ng. He made for home on all fours--he ran
much on all fours now--and backed into the den. In the prairie grass he
was concealed, but the den was on a bare mound, and the horseman caught
a glimpse of a whitish thing disappearing down the hole. Badgers were
familiar to him, but the peculiar yellow of this and the absence of
black marks gave it a strange appearance. He rode up quietly within
twenty yards and waited.

After a few minutes the gray-yellow ball slowly reappeared and resolved
itself into the head of a tow-topped child. The young man leaped to the
ground and rushed forward, but the child retreated far back into the
den, beyond reach of the man, and refused to come out. Nevertheless,
there was no doubt that this was the missing Harry Service. "Harry!
Harry! don't you know me? I'm your Cousin Jack," the young man said in
soothing, coaxing tones. "Harry, won't you come out and let me take you
back to mamma? Come Harry! Look! here are some cookies!" but all in
vain. The child hissed and snarled at him like a wild thing, and
retreated as far as he could till checked by a turn in the burrow.

[Illustration]

Now Jack got out his knife and began to dig until the burrow was large
enough for him to crawl in a little way. At once he succeeded in
getting hold of the little one's arm and drew him out struggling and
crying. But now there rushed also from the hole a Badger, snarling and
angry; it charged at the man, uttering its fighting snort. He fought it
off with his whip, then swung to the saddle with his precious burden and
rode away as for his very life, while the Badger pursued for a time, but
it was easily left behind, and its snorts were lost and forgotten.

HOME AGAIN

The father was coming in from another direction as he saw this strange
sight: a horse galloping madly over the prairie, on its back a young man
shouting loudly, and in his arms a small dirty child, alternately
snarling at his captor, trying to scratch his face, or struggling to be
free.

The father was used to changing intensity of feeling at these times, but
he turned pale and held his breath till the words reached him: "I have
got him, thank God! He's all right," and he rushed forward shouting, "My
boy! my boy!"

[Illustration]

But he got a rude rebuff. The child glared like a hunted cat, hissed at
him, and menaced with hands held claw fashion. Fear and hate were all he
seemed to express. The door of the house was flung open and the
di