Indeed there came once more that strange noise which Winkie had first heard. The rumbling kept up, and now and then came a pounding as if heavy feet were tramping on the ground overhead.
“Oh, that must be the farmer trying to break his way in here with his heavy boots!” cried Blinkie.
“Hush! Do you want him to hear you?” whispered Winkie, and her sister grew quiet.
As the woodchuck family listened, the noise grew louder, and then, very plainly, they all heard a man’s voice shouting:
“Whoa!”
Instantly the noise stopped.
“That was the farmer!” exclaimed Blunk. “I know his voice!”
“What was he saying?” asked Blinkie.
No one could tell her, of course, for the woodchucks did not understand man talk, any more than the farmer understood animal language. But Blinkie made a guess.
“Perhaps that farmer was talking to his dog,” she said.