Chapter 3

XVI

THE PLAY-HOUSE

As Billy Woodchuck grew bigger he was often to be seen digging holes in the pasture. You might think he was looking for something. But he was not. He was merely playing at making houses.

First he would dig a slanting hole down into the ground. And then from the bottom of that he would run a level tunnel. When his tunnel was as long as he wanted it, he would work his way upward for a short distance. And there he would make a chamber, much like the one at home.

Of course, Billy's play-houses were not so big as his mother's home. The front stairs were shorter, and the hall was not so long, and the chamber was smaller. But he thought they were wonderful. And he made up his mind that the next time Johnnie Green or dog Spot chased him he would run down into one of those play-houses and hide. Billy hoped that he would be chased soon.

He did not have to wait long. One evening when old Spot had started the last cow homeward he lingered in the pasture a while. If there was one thing he liked, it was chasing woodchucks.

When Billy Woodchuck caught sight of Spot, sniffing along the ground, he climbed up on a hummock, so that Spot could see him, and gave a loud whistle.

It didn't take old Spot long to see Billy. And as soon as he spied him he made a dash for him.

That was exactly what Billy Woodchuck wanted. He waited as long as he dared. And then he made off like a gray streak toward his newest house.

Old Spot saw his bushy tail disappear through the front door. And Spot looked down into the darkness and called Billy a few names.

He pawed and scratched at the door, too. But he was no such digger as Billy Woodchuck. And after a while he grew tired of staying there and went away.

That night, after Billy Woodchuck went home, he boasted about his newest play-house.

"It's exactly as good as this one," he bragged. "To-day old Spot chased me, and I ran into my house and he never touched me. After this I'm always going to hide there."

Billy's brothers and sisters thought he was very clever. But his mother said:

"I want to see that play-house. To-morrow you may show it to me."

That pleased Billy. It made him feel prouder than ever. And the next morning he was up bright and early. Sometimes he was very slow about dressing, because he stopped to play. And that made him late to breakfast. But this morning he was even ahead of time.

As soon as Mrs. Woodchuck had finished her meal of plantain leaves, Billy reminded her that she had promised to look at his play-house.

She followed him through the front door that he had made, walked to the end of the tunnel, and into the tiny chamber.

Once inside that room Mrs. Woodchuck took one quick look all around. And then she turned and ran out as fast as her short legs would carry her, calling all the time to Billy to hurry. When she reached the open air Mrs. Woodchuck had to sit down and fan herself, she was so excited.

"Why did you come out so soon--and so fast?" Billy asked her.

"That's nothing but a trap," his mother said. "You haven't built any back door. And if a weasel or a mink or a snake should come in after you, there you'd be, with no way to escape.... I haven't had such a fright for years."

Billy Woodchuck looked foolish. He had never once thought about a back door. But after that he never forgot to build one. He saw that a back door was something that every house ought to have.

XVII

BILLY BRINGS THE DOCTOR

Billy Woodchuck was alarmed. His mother had come home very ill. At least, that was what Billy thought. It was a warm summer's day; but Mrs. Woodchuck seemed to be freezing with cold. Her teeth chattered so hard that the sound filled the whole house. And when Billy asked her what was the matter with her she did not say a word.

Then he was sure she was ill. For she was a great talker. This was the first time he had ever seen her when she could not speak.

Now, Mr. Woodchuck was not at home. And none of the children knew what to do. So Billy left the house and hurried over to find Aunt Polly Woodchuck--an old lady who was a famous herb doctor. Woodchucks for miles around came to see her when they were not feeling well. And she would give them a peppermint leaf to chew, or some tansy, or maybe a drink of catnip tea. And everybody said that her medicines never did anyone a bit of harm.

Luckily, Billy found Aunt Polly at home. And he quickly told her about his mother.

"You say her teeth chatter?" the old lady asked.

"Yes, Aunt Polly!"

"Do they make a clattering noise?"

"Yes, Aunt Polly!"

Aunt Polly Woodchuck nodded her head wisely.

"I thought so," she said. "It sounds to me like chills-and-fever. I'll go right back with you and see what I can do to help her."

So Aunt Polly and Billy started off together. Though he carried her basket of herbs, they could not go very fast, for the dear old lady was half blind.

But at last they reached Billy's home. And there they found his mother, sweeping the floor as spryly as if she had never known a sick day in her whole life.

"I see you're feeling better," said Aunt Polly. "Your son told me you were ill and I came right over."

Mrs. Woodchuck thanked her. And then she sent all the children out to play. As soon as they had left the room she said to Aunt Polly:

"I wasn't ill at all. I am ashamed to say that I was just angry. And since you are a near relation of ours, I'll tell you the reason. I'll tell you what happened.

