114 RIVERBY 



I kept the clew by thrusting into the passage slender 

 twigs ; these it was easy to follow. Two or three feet 

 more and the hole branched, one part going west, 

 the other northeast. I followed the west one a few 

 feet till it branched. Then I turned to the easterly 

 tunnel, and pursued it till it branched. I followed 

 one of these ways till it divided. I began to be 

 embarrassed and hindered by the accumulations of 

 loose soil. Evidently this weasel had foreseen just 

 such an assault upon his castle as I was making, and 

 had planned it accordingly. He was not to be caught 

 napping. I found several enlargements in the vari- 

 ous tunnels, breathing spaces, or spaces to turn 

 around in, or to meet and chat with a companion, 

 but nothing that looked like a terminus, a permanent 

 living-room. I tried removing the soil a couple of 

 paces away with the mattock, but found it slow 

 work. I was getting warm and tired, and my task 

 was apparently only just begun. The farther I dug 

 the more numerous and intricate became the pas- 

 sages. I concluded to stop, and come again the next 

 day, armed with a shovel in addition to the mattock. 



Accordingly, I came back on the morrow, and fell 

 to work vigorously. I soon had quite a large exca- 

 vation; I found the bank a labyrinth of passages, 

 with here and there a large chamber. One of the 

 latter I struck only six inches under the surface, by 

 making a fresh breach a few feet away. 



While I was leaning upon my shovel-handle and 

 recovering my breath, I heard some light-footed 

 creature tripping over the leaves above me just out 



