STUBBS THE BADGER 
231 
Now, as we have said, the Larch Hill ' earth ' 
consists of two main tunnels connected by a side 
passage. As Stubbs listened he heard something 
moving along the other gallery, and knew that the 
fox had bolted home in a hurry. Suddenly he 
whisked round. He was standing at the spot 
where the passages crossed, and something had 
glided behind him into his dormitory. He growled, 
and waddled back, for he guessed what it was. 
Greybrush was thoroughly frightened, and not 
daring to lie up in his own quarters, he had sought 
refuge in those of the badgers. Stubbs began a 
systematic search of the chamber. It was not 
large, but it was pitch dark, and so close that his 
nose could not guide him. Halfway round he 
bumped into Grunter, who had also taken the 
alarm, and for a minute or two there was a wild 
scuffle before they could establish one another's 
identity. Greybrush, too terrified to move, lay still 
in the middle, which was perhaps the best thing 
he could have done, for the two badgers groped 
round the walls and thus missed him. 
But presently another smell was wafted down 
the gallery. Stubbs' nose disentangled it from the 
scent of fox and damp earth around ; and then his 
little pig's-eyes grew red and angry, for he had not 
forgotten the smell of dog which he had learned 
in Borrigan's yard that summer. The terrier was 
