th, and in the hollows of the hedges, were remorselessly hunted
and despoiled. Their stings failed to penetrate the thick coat and hide
of their persistent foes, while a chance stab on the lips or between the
nostrils seemed only to arouse the badgers from leisurely methods of
pillage to quick and ruthless slaughter of the adult insects as well as
of the immature grubs. But Brock never committed the indiscretion of
swallowing a full-grown wasp. With his fore-paws he dexterously struck
and crippled the angry sentinels that buzzed about his ears, and, with
teeth bared in order to prevent a sting on his tender muzzle, disabled
the newly emerged and sluggish insects that wandered over the comb.

As autumn drew on, the cubs grew strong and fat on the plentiful
supplies of food, which, with their parents' help, they readily found in
field and wood. Brock gave promise of abnormal strength, and was already
considerably heavier than his sister. They fared far better than the
third cub, a little male, that, notwithstanding a temper almost as fiery
as Brock's, was worsted in every dispute and frequently robbed of his
food, and still, never owning himself beaten, persisted in drawing
attention to his success whenever he happened on something fresh and
toothsome. At such times, instead of hastily and silently regaling
himself, he made a great a-do, grunting with rage and defiance, like a
dog that guards a marrow-bone but will not settle down to gnaw its juicy
ends.

Brock's brother was so often deprived of his legitimate spoils, that,
while his surliness was increased, his bodily growth was checked. He was
small and thin for his age; and so, when a kind of fever peculiar to
young badgers broke out in the woodland home, he succumbed. His grave
was a shallow depression near the path below the "set," whither his
parents dragged his lifeless body, and where the whispering leaves of
autumn presently descended to array him in a red and golden robe of
death.

The other young badgers quickly recovered from their fever; and by the
end of October all the animals were, as sportsmen say, "in grease," and
well prepared for winter's cold and privation. The old badgers became
more and more indisposed to roam abroad; and, whereas in summer they
sometimes wandered four or five miles from the "set," they now seldom
went further than the gorse-thicket on the fringe of the wood.

IV.

THE WINTER "OVEN."

The badger-cubs, while not so wel