STUBBS THE BADGER 193 
eldest presently pushed his way out of the scrimmage 
with the rest of his brothers and sisters tugging and 
snatching at the mouse which dangled from his 
mouth. He tore it to pieces, growling, and the others 
kept at a safe distance, for he was the biggest and 
strongest of the litter. After this they turned down 
the field to the pool in the middle, and here Mother 
Badger showed them another game. On the bank 
the meadow-sweet grew rankly, and hearing the 
familiar ' plop-plop ' of a frog in the dew-soaked 
herbage, she set the example of chasing it. The 
cubs grew eager, and hunted with little squeaks 
and snorts of excitement. Frog was better than 
mouse, for it could not run from them so silently. 
Now and then there was a splash as some amphibian, 
more lucky than his fellows, dived through the 
crowfoots into the pond. When this occurred the 
cubs were puzzled water was a mystery to them 
but another frog was soon afoot, and the chase 
began again. 
Thus, night by night, they learned field-craft, 
and gradually grew to know the geography of the 
woods, with every pool and thicket and pathway. 
At the top of Knockdane there are three or four 
acres, which are so rock-encumbered, and so over- 
grown with heather and bracken, that an occasional 
broken-topped fir or oak sapling is the only tree 
