk.

"Well, then--you just lie low until to-morrow. Meet him here. Let him fall asleep. And then we'll teach him a good lesson."

Billy liked that idea. He liked it so well that he could hardly wait for to-morrow to come.

XIII

A JOKE ON UNCLE JERRY

Well, the third day Uncle Jerry Chuck once more climbed to the top of the big rock to take his nap in the sun. And this time Billy Woodchuck was there ahead of him.

"Good!" said Uncle Jerry. "I see you're trying to do better. You're not late to-day.... Now, keep a sharp ear out while I'm asleep. And don't forget to give a loud whistle the moment you hear the least noise that--sounds--like----" He was asleep even before he finished what he had started to say. And after taking a good look at him, Billy Woodchuck tiptoed away to a spot where he saw two long ears sticking out from behind a clump of milkweed.

"Is he asleep?" Jimmy Rabbit whispered.

"Yes!" said Billy.

"Then help me carry these pots of paint up where that old fraud is," said Jimmy Rabbit.

Billy Woodchuck obeyed. There was a pot of black paint and a pot of white. And besides all that, Jimmy had a whole armful of Indian paint brush, which grew thick in Farmer Green's pasture. He gave Billy Woodchuck a brush.

"Now," he whispered, "we'll paint this old fellow black."

Between them they soon covered Uncle Jerry Chuck with a thick coat of the black paint. And then Jimmy Rabbit stood off and squinted at the sleeper.

"So far, so good!" he said. "And now for the last touch of all! This has to be put on with care, so I shall do it myself."

And Billy Woodchuck watched him while he painted two broad, white stripes the length of Uncle Jerry's back. They began on the top of his head, so close together that they made just one line, and ended far apart, on either side of his tail.

"There!" Jimmy Rabbit whispered, when he had finished. "Does he look like anyone you know?"

"He looks exactly like Henry Skunk's father," said Billy Woodchuck. And he backed away. He was afraid of the Skunk family. "What are we going to do now?" Billy asked.

"First of all, we'll hide these pots of paint," said Jimmy. And as soon as they had done that Jimmy added: "Go up on the rock, whistle as loud as you can, and then run.... I'm going to hurry down the hill and see the fun."

Billy Woodchuck did exactly as he was told. And in no time at all his shrill whistle had awakened Uncle Jerry Chuck.

The old gentleman sprang up. He saw Billy, scurrying toward home. And without so much as a glance behind him to see what the danger might be, Uncle Jerry tore down the hill. He didn't know what was chasing him; but he was sure there was something.

On the way home he met Billy Woodchuck's father. And when Mr. Woodchuck saw him he fell right over backward, he was so frightened. For he, too, was afraid of the Skunk family.

Uncle Jerry thought that was queer. But he didn't stop. He ran into his house. And there another queer thing happened. The moment his wife caught sight of him she gave a scream and rushed out of the back door.

And for a long, long time after that there wasn't one of Uncle Jerry's family or his friends who would have anything to do with him.

He noticed another strange thing, too. Jimmy Rabbit and Billy Woodchuck were always following him. And whenever Uncle Jerry turned around quickly he was sure to catch them laughing.

But whatever the joke was, he never could see it.

XIV

MR. FOX HAS AN IDEA

It was so long since Mr. Fox had tried to catch Billy Woodchuck in the hollow stump that Billy had begun to forget his fear of that sly fellow. And so when he met Mr. Fox in the woods one day Billy did not run as he had often done before. To be sure, he did not go too near Mr. Fox. And while they talked Billy watched the sharp-nosed gentleman with one eye; and the other eye he kept on a hole in the stonewall nearby. If Mr. Fox should come too close, Billy was ready to dive into that hole, where Mr. Fox could not reach him.

No one could have been pleasanter than Mr. Fox. "I'm so glad to meet you!" he said. "You're just the person I want to see. I've been told you are very musical."

Billy Woodchuck didn't know what he meant. But he did not say so.

"Yes," Mr. Fox went on. "They say you are the best whistler in Pleasant Valley."

That made Billy Woodchuck feel very proud.

"I _can_ whistle pretty well," he said, throwing out his chest.

"And they tell me your two brothers are almost as good whistlers as you are--but not _quite_," added Mr. Fox, for he saw that Billy did not like that so well.

"Oh, they can whistle some. But I can beat them," Billy answered.

"I have an idea," said Mr. Fox. He really had a great many ideas in his head--more, probably, than any other of the forest-people. "I'm very fond of music and I want to have a fife-and-drum corps."

