STUBBS THE BADGER 223 
in the stuffy darkness. At moonrise, however, 
Grunter woke, punctual as an alarum clock. She 
rose from the warm bed of moss, and stretched 
herself so vigorously that she woke her lord, who 
smote his head against the roof and growled. She 
glided past him down the passage, and came to the 
main entrance, where the fresh night air blew in. 
Grunter was hungry. The last two nights it had 
rained, and the badgers had lain a-bed, but to- 
night was fine and mild again. She thrust her long 
snout right and left, and sampled all the strong damp 
odours of the night before she ventured to trust her- 
self to the woods ; but all was still, and she pattered 
away. Five minutes later Stubbs stole out. By 
that mysterious telepathy which is the secret of the 
Fur Folk, he knew whither she had gone, and fol- 
lowed her down the main highroad of the badgers 
of Knockdane, under the wet bushes to the fields 
by the river bank. 
Greybrush came along about two hours later, 
and snuffed thoughtfully at the hole. Greybrush 
was a Ballymore fox. He had been born in a 
hedgerow during the spring, and now that autumn 
was coming on, he sought winter quarters in Knock- 
dane. There were certainly many desirable points 
about this ' set.' He sat down and sucked his 
pads, for they were wet with dew, shook his brush 
