THE BADGER 23 



that she enjoyed the joke, though I failed to see 

 where the fun came in ! 



When taken indoors Diana preferred sitting 

 in one particular arm-chair, but, if she could not 

 have it, she would run round the room until she 

 found me, when she jumped into my lap. Though 

 heavily built, and somewhat ungainly in appear- 

 ance, she was extraordinarily nimble. She could 

 keep pace with any of the smaller dogs, and 

 enjoyed great games with them. Jemima never 

 joined in these romps; for one reason I was rather 

 afraid to trust her loose, as she was very nervous, 

 but Diana was quite different. She knew no 

 fear; she would gallop, play, and roll about with 

 them as long as they liked. Her first intimation 

 that she was ready for a game consisted in putting 

 every hair on her body on end, so that she looked 

 twice her normal size, when, if the dog took no 

 notice or did not understand, she would give a 

 snort and charge straight at it, as did the knights 

 at their foes in the " days of old." The unfortu- 

 nate dog, being caught " amidships/' was usually 

 knocked head over heels, but terriers, spaniel, 

 and retriever alike all took her rough treatment 

 in good part. They just picked themselves up and 

 rushed upon her in her turn. The two would then 

 roll over together, after which they would gallop 

 and roll, gallop and roll, until they had no breath 

 left, and had to stop from sheer exhaustion. 

 When neither could go on any longer, Diana 

 would waddle slowly back to me, her pink 

 tongue hanging out, and look up at me with her 



