STUBBS THE BADGER 209 
into the cask. ' I 'm told Andy Grace '11 bring his 
tarrier, an' there are two boys from Ballyoughter 
wid a dog that won the coorsin' there at the New 
Year, and two three more. This chap is fresh an' 
in fine condition. Bedam, he'll put up a great 
fight this evening ! ' 
' Put him, barrel an' all, into the ould barn,' said 
Borrigan. ' The flure there is concrate, an' he '11 
not get away on us.' 
They carried the barrel into the barn, and went 
away, and the yard was left quiet. 
All Stubbs' preconceived notions of life had 
been rudely shaken, when he had darted into his 
burrow, only to find it changed into a treacherous 
cul-de-sac ; and they had been still more overset 
when he found himself thus unceremoniously im- 
prisoned in the barrel. At first he was bewildered 
into quietude, but as, in spite of his stolid ways, a 
badger is as plucky a beast as hunts the woods, he 
soon began to revolve plans of escape. When all 
had been quiet for an hour and a half (a badger's 
wits are like his legs, slow but serviceable), Stubbs 
stood up and upset the barrel. The barn was 
lighted by a single loophole, and was quite empty. 
The floor was of concrete and undiggable, but the 
walls were plaster, and Stubbs' claws the strongest 
in the woods stripped them bare quickly. Alas ! 
