Mrs. Woodchuck was on her way home, across the pasture. She had been making a call on Aunt Polly Woodchuck, the herb doctor, who lived under the hill. They had talked over all the news in the neighborhood. And Mrs. Woodchuck had her mind on some gossip that Aunt Polly had told her. Otherwise she might have noticed sooner that old dog Spot had spied her.  
If he hadn't spoken he would certainly have caught her that time. For Mrs. Woodchuck was fat and couldn't run as fast as she used to. But when Spot's keen nose caught a that told him there was one of the Woodchuck family not far away he just had to give one long-drawn howl.
 
When Mrs. Woodchuck heard that dreadful sound she for home. She dropped her knitting and the apple that Aunt Polly had given her. And she only managed to pop down the hole that was her front door with Spot scarcely a length behind her.
 
"Just missed her!" the old dog . "How unlucky!"
 
"Just escaped!" Mrs. Woodchuck . "How fortunate!"
 
She knew that she was safe. So she took her own time in crawling through the long hall that led to her one-room .
 
"Dear me!" she exclaimed as she entered her underground home and saw that it was empty. "Mr. Woodchuck and Billy are away. I must hurry and warn them that old dog Spot is prowling about the pasture."
 
Meanwhile Spot lingered at Mrs. Woodchuck's front door. He scratched in the dirt that was thrown up before it. He at the tracks that the Woodchuck family had made all about.
 
"I know now where that fat Mrs. Woodchuck lives," he . "I'll k............