224 THE AMERICAN BOOK OF THE DOG. 



his enemies underground. When attacked, he retires to 

 the "kettle," or his lair, into which all gangs center; and 

 here he receives his antagonists, the Dachshunds, and 

 defends his life with the greatest bravery. 



The fight may last for hours; in most cases the dogs are 

 victorious, but often the fight will not come to an end, and 

 to finish the work, the hunters are obliged to use pick and 

 shovel to dig down and fork the badger. By laying the 

 ear close to the ground to listen to their dogs barking, the 

 badgers whereabouts are easily located, and the work of 

 unearthing with the shovel begins. The nearer the hunters 

 get to the badger, the clearer they can hear their dogs. 

 Now one man watches with the "fork," which is a spear- 

 like instrument, and- the minute the badger is seen, the 

 4 ' fork ' ' is put over his neck and he is caught. You can 

 not hold the dogs back from finishing their foe. 



The dogs now present a very different aspect from that 

 shown when they entered. Eyes and ears red and full of 

 dirt, the tongue dry and hanging near the ground, their 

 breath short and quick, and bleeding from the wounds made 

 by their enemy, make the dogs appear more like demons 

 than dogs. It is not seldom that, when the badger is lifted 

 up, a dog whose teeth are set deep into his body hangs to 

 him and can not open his jaws, and it takes hours before 

 the excitement is over and he has control of the muscles of 

 his jaws again. A great many have thus died of lock-jaw. 



One of the best dogs I knew lost his life in a singular 

 way. The badger managed to get hold of the lower jaw 

 of the Dachshund, and literally bit it off. Lock-jaw set in, 

 and the dog that had been victor in nearly fifty battles; 

 whose ears were nothing but fringes; whose chest, neck, 

 and whole body showed one scar near the other had to die. 

 Every hunter within many miles felt this loss deeply; for 

 all these men looked upon this dog as upon a dead hero. 



No matter how many wounds a Dachshund has received, 

 as soon as he is in such shape as to be able to walk and 

 bite again, he is ready for another chase; and he will fight 

 fiercer than ever. 



