other,
armed with two or three buckets of water, stationed himself at the hole
nearer the wagon; and another, similarly armed, guarded the farther
hole. The pack divided itself, half remaining at each outlet, and barked
itself hoarse with anticipation.

At last all was in readiness, and, at a word, the water was
poured--bucketful after bucketful--down the tunnels. Then a big brother
sprang to the horses' heads to prevent their running when the fight
began, another jumped into the wagon to refill the pails and hand them
down, and the dogs, leaping excitedly, closed about the holes. The
little girl watched breathlessly and clung fast to the seat.

For a moment there was no sign of anything. Suddenly from the nearer
hole bounded a female, the refuse of her nest clinging to her dripping
hair. Whirling and biting furiously on all sides, she growled in fear
and rage as she defied the pack. There was a quick, fierce fight that
was carried a rod before it ended; then, amid a din of yelping, the
badger met a speedy death.

The little girl climbed down from the wagon, and ran to the hole out of
which the badger had come. From her seat she had spied a small, gray bit
of fur in the debris lying about it, and guessed what it was. She
reached the hole none too soon; for the dogs, having been drawn off
their prey, were coming back, whining and limping and licking their
chops. She caught up the little, half-drowned thing and climbed hastily
into the wagon again, as the pack, scenting it, pursued her and leaped
against the wheels.

The baby badger came very near to going the way of superfluous kittens
when the little girl's big brothers saw what she had, and was saved only
through her pleading. She begged to keep and tame him, and promised to
thwart any desire of his to burrow indiscriminately about the house and
garden. So she was finally permitted to take him home, snugly wound up
in her apron, and revive him with warm milk.

* * * * *

THE first time that he saw the world he viewed it from a subterranean
standpoint, his birthplace being a round, soft, warm pocket far below
the level of the growing wheat. True, his horizon was somewhat limited,
since the pocket was of small dimensions. Nevertheless, it was wide to
him; and he spent several days in surveying the top and sides of his
home with his weak, little, blinking eyes before he ventured to crawl
about. Then it was necessary for his mother to