xt morning, and came scrambling to the cellar
doors when she opened them. But the following morning he did not answer
her call, and she discovered, on going into the bin, that there was a
second big heap of dirt near the first. She plugged the hole, resolving,
as before, to keep his misdeeds a secret.

For six weeks this alternate digging and plugging went on. Sometimes
Badgy burrowed himself out in one night, sometimes he would not succeed
in reaching the top by the time the little girl called him. And since he
emerged under cover of the vacant coal-shed and kitchen that were built
against the house as a lean-to, his depredations were not discovered by
any of the other members of the family. Once, indeed, he was nearly
caught, for he came out directly in front of the kitchen door. But
judicious trampling by the little girl soon reduced the soft pile of
dirt he had left at the opening to hard ground again.

One day the little girl's mother found that a spool of thread dropped on
the north side of the room rolled to the south side. She pointed out the
phenomenon to the little girl's big brothers. They declared that the
south foundation must be giving way. An investigation from the outside
led them into the shed, where they found the ground perforated with
countless holes. Then they went into the cellar to examine further.
There the phenomenon was explained and the culprit brought to light.
Badgy had undermined the house!

The little girl waited in the garden for him that night, and answered
his grunt of friendly recognition by cuffing him soundly on the ear.
Then, relenting, she took him in her arms and wept over him. Inside, she
knew, they were plotting to kill him. They had declared that he should
not live another day. And, as she sobbed, her mind was searching out a
plan to save him. Where _could_ she hide him?

She sat with him held close in her lap for a while, watching his enemies
within. Then she started on a long detour, with the new haystack as her
destination. He kept close to her heels, snarling wearily. A few days
before she had made a cave in the stack, which stood between the barn
and the chicken-house. The cave was on the side nearest the coop, and
she decided to conceal him in it and fasten him there by his chain.
When she had found a stake-pin and a large stone, she led him in and
drove the pin its full length to make sure that he should not get away.
Then she went back to the house to secure his pard