One bright May morning Wish-ton-wish sat on the mound in front of his
family burrow. Wish-ton-wish was a lively young prairie-dog and he
wanted to talk with someone.
Presently Madam Talky came out of her burrow and ran up to the top of
her mound.
"Good-morning," called out Wish-ton-wish; but Madam Talky did not even
turn her head his way. I dare say she thought to herself, "Humph! A
chit of a fellow like that isn't worth my time."
Now Wish-ton-wish was an only boy in a family where there were five
other children, so that he had come to believe, as only sons often do,
that he was wise enough to talk with a very Solomon of prairie-dogs.
The silence of Madam Talky didn't hurt his feelings in the least.
Presently he called out again and this time with greater tact: "How are
your charming daughters this morning?"
O, you should have seen the change in Mrs. Talky. She turned her whole
face toward Wish-ton-wish now and fairly beamed upon him.
"Very well, indeed, thank you," she answered; "you must call to see us."
And this time I dare say she thought to herself, "Why, I can hardly
realize that the young fellow is about grown up; how fine he looks,
too; his family must have great confidence in him to let him be
sentinel when he is so young."
Wish-ton-wish thanked her politely for the invitation, and said that
perhaps he might call that afternoon.
"Have you heard that Mr. Grizzle Prairie Dog has been found?" asked
Madam Talky.
"No, where?" said Wish-ton-wish.
"O, in a very strange place," madam answered.
"It was Mr. Talky that found him. At least we feel pretty sure that he
did. It was this way: Mr. Talky often has attacks of dyspepsia, and
last night he ate so much timothy hay for his supper that he had to
run back and forth in our burrows for exercise, ever so long before
he went to bed. He put his head out at the end of the longest burrow
to see if the moon was full and there stood two boys with a gun and a
dead hawk. He heard them say they wanted the hawk for a 'collection.'
Then one of them said, 'Wish we could have shot it before it caught
that prairie-dog.' Mr. Talky was so dreadfully startled that he whirled
round and fairly flew back through the burrow to his nest, but we feel
sure it was Mr. Grizzle that the hawk had caught."
"How many enemies our race has!" said Wish-ton-wish with a sigh. "Have
you told Mrs. Grizzle the sad news?"
"Yes, I told her before sunrise this morning; but she's got used to it
now and doesn't feel so bad. He had been missing two days, you know.
I saw her going after clover with Mr. Reddy Prairie Dog. You remember
Mrs. Reddy was eaten up by a coyote last week."
"Dear me, dear me," sighed Wish-ton-wish again, "how many enemies our
race has!"
Just then there came a warning yelp from a sentinel some distance away.
Madam Talky and Wish-ton-wish and every other prairie-dog in sight
echoed the yelp and then each one of them leaped into his burrow like
a flash. They must have turned a double-quick somersault, for, like
another flash there were the little heads and bright eyes looking out
at the very openings where their tails had vanished an instant before.
Scores of curious little faces were peering out and their owners were
anxious to know what made the first prairie-dog call out, "Danger,
danger!"
Again came several quick calls from the distant sentinel; then all the
little animals disappeared into their burrows.
No, not quite all of them. Way over on Last street there was an
exciting scene. Mr. Silence Prairie Dog sat upright in front of his
door fairly shaking all over with anger. His body shook, his tail
shook, his head shook, and he yelped and barked--turned and popped
into his burrow--turned again and popped out of his burrow in the same
instant, and acted like one going crazy.
No wonder! Crawling slowly along through the short, dry grass, came
a large rattlesnake. Nearer and nearer it glided to the door of the
burrow. When it was almost there, Mr. Silence Prairie Dog keeled into
his house, the snake slid after him, and then silence fell.
That night the village heard the rest of the story--how Mr. and Mrs.
Silence Prairie Dog bit at the rattlesnake with their sharp teeth and
scratched at him with their sharp claws, but could not drive him out of
their nest where lay two baby prairie dogs. These two he ate for his
dinner and then lay down in the deep, soft, warm nest of dried grass.
How Mother Silence crept back after a long time and found the greedy
old snake lying dead. Yes, truly; killed by the fierce bites of Mr. and
Mrs. Silence.
Now all these sad affairs made young Wish-ton-wish quite blue.
Besides, when he went that afternoon to call on the Talky misses, he
found that the plumpest one had gone after timothy with another young
fellow. All at once he made up his mind that life was a failure and
that he would run away from home.
When the prairie-dog folk found out that he was gone they were very
sorry. They felt sure he had been eaten by some bird of prey or by a
sly coyote.
"He was so wise and so handsome and so brave," said his mother; "there
was no young fellow in the village who could be named in the same day
with Wish-ton-wish."
Most everybody praised him now that he was dead, or now that they
thought he was. I wonder if it isn't rather a poor plan to wait until
people are dead or far away before we say the kind things that might
have made them happy when they were near?
"We must not neglect our duties even in sorrow," said the father. "It
is going to rain. Let us go out and put our mound into good order so
that the water may not run into our burrows." They worked with a will,
and found out, as everyone always does, that nothing helps sorrow and
trouble so quickly as hard work.
When morning came the very first one to be out of a burrow was
Wish-ton-wish's mother. Perhaps she had not slept any all night.
She went up to the top of the mound, then stood still with astonishment
and joy; for there, on the other side of it, was Wish-ton-wish, hard at
work. He was patting and smoothing the sides and making them even after
the rain.
"O, where have you been all night, Wish-ton-wish?" cried his mother.
"I went over to the next village; I thought they might not have so many
troubles as we have and perhaps I'd stay. But they have even more,
mother; they have snakes and hawks and owls and coyotes and _men_,
for yesterday some _men_ came there with a great tank of water and
poured five barrels into one burrow. They said they were making an
'experiment.' Of course they couldn't drown anybody because the burrows
run down and up in every direction. So I thought I'd come home again."
"My son," said his mother, "you have learned a wise lesson. It is of no
use to run away from trouble, hoping to find a place where there isn't
any. Trouble comes everywhere; and so does happiness."
"Yes, mother; I believe it," said Wish-ton-wish, and he looked with
soft eyes over toward the burrow of the plumpest Miss Talky.