Winkie was not quite as wily and smart then as she ought to have been, for if she had only known it, this carrot was placed where it was as a bait. But Winkie did not know this. Up she went quite boldly, and reached out to take the carrot.
A moment later she heard a clicking sound, and something closed with a snap on her left hind leg. She felt a great pain in it, and tried to run away.
But Winkie could not run! She was caught fast in a trap! The carrot had been placed there just for that—to trap some animal—and Winkie was caught!
CHAPTER VIII
WINKIE’S NEW HOME
Just as soon as Winkie felt the pain in her leg, a hard pinching and pulling, she knew what had happened just as well as if her mother had told her.
“I’m in a trap!” cried the girl woodchuck, who was not as wily now as she ought to have been. “I’m in a trap! Oh, dear! What shall I do?”
She had often heard her father and mother talk of animals being caught in traps. Some traps were of one kind and some of another. Winkie was glad this was not a box trap, shutting her away from the air and sunlight. She was glad it was not a bear trap with sharp teeth, like those of a saw, for they would have cut her leg and caused it to bleed.
This trap was just a common, spring one, with smooth jaws, and though it pinched Winkie very much, and held her so fast that she could not pull her leg loose, she was not cut.