“On purpose?” asked Blunk.
“Yes! Of course! Suppose I wanted to get shot? Keep still now!”
The two little woodchucks kept close together and hid themselves down under the clover tops. They could hear the heavy, tramping feet of Farmer Tottle, though of course they did not know his name.
“Keep still now—he’s coming!” whispered Winkie to Blunk. The little girl woodchuck really did not need to tell her brother this. Blunk, though slower witted than the wily Winkie, was not foolish, and did not need be warned of his danger.
Of course they talked in woodchuck language, just as dogs talk in their language and cats in theirs. Winkie and Blunk could not understand what the man said, though they understood some of the things he did. Nor could Farmer Tottle hear, much less understand, what the woodchucks said. Animals seem able to talk to one another, even if they are from different countries and are quite different one from the other.
Nearer and nearer came the heavy, tramping feet of the farmer. Winkie and Blunk wanted to dart away and hide in their underground house, but they did not dare come out from beneath the sheltering clover.
“That’s funny!” muttered the farmer to himself. “I’m sure I shot one of them pesky woodchucks, but I can’t find it! There were two, but they’ve got away somewhere. If I only had Buster, my dog, he’d nose ’em out. Guess that’s what I’ll do—I’ll go get Buster!”
Winkie and Blunk kept so quiet under the clover that though the farmer was very close to them he did not see them. And when he turned to go back to the barn, to get his dog Buster, Winkie and Blunk thought this would be a good time for them to run home.
