Winkie looked at the carrot which was the cause of all her troubles. Even yet she did not feel hungry enough to nibble it, though just before she had stepped into the trap she had been very anxious for some vegetable.
“I must do something!” thought Winkie. “I can’t stay here forever.”
She was just going to tug again at the trap and chain when, all of a sudden, she heard a noise. It was a whistling sound, almost like that which woodchucks make. For one happy moment Winkie thought it might be her father or mother coming to set her free. But a moment later, as the whistling became louder, Winkie saw coming toward her a boy. It was the boy who was whistling.
On he came, trilling a merry air. Well might he whistle! He was caught in no trap that pinched his leg!
Suddenly the boy caught sight of Winkie, the wily woodchuck.
“Oh, ho!” he cried. “I’ve caught a ground-hog! I’ve caught a woodchuck in my trap! My, but I’m lucky!”
Of course Winkie could not understand what the boy said, but if she thought anything at all she must have thought that she was very unlucky.
“It’s a nice fat woodchuck, too!” exclaimed Larry Dawson, which was the boy’s name. “It isn’t hurt, either. I’m glad it’s a smooth trap and not one with teeth! I set it to catch a skunk, but it caught a woodchuck instead. I guess she isn’t hurt much. A woodchuck’s fur isn’t any good, like a skunk’s. But I’ll take this ground-hog home, and maybe I can tame her and teach her tricks.”
If Winkie could have understood all the boy said she would not have been so afraid of him, for Larry was a kind boy and gave no needless pain to animals. But the woodchuck did not understand, and when Larry came closer, intending to loose her from the trap, she crouched down, showed her sharp, biting teeth, and squealed and chattered.