"What's that? I never heard of such a thing," exclaimed Billy Woodchuck.

"Fifes and drums--they make music, you know," Mr. Fox explained. "Now, everybody knows that old Mother Grouse's sons are famous drummers."

Billy agreed that that was true. He had often heard the Grouse boys drumming in the woods.

"I've already spoken to them. And they are asking me every day when we are going to begin to practise," Mr. Fox continued. "But I couldn't think of any fifers until I happened to remember about you and your brothers."

"I don't know how to play a fife," said Billy. "I've never even seen one."

"Oh, that's nothing! You can hold a stick up to your mouth, and wriggle your fingers, and whistle. No one will know that you are not playing a fife. It will sound just the same. And the music will be just as sweet." Mr. Fox smiled at Billy. And Billy smiled at him.

"Good!" said Billy. "Will you bring the drummers to my house?"

"Well--no! Not just yet!" said Mr. Fox. "We ought to go off in the woods, where nobody can hear us, until we learn a tune. Then we can come and play for your mother. But I wouldn't say anything to her about the fife-and-drum corps if I were you. Let's surprise her!"

Billy thought that was a good idea.

"Bring your brothers over to my house late this afternoon," Mr. Fox said. "I'll have the Grouse boys there. And we can begin to learn to make music at once."

"Who will teach us?" asked Billy. "Do _you_ know how to drum or whistle?"

"Don't you worry about that!" Mr. Fox answered. "I can teach you a thing or two." And he hurried away to find Mother Grouse's sons and tell them the good news.

XV

"POP! GOES THE WEASEL!"

Just as he had promised, Billy Woodchuck led his two brothers to Mr. Fox's house late in the afternoon, to join the fife-and-drum corps, and make sweet music.

The Grouse boys--all four of them--were already there and waiting to begin. And Mr. Fox was all smiles.

"Let's go further into the woods," he said. "I know a fine place, where we won't be disturbed." He had noticed that old Mr. Crow was sitting in the top of a tall elm, and he did not care to have the old gentleman see what was going on.

So they followed Mr. Fox. And after a while he stopped close by a broad brook. He told Billy and his brothers just where to stand, and how to hold their short sticks so they would look like fifes.

The Grouse boys perched themselves high up on the trunk of a dead tree, which had fallen against a big oak and lay slanting between the oak and the ground.

"Come right down here!" Mr. Fox said to them.

But the Grouse brothers told him that they could drum much better where they were.

"What tune are we going to learn?" Billy Woodchuck asked.

Mr. Fox thought for a moment. And then he said:

"The first tune will be 'Pop! Goes the Weasel.'" He hummed it to them. And soon the Grouse boys began to drum; and Billy Woodchuck and his brothers began to whistle.

Though they played very badly, Mr. Fox declared again and again that he was much pleased.

"But I seem to be a little too near the music," he said. "I want you all to face _that_ way," he went on, pointing a paw over his shoulder. "And please keep on playing while I go off and see how the tune sounds further away."

So they began to play "Pop! Goes the Weasel," once more, while Mr. Fox, beating time all the while, backed slowly out of sight in the direction in which he had pointed.

They played and played. And at last Billy Woodchuck's lips began to feel very queer, puckered up as they were. And now and then not a single whistle came from his mouth, though he blew as hard as he knew how. He was out of breath, too. And so were his brothers.

Billy was wondering why Mr. Fox did not come back, when his sharp ears caught a faint sound. It was no more than a dry leaf breaking. Neither you nor I could have heard it.

In spite of what Mr. Fox had said about looking straight ahead, Billy turned around. And he was always glad, afterward, that he had. For whom should he see behind him but Mr. Fox, stealing upon them with a horrid grin on his face!

The music stopped short. With one frightened scream Billy Woodchuck was off. He plunged into the brook, with his brothers right at his heels. And in no time at all they had swum across to the other side and vanished in the thick bushes.

At the water's edge Mr. Fox paused. If there was one thing he hated, it was getting his feet wet. The brook was too broad for him to jump; and when at last he found a place where he could cross by hopping from one stone to another, the Woodchuck boys were nowhere to be found.

But the Grouse brothers still sat on the dead tree, though they had moved to its very top; and they had stopped drumming.

"How did the music sound?" one of them asked.

"It was the worst I ever heard," Mr. Fox snarled.

The Grouse brothers snickered. And one of them invited Mr. Fox to come up where they were.

But he never even thanked them.