igo STUBBS THE BADGER 
took her cubs into the woods. She chose a starlit 
night the badgers love the stars better than the 
moon and led them to the burrow mouth. They 
crawled up the mound outside, and then flopped 
down to rest ; for their longest journey hitherto had 
been across their nursery, and their short legs 
soon grew weary. Although the alternate tracts 
of their pied snouts were well denned, the black 
was washed over with chocolate colour ; otherwise 
they were exact replicas of their parents. 
Mother Badger did not dare to lead them far 
afield that night. As it was, once or twice she took 
alarm and hustled them underground. However, 
the cubs did not trouble about the limitations of 
their bounds. The sand at the burrow mouth was 
light and dry, and they delightedly thrust their 
paws into it and scattered it about, just as children 
at the seaside dabble their feet in the water. The 
biggest cub found a rabbit scrape, and, thrusting 
in his nose, dug lustily. Presently one of his sisters 
came pushing up and they fought viciously, rolling 
over and over to the bottom of the mound, with 
locked claws. This roused Mother Badger, who 
lay above the ' earth ' with one eye on her cubs 
and the other upon the woods. She waddled 
down and cuffed them ; then brought them back, 
and licked and fed them tenderly. Long before 
