LOST 301 



I should have been attacked. I braced myself up. Any 

 death was better than this ; even a black snake would 

 be infinitely preferable, with an end in five minutes. 



I moved off and stood thinking, and then had an 

 inspiration. Why not leave it to Badger? I called to 

 him ; he was cropping the scanty grass a few yards 

 away, the led horse tied to his girths. The animals 

 came up, and I verily believe old Badger understood, 

 for there was a look in his eyes of almost human 

 sympathy as he rubbed his forehead on my chest. I 

 crawled up on his honest back, lay the reins on his 

 neck, and signed to him to move on ; talk I could 

 not. To my surprise he turned off exactly in the 

 opposite direction from whence we had come, heading 

 again north. But I let him go ; he was an extra- 

 ordinarily quick walker, the led horse having frequently 

 to break into a slow trot. He got to the hills, up 

 one, as steep as the side of a, house, down a long 

 valley, turning sharp to the east at the bottom of it, 

 and it was impossible not to see he knew where he 

 was going. But night came on again, and he slackened 

 his pace and began to look about him, and I thought 

 he was at fault or could not be sure of his track in 

 the dark. So I got off him, hobbled him, and tied 

 the led horse to a tree with as long a halter as I 

 could. I think Badger was never twenty yards away 

 from me all that night, remaining close at hand like a 

 loving dog and quietly cropping what grass he could 

 get. I spent a night of great pain, my vitals seeming 

 drawn together, and I chewed grass and buckled my 

 belt as tight as it would go. I think I must have 

 been nearly mad, for every imaginable horror crossed 

 my mind, and all the events that brought me to this 



