earings. Then came the thunder shower which made him seek for shelter.
There was nothing about him but level prairie, and the only shelter he
could find was a Badger hole, none too wide even for his small form.
Into this he had backed and stayed with some comfort during the
thunderstorm, which continued till night. Then in the evening the child
heard a sniffing sound, and a great, gray animal loomed up against the
sky, sniffed at the tracks and at the open door of the den. Next it put
its head in, and Harry saw by the black marks on its face that it was a
Badger. He had seen one just three days before. A neighbour had brought
it to his father's house to skin it. There it stood sniffing, and Harry,
gazing with less fear than most children, noticed that the visitor had
five claws on one foot and four on the other, with recent wounds, proof
of some sad experience in a trap. Doubtless this was the Badger's den,
for she--it proved a mother--came in, but Harry had no mind to
surrender. The Badger snarled and came on, and Harry shrieked, "Get
out!" and struck with his tiny fists, and then, to use his own words, "I
scratched the Badger's face and she scratched mine." Surely this Badger
was in a generous mood, for she did him no serious harm, and though the
rightful owner of the den, she went away and doubtless slept elsewhere.

[Illustration]

Night came down. Harry was very thirsty. Close by the door was a pool of
rainwater. He crawled out, slaked his thirst, and backed into the warm
den as far as he could. Then remembering his prayers, he begged God to
"send mamma," and cried himself to sleep. During the night he was
awakened by the Badger coming again, but it went away when the child
scolded it. Next morning Harry went to the pool again and drank. Now he
was so hungry; a few old rose hips hung on the bushes near the den. He
gathered and ate these, but was even hungrier. Then he saw something
moving out on the plain. It might be the Badger, so he backed into the
den, but he watched the moving thing. It was a horseman galloping. As it
came near, Harry saw that it was Grogan, the neighbour for whom he had
such a dislike, so he got down out of sight. Twice that morning men came
riding by, but having once yielded to his shy impulse, he hid again each
time. The Badger came back at noon. In her mouth she held the body of a
Prairie Chicken, pretty well plucked and partly devoured. She came into
the den sniffing as before. Harry shou