"Yesterday Johnnie Green dropped a big stone through our front door. It almost filled the end of my hall, so I could hardly squeeze past it. And this morning I asked Mr. Woodchuck to help me dig around the stone. But he said his rheumatism was so bad that he couldn't do a bit of work. And then he went off and stayed away all the rest of the day.

"After I had done the work myself I went out to get a little fresh air and a bite to eat. And over in the meadow, what do you suppose I saw? There was a baseball game going on. And Mr. Woodchuck was playing so hard that he never noticed me at all.... Do you wonder I was angry?"

Old Aunt Polly said it was a shame. And she found a bit of celery in her basket, which she gave to Billy's mother.

"Just eat that!" Aunt Polly said. "It's good for the nerves."

Mrs. Woodchuck thanked her again.

"I wish you could give my husband something that would make him work," she said.

But for once old Aunt Polly Woodchuck didn't have the right sort of medicine.

"Laziness," she said, "is terribly hard to cure."

XVIII

A WONDERFUL STICK

Now, Billy Woodchuck knew that he must beware of boys like Johnnie Green. And more than that, he had learned that boys with sticks are even worse than boys without them. Still, if he did not let Johnnie come too near him, there was not much danger.

So he was not at all frightened when he happened to catch sight of Johnnie Green crossing the pasture with a long stick over his shoulder. He was so far away that Billy Woodchuck sat up on a little hummock and watched him.

Pretty soon the boy saw Billy. And the moment he spied him he stopped and pointed the long stick at the plump young chuck.

That made Billy Woodchuck smile. He was not the least bit afraid. For if Johnnie Green should come nearer he intended to pop inside his mother's door.

The next moment Billy Woodchuck heard a sound just above his head--a sound like the sighing of the wind in the top of a pine tree. He thought that was very queer, for there was no wind at all that morning. And there was not a tree near him.

Then it thundered. And yet the sun was shining brightly and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.

But as he looked once more at Johnnie Green he was astonished to see a small cloud float from the end of that long stick and lose itself in the air.

All at once Billy Woodchuck was frightened. He was afraid of Johnnie Green, for he saw that it was Johnnie who made the wind blow, and turned loose the thunder and the clouds. He noticed that Johnnie was doing something to that strange stick; and he expected that in another minute it would begin to rain. But he didn't wait to see. He felt that he would be far safer indoors. So he scampered straight home.

"What are you shaking for?" Mrs. Woodchuck asked, as Billy burst in upon her.

"I'm frightened," her son told her. "I've just seen Johnnie Green making thunder and wind and clouds."

"Be careful!" his mother said. "You know you are not allowed to tell tales."

"But I _did_ see him," Billy insisted. "He pointed a stick at me, and the wind blew and it thundered; and I saw a little white cloud come right out of the end of the stick."

It was Mrs. Woodchuck's turn to be upset. And she shook even more than Billy had as she said:

"My goodness, child! That was a gun! And it's a mercy you weren't shot. Don't you stir out of this house again to-day--nor _you_, nor _you_, nor _you_, nor _you_," she repeated, pointing to each of her other children.

And though Johnnie Green waited for some time, to see if a black head would not peep out of Mrs. Woodchuck's front door, nothing of the sort happened until after the sun had set and the cows had all gone home for the night. And by that time Johnnie Green was eating his supper.

XIX

MR. WOODCHUCK MOVES

Mr. Woodchuck was annoyed. And he had good reason to be. The weather was fine and he had planned to spend the whole day sunning himself on a big rock not far from his own dooryard. But he had scarcely found a comfortable seat for himself, after finishing his breakfast, when he caught sight of Farmer Green and his hired man coming across the fields. They were headed straight for the pasture. And Mr. Woodchuck began to complain so loudly about his rest being disturbed, and how mean it was of Farmer Green to come poking about other people's dooryards, that Mrs. Woodchuck came to her door to see what had happened.

As soon as she saw those men she called her children all home. It was too bad. But until the intruders had gone, their underground house was the best place for the whole Woodchuck family.

Mr. Woodchuck alone lingered in the doorway. He made up his mind that he would not go inside until he had to, anyhow.

A little later there came a terrible noise like a clap of thunder. Even in their house down there in the ground Mrs. Woodchuck and her children felt the walls shake.

"What can have happened?" she asked her husband. He had come in somewhat out of breath, soon after that frightful sound.

