The Tale of Old Dog Spot Part 8

XVII

THE DANGER SIGNAL

Billy Woodchuck remembered, after he had fled from old dog Spot, that he ought to warn his family and his friends. So he sat up, stuck his head out of the tangle of brakes where he had hidden, and gave the danger signal, a sharp whistle.

"Dear me!" he said. "I fear Father and Mother won't hear that. And if they go home they'll run upon old dog Spot. And then there's no knowing what might happen."

He knew that his mother had gone to see Aunt Polly Woodchuck, who lived under the hill. And he knew that his father, with a few cronies, was enjoying a feast in Farmer Green's clover patch.

"I'll hurry over to Aunt Polly's first," he decided, "and tell Mother to beware the Dog."

So Billy Woodchuck scampered off toward the hill where Aunt Polly Woodchuck made her home. When he knocked at Aunt Polly's door and learned that Mrs. Woodchuck had left some time before Billy was much upset.

"Perhaps she went to the clover patch," Aunt Polly suggested. "You know your father sometimes forgets to go home unless somebody goes for him."

Well, Billy started off again. And he hadn't gone far when he heard a sound that made him sit up and listen. Like all his family, he had very sharp ears. And now, after c.o.c.king his head on one side for a few moments, he knew that what he heard was old dog Spot grumbling and growling.

"My goodness!" Billy Woodchuck gasped. "He's left our house. And if I don't look out he'll catch me."

At almost the same instant old Spot paused and sniffed the air.

"Ha!" he cried. "I smell a Woodchuck. And if I'm not mistaken it's a different Woodchuck from the one I chased a little while ago."

Billy Woodchuck and Spot began to run at the same time. Billy headed for home; and Spot headed for him.

Again old dog Spot was just a bit too late. Billy Woodchuck darted into the hole in the hillside not a second too soon. He could hear Spot panting close behind him.

"Such luck!" Spot growled. "There's another that's got away from me.

There's the second one that I've run into that hole. I suppose they're chuckling inside their house and making all manner of fun of me."

The old dog was mistaken. Billy Woodchuck was not chuckling. He found n.o.body at home. It was plain that his parents were still abroad.

"They may be coming from the clover patch now," he groaned. And if they are, they're sure to stumble upon that terrible creature at the door. I must warn them before it's too late."

While Spot was still snorting and snuffling around the Woodchuck family's front door, Billy Woodchuck crept out of the back door and started for the clover patch. Little did he know that his mother had already stolen out the same way, to warn him and his father.

When unwelcome callers come, a back door is sometimes a convenient thing to have about a house.

XVIII

A CROWDED HOUSE

Old dog Spot never once guessed that there was a back door to the Woodchuck family's home in the pasture. He had chased Mrs. Woodchuck into her house. He had likewise hunted her son Billy into the same front door through which his mother had scrambled only a short time before.

"There must be more of these fat folks about the pasture," Spot thought.

"I'll range around a bit and see if I can't surprise another."

So he began running about the pasture in big circles. And he was lucky enough, before long, to come upon Mr. Woodchuck himself, who had dined so heartily on clover heads that he had decided to go to his chamber and take a nap.

Spot was unlucky enough to lose him. Mr. Woodchuck had been feeling quite sleepy. But when he suddenly found himself pursued by a dog he was wide awake in an instant and running like a youngster.

He reached his home just in time.

"Well, that makes the third one that's inside the house," Spot muttered, shortly afterward, as he paused to get his breath.

Little did he know how mistaken he was. There wasn't even one of the Woodchuck family at home; for Mr. Woodchuck had at once hurried out the back way, because he wanted to find his wife and his son and tell them to keep away from old dog Spot.

Soon Spot took a few more turns around the pasture. And this time he ran across Mrs. Woodchuck again.

He had no sooner run her to earth once more than he found Billy for the second time.

"This is a twin brother of the fellow I chased home once before," Spot panted, little dreaming that Billy Woodchuck had come back into the daylight.

"This twin is just as spry as the other one was," Spot gasped as he reached for Billy right at his door--and missed him.

After that the old dog chased Mr. Woodchuck, then his wife, and next their son Billy Woodchuck. And he didn't succeed in catching any one of the three. Each of them beat him in the race to the Woodchuck family's front door.

Old Spot began to feel quite upset.

"I don't see what the matter with me to-day," he puzzled. "I hope I'm not getting so old that I'm _weeble_." (By that he meant _weak_ and _feeble_.)

"This last one makes eight that I've followed all the way to this door,"

Spot growled. "There can't be many more left in the pasture. I'm going to lie down behind this hummock and wait till they come out."

So he hid a little way off and watched closely.

He had been there a long time when Mr. Crow at last flew low over the pasture and alighted in a tree near-by.

"What are you waiting for?" he asked Spot.

"Woodchucks!" said Spot. "This burrow is full of them."

"Are you sure?" Mr. Crow inquired.

"I chased eight of them home," Spot explained.

"That's odd," said Mr. Crow. "There have been only three living here lately. And they don't live here any more."

"They don't!" Spot cried.

"No!" Mr. Crow told him. "They moved this afternoon."