Back Aa

Winkie, the Wily Woodchuck: Her Many Adventures

<h2 id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI WINKIE IN A STORM</h2> Winkie, the wily woodchuck, was so frightened at the sight of the dog—even more frightened than she had been at the distant blasting explosion—that she ran on and on through the woods, scarcely looking where she was going. Racing in this way, not keeping watch, caused Winkie to bump into a tree full tilt! Bang! she slammed against it, so hard that she was thrown down and lay, for a moment, stunned amid the leaves. It was a good thing that Don was a kind dog, and not a savage one belonging to Farmer Tottle. And it is also a good thing Don was not a wolf or a fox. For had he been either of these he could easily have caught Winkie in his teeth when she fell back, stunned by her crash into the tree. But Don did not do this thing. Instead, he went gently up to Winkie as she lay amid the leaves, smelled her fur, and barked in a low tone. “Oh, please don’t bite me! Please don’t!” begged Winkie. [56] “Bite you? Nonsense! I never thought of such a thing!” cried Don. “Why did you run away?” “Because you chased me,” answered Winkie, her heart not beating so fast now, when she found that nothing had yet happened to her. She was so plump and so covered with fur that running into the tree had not done her any more harm than to knock her breath from her for a moment or two. “How foolish! I didn’t chase you!” declared Don. “I was just running after you to tell you what a book is.” “What is a book?” asked Winkie, and Don told her as well as he could for a dog who couldn’t himself read. “A book,” he barked, “is a sort of long story of adventures.” “I know what adventures are,” said Winkie. “They’re things that happen to you.” “Yes,” agreed Don. “And you have had an adventure this morning.” “You mean all our family getting lost?” asked Winkie. “I didn’t hear about that,” said Don. “But that’s an adventure too. No, I meant running away from me and bumping into a tree. That was an adventure.” [57] <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/i_p057.jpg" alt="" title="" /> <div class="caption">Caused Winkie to bump into a tree full tilt!</div> </div> [58- 59] “Not a very pleasant one,” remarked Winkie, smiling. “Oh, well, there are all sorts of adventures,” said Don. “I have had very many, and they have been put into a book about me, just as have those of Toto, the bustling beaver, about whom I heard you speaking.” “Have you had adventures?” asked Winkie. “I should say I have!” barked Don. “Say,” he went on, “did you ever meet Squinty, the comical pig?” “No, I never did,” answered Winkie. “Who is he?” “Oh, a jolly chap. Did you ever meet Slicko, the jumping squirrel?” “No, not that I know of. Where is Slicko?” “Somewhere in these woods, I think. You’ll probably meet Slicko sooner or later. And then there is Mappo, and there’s Tum Tum.” “Who are they?” “Animals who have had adventures and been put in books,” answered Don. “Mappo is a merry monkey, and Tum Tum is a jolly elephant. I hope you meet them some day.” “I hope so, too,” said Winkie. “But just now I should like to meet my father and mother and Blinkie and Blunk. Have you seen them?” “No, I am sorry to say I have not,” answered[60] Don. “But don’t worry, you may find them, also. And I’m sure you will have lots of adventures. You are sort of running away, you know.” “Yes, I ran away from that big noise,” admitted Winkie. “But what has that to do with it?” “Running away always brings adventures,” answered Don. “At least it did to me. I was once a runaway dog. But I was glad to get back again, and I am very happy now.” “Are you one of the farmer’s dogs that barked at my father and mother?” asked Winkie. “No,” replied Don. “I never bark at woodchucks. I like them, and so does my master, who is very kind. But some men don’t like you ground-hogs, and they are always sending their dogs after you. They also set traps—those men do.” “What are traps?” asked Winkie. “Ha! There you go again—more questions!” chuckled the dog. “Well, I can tell you one thing—traps are very good things to keep out of. Once I caught my paw in a trap, and I was lame for a month after it. Keep away from traps, Winkie!” “I’ll try!” promised the wily woodchuck. But she did not know what was soon going to happen to her. [61] So much talk seemed to make Winkie hungry, and, seeing some grass growing under a tree, she began to nibble the green blades. “Why don’t you eat something,” she asked Don. “This grass is very sweet and good.” “Thank you; but we dogs don’t eat grass,” Don answered. “That is unless we take it as medicine when we aren’t feeling well. But I feel fine now—I don’t need grass, but I would like a juicy bone. And speaking of bones makes me hungry. I think I’ll trot to my kennel and get a bone.” “What’s a kennel?” asked Winkie. “My! I never knew any one to ask as many questions as you, unless it might be Mappo, the merry monkey,” barked Don. “A kennel is a house in which I live.” “We call our house a burrow,” said Winkie. “Only we haven’t any now.” “It wouldn’t do for all of us to live in the same kind of houses,” Don said. “I’d feel rather silly in a nest, and yet a nest is a home for a bird. Well, I’m going to trot along, Winkie. I hope I shall see you soon again.” “I hope so too,” murmured Winkie, who knew that she was going to be lonely when Don went away. Don started off, wagging his tail in a friendly farewell to Winkie. She was watching him and[62] did not notice where she was walking until, all of a sudden, she felt herself falling into a hole with a lot of leaves and sticks. “Oh! Oh!” cried Winkie. “Help me, Don! I’m in a trap!” With a bark Don bounded back, and, with his paws, he helped Winkie up out of the hole. “That wasn’t a trap,” he said. “You can’t get out of traps as easily as that. You just fell into a hole where once there was a stump or stone. The hole was covered with dried leaves and you didn’t see it, I guess. “Some traps are like that, and others are like a box that shut you up tight. Other traps have strong, sharp teeth that snap shut on your leg. That’s the kind of trap I was once in.” “I hope nothing like that happens