"It seems to be a new kind of gun," he said, "though I didn't notice that the men brought one with them. It went off close to an old stump; and you should have seen the wood and dirt fly. The noise has given me a headache. That is why I came into the house."

Now, Mrs. Woodchuck knew him very well. And though he tried not to let her know it, she saw that he was scared. But she did not mention _that_ to him. There were the children, you know. She didn't want _them_ to be frightened.

Now and then that booming, roaring, thundering sound would burst upon their ears again. And the earth would rock. Each time that happened Mrs. Woodchuck would go to her back door, where she could not be seen easily, and peep out. And what she saw filled her with fear.

Mr. Woodchuck did not help to make the day any pleasanter, for he was forever complaining about his lame back. He claimed that he needed sunshine; and he said that as soon as he could find time he intended to report Farmer Green to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

"This is almost enough," he said, "to make me move to the West. I have a cousin who went there years ago. It is a long way from here--at least a mile the other side of Blue Mountain. Yes! I would move at once--except that I will _not_ be driven out of my own house by anyone." He looked so fierce as he said that that Billy Woodchuck thought there could be no braver person in the whole world.

Then something happened that made Mr. Woodchuck change his mind very quickly. A roar ten times louder than any of the others seemed to split their ears apart. Their house was swept by a great gust of wind--a thing that had never happened before. And strangest of all! their chamber became light as day!

That was when Mr. Woodchuck moved. He did not stop to take even a pocket-handkerchief with him. But then, he left in a great hurry.

XX

THE FAMILY ESCAPES

After that frightful noise, when her house suddenly grew light, and her husband ran away, Mrs. Woodchuck saw with dismay that there was a big hole in the ceiling. The earth had split open and the daylight was streaming in.

Mr. Woodchuck had been gone only a few moments when dog Spot began to bark. Mrs. Woodchuck could not see him; but she knew his voice only too well.

She was not quite sure what she ought to do. But there she was, with her house broken into, and five children on her hands.

Though she was frightened, she was brave just the same. And she had not the least idea of going anywhere without taking her family with her.

"Follow me!" she cried. And out of the room she hurried, with her youngsters close behind her.

Luckily, Mrs. Woodchuck's back door was just out of sight of the men. They did not see her at all while she waited and counted her children as they came through the doorway.

They were all there--all five of them. And as soon as she had counted the fifth one, Mrs. Woodchuck dashed off across the pasture, in exactly the opposite direction to that in which she could still hear old Spot barking.

Soon they were in the woods. And Mrs. Woodchuck led the way to an old empty house, where her grandmother had once lived. It was not so good a house as the one they had just left. But it was much better than none at all.

"Mother! What was that dreadful sound?" Billy asked when they had begun to get over their fright. His ears still rang.

"I'm not sure," said Mrs. Woodchuck. "But it seemed to me that Farmer Green was shooting away the stumps in the pasture. Perhaps you didn't know that there was an old stump quite near our bedroom. And when the gun went off it must have shot straight down into our house."

"But father said he saw no gun," Billy said.

"Yes, I know he did," Mrs. Woodchuck said. "And neither did I. But I _smelled powder_. So I can't be far wrong."

And, of course, the good old lady was not. Perhaps you have already guessed that Farmer Green was blasting away the stumps with powder. Anyhow, the Woodchuck family had a narrow escape.

And as for Mr. Woodchuck, he was never seen in those parts afterward. When anyone asked for him, his wife always said that he had gone on a visit to see his cousin, who lived in the West, and she really didn't know when he would come back again. "He didn't tell me that," she would explain, "for he left in a great hurry. But I am looking for him every day. The house is _so_ quiet without him."

And that was quite true. For you see, Mr. Woodchuck was always groaning and complaining about his health.

Perhaps it agreed with him better where he went.

XXI

AT HOME IN THE WOODS

Mrs. Woodchuck was not so sorry, after all, that she had to leave her home in the pasture. You see, she always moved twice a year, anyhow. Every fall she went into the woods to live; and every spring she returned to Farmer Green's pasture. And every time that Mrs. Woodchuck moved, she made a new house for herself.

To be sure, there were plenty of chucks that never went to all that trouble. They were the lazy kind. They just hunted around till they found an old, empty house and then they moved in and made themselves right at home. But that was not the way of Billy Woodchuck's mother. She wanted everything neat and clean.

You remember that when Farmer Green blasted away the old stump near Mrs. Woodchuck's bedroom he tore a hole in the very roof of the house. And Billy and his mother and his brothers and sisters went into the woods and spent the night in a house where his great grandmother had once lived.

Mrs. Woodchuck said it would do, until she could dig a new one.

The very next morning she started to work. And all her children helped her.

