STUBBS THE BADGER 
219 
far away, and that were he not free by then his 
chances of escape would be poor indeed. But surely 
a fresher draught blew through the stones ? He 
stuck in his claws and scraped again, and five 
minutes later a brick fell not inside the barn, 
but outwards with a thud into the field behind. 
He had made an opening at last. It was child's 
play to enlarge the hole that his head might enter ; 
and where a badger's head and shoulders can go 
the rest of him can follow. He wormed his way 
between the bricks, and tumbled head over heels 
into the nettle bed below the wall. 
No one saw him canter across the fields. The 
grass was soaked with dew, and the moon, red and 
luminous in the haze, looked at him like a friendly 
eye. He pattered along at his best pace, for the 
east was growing bright, and he feared lest daylight 
should find him in the open. He knew the country 
immediately round Knockdane as he knew the 
passage of his own burrow, but these fields were 
strange to him. However, he picked his way with 
that unerring instinct which is the peculiar heritage 
of the Wild Folk, and of men who live as the Wild 
Folk live. He turned northwards, and, fording 
the trout stream where he paused to drink deeply 
and cool his sore feet, entered the low-lying fields 
which lie between Coolgraney and Knockdane. 