to me!” sighed Winkie, and Don hoped the same. “Now I must go,” said the dog, when he found the little woodchuck girl was all right. “See you later! Good-bye!” And soon he was lost to sight among the trees. Poor Winkie felt very lonely now, for, having talked to Toto, the beaver, and to Don, the dog, she began to have a very friendly feeling for these animals. But she was a brave little thing, as well as wily and smart, and she began to feel that she must look after herself now, since it might be[63] many days before she would find her family in the big woods. Sitting down and crying about things never makes them any better, and Winkie was not going to do this. Instead she felt that she must find some place to stay during the night, which she knew would come when the sun went down. “But first I am going to see if I can’t find my family,” thought Winkie. “There’s no sense in giving up so soon. I’ll make believe we have been playing hide-and-seek and I’ve got to find them so I won’t be it.” She had often played this game, and it was not hard to imagine she was doing it again. On through the woods she wandered, now and then stopping to listen or to call. She cried the names of Blinkie and Blunk as loudly as she could, and also shouted for her father and mother. But the only answers she heard were the sighing of the wind in the trees, the murmur of the brooks as they flowed over the green, mossy stones, and the songs of the birds. To the birds Winkie spoke, for she could talk their language, and she asked them if they had seen anything of her father, mother, Blinkie or Blunk. “You birds fly high above the trees,” said Winkie, “and you can look down and see many[64] things I can not see. Please help me look for my people.” “We will!” sang the birds. So they flew here and there, peering down through the tree branches. But they did not get a glimpse of any of the woodchucks. For, truth to tell, the other four ground-hogs had run away at the time Winkie had, and now they were all scattered. Blinkie, Blunk and Mr. and Mrs. Woodchuck were separated one far from the other, and as much lost as was Winkie herself. Later on the four woodchucks found each other and made a new home for themselves, but Winkie did not know this for a long time, and not until after she had had many adventures about which I must tell you. For several days Winkie wandered through the woods, all alone except that once or twice she met Toto, and again, she spied Don. But the dog was walking with his master and he did not come near Winkie. For this the woodchuck girl was glad, for she was afraid of men, even of one as kind as Don’s master seemed to be. Look as the fluttering birds did, they found no trace of Winkie’s relatives, and they told the woodchuck girl this. One day, as Winkie was wandering about, she suddenly heard a noise in the bushes. She was[65] going to run and hide, thinking it might be a wolf or a fox, when a jolly voice grunted: “Don’t be afraid, little ground-hog girl, I won’t hurt you!” “Who are you?” asked Winkie. “Squinty, the comical pig,” was the answer. “Oh, I have heard Don speak of you,” said Winkie, as the pig came rooting his way through the underbrush. “Yes, Don and I are friends,” Squinty replied. “But you had better find a good place to stay to-night, Winkie.” “Why?” asked the wily woodchuck. “Because there is going to be a big storm,” was the pig’s answer. “I am going back to my pen. I really oughtn’t to have come out, but I get tired of staying shut up so much, and, once in a while, I root my way out with my rubbery nose. But I’m going back now before I am caught in the storm, and you, also, had better find a place of shelter.” “Thank you; I’ll look for one,” said Winkie. She went on a little farther, after bidding good-bye to Squinty. All at once, she heard a sound in a tree over her head. “Oh,” cried Winkie, “is that one of the birds come to tell me he has found my family?” “No, I’m not a bird,” was the answer; “though I stay in the trees a great deal of the time. I am[66] Slicko, the jumping squirrel. I know you, Winkie. Don told me about you. Have you a good place to stay this night?” “No, I have no home,” sadly answered Winkie. “Then you had better stay in this hollow tree,” said Slicko kindly, pointing to one near by. “There is going to be a big storm, and you will be frightened if you are out in it. I can always tell when a storm is coming, hours before it gets here.” “That’s what Squinty said,” remarked Winkie. “Oh, do you know that comical pig?” asked the jumping squirrel. “Isn’t he funny?” “I don’t know him very well. I just met him,” answered the wily woodchuck. “But he seemed very kind. And thank you for telling me about the hollow tree.” “Don’t mention it!” chattered the squirrel. “We animals must be kind to one another. I hope you’ll rest well. I have my nest higher up in this same tree.” “Then we shall be company for each other in the night,” said Winkie. She found the hollow tree to which Slicko had pointed. Inside were some dried leaves, which would make a soft bed for the woodchuck girl. When night came Winkie crawled in and went to bed, and up higher in the tree she could see[67] Slicko crawling into a hole where the squirrel’s nest was made. Winkie slept very well the first part of the night, even though the wind sighed and moaned among the trees. Then, all of a sudden, she was awakened by a great flash of light and a loud crashing sound. “Oh! Oh!” cried Winkie. “The farmer and his dogs are after us again! He’s going to shut us up in the burrow again!” “No, this is no farmer!” chattered Slicko. “This is a big storm, with thunder, lightning and rain! I’m afraid this tree will blow down! Look out, Winkie!” Before Winkie could crawl out of her bed of leaves in the lower hollow place there was another blinding flash of light and a great thundering sound, following by a cracking noise. “Oh, the tree is struck! The tree is falling!” cried Slicko. “Save yourself, Winkie!” A moment later the wily woodchuck found herself tossed out into the storm. <hr class="chap" /> [68] <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

1 of 2

2 of 2

Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.