Billy told his mother that they ought to build the back door first of all. You see he remembered what his mother had taught him, early in the summer, when he made his play-houses.

"Nonsense!" she said. "Of course, we must have a back door. But we must dig it from the _inside up_, and not from the _outside down_."

And she explained that when you build a door by digging _down_ into the ground, there's always a heap of dirt about it, which anybody can see. But when you are out of sight in your tunnel you can dig right _up_ to the top of the ground and make a small, round door, beneath a hummock of grass, or a stone, or a stump. People must have very sharp eyes to see a back door that's made in that way, for the dirt all falls _inside_ your house.

With all the help she had, Mrs. Woodchuck's new house was soon finished. But it was done none too soon. She had hardly carried in clean grass for the beds, when her children began to feel very sleepy. At least, all of them except Billy. He was just as wide awake as his mother.

Even after his brothers and sisters had been tucked up for their winter's nap he was as spry as anything. And he told his mother that he was not going to spend the winter sleeping.

"Jimmy Rabbit says that it's great fun to play in the snow," he said.

Mrs. Woodchuck couldn't help smiling; for at that very moment Billy was yawning as wide a yawn as you ever saw on a young chuck's face. Though he didn't know it, he was already growing drowsy. And his mother knew very well that no matter how much he wanted to stay awake, in a short time he would be sound asleep.

Though Jimmy Rabbit came to Billy's house the very next day and called and called to him, he never came out at all.

XXII

GROUND HOG DAY

Billy Woodchuck had been asleep for a long, long time. The world above was white with snow. But no matter how hard the cold winter winds might blow, or how heavily the snow fell, in their underground chamber Mrs. Woodchuck's family were snug and warm in their beds.

At last one day late in the winter Billy heard some one moving about. He was so drowsy that at first he didn't stir. But finally he opened an eye and saw that it was his mother who had disturbed him.

"What is it, Mother? Has spring come?" Billy asked.

"No, my child," she answered. "At least, I do not know that it has."

"Then why are you getting up?" Opening both his eyes, Billy was surprised to see that Mrs. Woodchuck was putting on the warmest clothes she had. "You're not going out of doors, are you?" he inquired. His mother was already drawing on a pair of thick, red mittens.

"Yes," she said. "This is Ground Hog Day and I must go out and see what the weather is like."

"But I thought every day was Ground Hog Day for us," Billy replied.

"Well, you might say that it is," she agreed. "But this is different. To-day is what _men_ call Ground Hog Day."

"May I come with you?" he asked. By this time he was wide awake.

Mrs. Woodchuck looked at him somewhat doubtfully.

"Young ground hogs like you aren't supposed to go out this time of year," she said. "It's still quite cold, you know."

"Please, Mother!"

"Well, you must wear plenty of warm clothing," his mother told him. And she gave him so many coats to put on that Billy would not have known himself if he had looked in the surface of the brook. Of course, he couldn't do that anyhow, then, for the brook was covered with ice.

When Billy was ready they stole out of the room, leaving the other children sound asleep.

"Whew!" said Billy Woodchuck when they stepped outside at last. "How cold it is!"

The sun was shining brightly, for all the air was so chilly. And Billy had a fine time chasing his shadow around the pasture. But he never could quite catch it. Sometimes he thought he was going to. But whenever he made a pounce at it his shadow moved just as quickly. And then he had to begin all over again.

"We'd better go in," Mrs. Woodchuck said at last. And she looked down rather sadly at her own shadow, as if something had disappointed her.

"Oh, no!" Billy pleaded. "Let's stay out a while longer."

"It's too cold," his mother answered.

"But just look at the sun! It's as bright as can be. And I'm not a bit sleepy. Besides, I think spring will come now--maybe to-morrow."

But Mrs. Woodchuck knew better.

"There'll be forty more days of winter," she said.

"How do you know that?" he asked.

"It's the rule," she explained. "If we had not seen our shadows, that would mean that spring was here; and I would wake up your brothers and sisters. But there are our shadows, as plain as can be! And so we must go to bed again and sleep forty days longer."

"That's a silly rule," said Billy Woodchuck. "Who made it?"

"Don't ask so many questions," Mrs. Woodchuck answered. "Do as I tell you. Run in, now!"

And Billy had to obey. He grumbled a little. It seemed very foolish to him. And once more he asked his mother who it was that made such a horrid rule.

But Mrs. Woodchuck would not say another word. To tell the truth, she did not know the answer. She only knew that it was so.

THE END

End of Project Gutenberg's The Tale of Billy Woodchuck, by Arthur Scott Bailey