creature
in the grass. Beside them lay a small brown and white stoat, its head
almost severed from its body by a quick, powerful bite, and, just
beyond, the motionless form of a half-grown rabbit, unmarked, save by a
small, clean-cut wound between the ears. The scent of both creatures was
noticeable everywhere around, and with it, quite as strong and fresh,
the scent of the big male badger. Walking up the path, soon after
nightfall, the badger had arrived on the scene of a woodland tragedy,
and had found the stoat so engrossed with its victim that to kill the
bloodthirsty little tyrant was the easy work of an instant. Afterwards,
mindful of the education of his progeny, he had hurried home to arrange
with his mate a timely object lesson in wood-craft.

The stoat was left untasted, but the rabbit was speedily devoured; and
then the badger family resorted to the riverside below the "set," where
the cubs were taught to lap the cool, clear water. Thence, before
returning home, they were taken to a clearing in the middle of the wood,
and, while the sire went off alone to scout and hunt, the mother badger
showed them how to find grubs and beetles under the rotting bark of the
tree-butts, in the crevices among the stones, and in the soft, damp
litter of the decaying leaves.

III.

FEAR OF THE TRAP.

Night after night, the cubs, sometimes under the protection of both
their parents, and sometimes under the protection of only the dam,
roamed through the by-ways of the countryside. From each expedition they
gleaned something of new and unexpected interest, till they grew wise in
the ways of Nature's folk that haunt the gloom--the strong, for ever
seeking opportunities of attack; the weak, for ever dreading even a
chance shadow on the moonlit trail.

A strange performance, which, for quite a month, seemed devoid of
meaning to the cubs, but which, nevertheless, Brock soon learned to
imitate, took place whenever the tainted flesh of a dead creature was
found in the way. The old badgers at once became alert, moved with the
utmost caution, smelt but did not touch the offensive morsel, and,
instead of seizing it, rolled over it again and yet again, as if the
scent proved irresistibly attractive. One of the cubs, that had always
shown an inclination to act differently from the way in which her
companions acted, and often became lazy and stupid when lesson-time
arrived, was destined to pay dearly for neglecting to imitate h