The Tale of Billy Woodchuck Part 9

"Be careful!" his mother said. "You know you are not allowed to tell tales."

"But I _did_ see him," Billy insisted. "He pointed a stick at me, and the wind blew and it thundered; and I saw a little white cloud come right out of the end of the stick."

It was Mrs. Woodchuck's turn to be upset. And she shook even more than Billy had as she said:

"My goodness, child! That was a gun! And it's a mercy you weren't shot. Don't you stir out of this house again to-day--nor _you_, nor _you_, nor _you_, nor _you_," she repeated, pointing to each of her other children.

And though Johnnie Green waited for some time, to see if a black head would not peep out of Mrs. Woodchuck's front door, nothing of the sort happened until after the sun had set and the cows had all gone home for the night. And by that time Johnnie Green was eating his supper.

XIX

MR. WOODCHUCK MOVES

Mr. Woodchuck was annoyed. And he had good reason to be. The weather was fine and he had planned to spend the whole day sunning himself on a big rock not far from his own dooryard. But he had scarcely found a comfortable seat for himself, after finis.h.i.+ng his breakfast, when he caught sight of Farmer Green and his hired man coming across the fields. They were headed straight for the pasture. And Mr. Woodchuck began to complain so loudly about his rest being disturbed, and how mean it was of Farmer Green to come poking about other people's dooryards, that Mrs. Woodchuck came to her door to see what had happened.

As soon as she saw those men she called her children all home. It was too bad. But until the intruders had gone, their underground house was the best place for the whole Woodchuck family.

Mr. Woodchuck alone lingered in the doorway. He made up his mind that he would not go inside until he had to, anyhow.

A little later there came a terrible noise like a clap of thunder.

Even in their house down there in the ground Mrs. Woodchuck and her children felt the walls shake.

"What can have happened?" she asked her husband. He had come in somewhat out of breath, soon after that frightful sound.

"It seems to be a new kind of gun," he said, "though I didn't notice that the men brought one with them. It went off close to an old stump; and you should have seen the wood and dirt fly. The noise has given me a headache. That is why I came into the house."

Now, Mrs. Woodchuck knew him very well. And though he tried not to let her know it, she saw that he was scared. But she did not mention _that_ to him. There were the children, you know. She didn't want _them_ to be frightened.

Now and then that booming, roaring, thundering sound would burst upon their ears again. And the earth would rock. Each time that happened Mrs. Woodchuck would go to her back door, where she could not be seen easily, and peep out. And what she saw filled her with fear.

Mr. Woodchuck did not help to make the day any pleasanter, for he was forever complaining about his lame back. He claimed that he needed suns.h.i.+ne; and he said that as soon as he could find time he intended to report Farmer Green to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

"This is almost enough," he said, "to make me move to the West. I have a cousin who went there years ago. It is a long way from here--at least a mile the other side of Blue Mountain. Yes! I would move at once--except that I will _not_ be driven out of my own house by anyone." He looked so fierce as he said that that Billy Woodchuck thought there could be no braver person in the whole world.

Then something happened that made Mr. Woodchuck change his mind very quickly. A roar ten times louder than any of the others seemed to split their ears apart. Their house was swept by a great gust of wind--a thing that had never happened before. And strangest of all! their chamber became light as day!

That was when Mr. Woodchuck moved. He did not stop to take even a pocket-handkerchief with him. But then, he left in a great hurry.

XX

THE FAMILY ESCAPES

After that frightful noise, when her house suddenly grew light, and her husband ran away, Mrs. Woodchuck saw with dismay that there was a big hole in the ceiling. The earth had split open and the daylight was streaming in.

Mr. Woodchuck had been gone only a few moments when dog Spot began to bark. Mrs. Woodchuck could not see him; but she knew his voice only too well.

She was not quite sure what she ought to do. But there she was, with her house broken into, and five children on her hands.

Though she was frightened, she was brave just the same. And she had not the least idea of going anywhere without taking her family with her.

"Follow me!" she cried. And out of the room she hurried, with her youngsters close behind her.

Luckily, Mrs. Woodchuck's back door was just out of sight of the men. They did not see her at all while she waited and counted her children as they came through the doorway.

They were all there--all five of them. And as soon as she had counted the fifth one, Mrs. Woodchuck dashed off across the pasture, in exactly the opposite direction to that in which she could still hear old Spot barking.

Soon they were in the woods. And Mrs. Woodchuck led the way to an old empty house, where her grandmother had once lived. It was not so good a house as the one they had just left. But it was much better than none at all.

"Mother! What was that dreadful sound?" Billy asked when they had begun to get over their fright. His ears still rang.

"I'm not sure," said Mrs. Woodchuck. "But it seemed to me that Farmer Green was shooting away the stumps in the pasture. Perhaps you didn't know that there was an old stump quite near our bedroom.

And when the gun went off it must have shot straight down into our house."

"But father said he saw no gun," Billy said.

"Yes, I know he did," Mrs. Woodchuck said. "And neither did I. But I _smelled powder_. So I can't be far wrong."

And, of course, the good old lady was not. Perhaps you have already guessed that Farmer Green was blasting away the stumps with powder. Anyhow, the Woodchuck family had a narrow escape.

And as for Mr. Woodchuck, he was never seen in those parts afterward. When anyone asked for him, his wife always said that he had gone on a visit to see his cousin, who lived in the West, and she really didn't know when he would come back again. "He didn't tell me that," she would explain, "for he left in a great hurry.

But I am looking for him every day. The house is _so_ quiet without him."

And that was quite true. For you see, Mr. Woodchuck was always groaning and complaining about his health.

Perhaps it agreed with him better where he went.

XXI

AT HOME IN THE WOODS

Mrs. Woodchuck was not so sorry, after all, that she had to leave her home in the pasture. You see, she always moved twice a year, anyhow. Every fall she went into the woods to live; and every spring she returned to Farmer Green's pasture. And every time that Mrs. Woodchuck moved, she made a new house for herself.

To be sure, there were plenty of chucks that never went to all that trouble. They were the lazy kind. They just hunted around till they found an old, empty house and then they moved in and made themselves right at home. But that was not the way of Billy Woodchuck's mother. She wanted everything neat and clean.

You remember that when Farmer Green blasted away the old stump near Mrs. Woodchuck's bedroom he tore a hole in the very roof of the house. And Billy and his mother and his brothers and sisters went into the woods and spent the night in a house where his great grandmother had once lived.

Mrs. Woodchuck said it would do, until she could dig a new one.