THE BADGER 



our making a drift, or tunnel, which we drove 

 in thirty feet. The heat and want of air 

 inside made the work difficult. Candles 

 would not burn after we had gone about 

 twenty feet, and the tunnel was so low that 

 we had to work on our knees and then on 

 our stomachs. There was a considerable 

 danger from the roof falling in, but the fight 

 waged so fiercely that we thought of little 

 but what was ahead of us. When at last we 

 got within distance of the badger, he was in 

 rocky ground, we could mine no further, and 

 beine on a shelf round a corner no terrier 

 could draw him. As I was the smallest of 

 the party, it fell to me to try and reach him, 

 and I crawled up as far as I could, holding a 

 little bull-terrier on whom I could rely for 

 protection for my face, and a pair of short 

 badger tongs. 1 had indeed a bad quarter of 

 an hour ! 



It was stifling, cramped, and pitch dark. I 

 kept the terrier in front of my head and 

 gallantly he behaved, though every now and 

 then the badger's charge, or a fierce encounter, 

 nearly smothered me with dust and soil, 



94 



