THE BADGER 



shades of night enabled me to get home with 

 decency. The most humiliating part of the 

 adventure was that all these cursed brutes, 

 father, mother, and children, made the most 

 insolent retreat over my stomach to escape 

 from their earth, and then took off straight 

 across country and escaped. From this 

 moment I have felt a ferocious malice against 

 all badgers, whether big, middling, or little, 

 and I never go down into the trench now 

 without having a Lefaucheux revolver and a 

 Devisme revolver, a long dagger knife, and a 

 sharp Toledo colichemarde ! " 



But let not ingenuous youth think that to 

 enjoy the sport all he has to do is to take a 

 spade and any reputable terrier. He might 

 as well try, like Dame Partington, to stop 

 the rising tide with a mop ! Before so serious 

 an enterprise as a badger digging be under- 

 taken, the wise man will see to it that all the 

 materials are ready, and let him be sure that 

 he has the first necessity the stout heart to 

 go through with a tough job when once 

 started. I have, with my brother, Mr. J. A. 



Pease, started at 7.30 a.m. from home, worked 

 92 



