STUBBS THE BADGER 187 
However, for some years, the ' earth ' had been 
empty, and the dead leaves had drifted thickly 
against the entrance. The rabbits had dug burrows 
about the place ; and after a hard-pressed fox had 
taken refuge there, two winters before, Magragh 
himself had built up the ' set ' with stones and 
earth, so strongly that fox-pads could not open it. 
Now, however, the barricade was scraped away, 
and leaves and grass littered the mound outside. 
Magragh looked up at the fading sky and turned 
homewards, but after a few steps he returned. 
Had Fate set him in another sphere, he might have 
been a great naturalist. As it was, although he had 
a profound knowledge of those of the Wild Folk 
who furnished ' shpoort ' for himself and his fellow 
men, of the lesser breeds he was almost entirely 
ignorant. Nevertheless, the spirit of the true 
naturalist slept in him, unsuspected, and to-night, 
for once in a way, it awoke. He would not admit 
to himself that he desired to see the inmates of this 
burrow without chance of ' shpoort ' or slaughter, 
but muttered shamefacedly : ' Shure, I '11 watch 
a bit see would the craythurs come out to-night.' 
Those who spend much time alone under the free 
sky acquire this habit of soliloquy ; indeed, after 
a while, each finds himself his own best company. 
Paddy Magragh sat down under a tree, and 
