igS STUBBS THE BADGER 
his task, the unfortunate doe-rabbit came home, 
he paid no attention to her. She might stamp 
as much as she pleased at the stumpy tail pro- 
truding from her nursery nothing would turn 
Stubbs aside from his purpose. He could also 
locate truffles six inches underground the big 
knobby ones which grow under oak trees, and the 
little potato-like ones which smell so strong, and are 
found under laurels in Knockdane. Besides this, he 
could wind a man a quarter of a mile away, and he 
knew every 'shore 'and rock and tree in Knockdane. 
The badger's daily round is more monotonous 
than those of most of the Fur Folk. He is too large 
greatly to fear any other beast, and he is so wary 
that he seldom comes in collision with man. Year in, 
year out, from spring to autumn, autumn to spring, 
his comings and goings follow the set rules of his 
ancestors. Now and again, however, a badger is born 
to a more stirring career, and such a one was Stubbs. 
In September the badgers lived well, and their 
sides grew sleek and round. They dug up the 
bykes of the orange-bellied bumble-bees, regardless 
of their stings, and guzzled over the sticky sweetness 
of the honeycomb. Later they visited the crab-trees, 
and spent many a blissful hour scrunching the sour 
pippins, and dropping the pieces about the grass, 
for the badger is an untidy feeder. 
