y in
what he intended to do, that unfortunate person might have wished that
he had taken a bit of friendly advice in time, and made himself scarce.

But, of course, Benny Badger was not so foolish as to give any such
warning, for there was no one there to hear it.

III

NO ONE AT HOME

Since there seemed to be nobody lurking in the shadows around him, and
watching him, Benny Badger turned to the ground squirrel's hole and
began to dig. How he did make the dirt fly! He scooped it up with his
big feet and flung it back in a shower, not caring in the least where it
fell. For he was interested not in what lay behind, but before him.

In almost less time than it takes to tell about it, Benny Badger had
made the entrance of the tunnel so big that it swallowed his head and
shoulders.

Now, when some people do anything they are forever stopping to see how
much they have finished, as if they hated to work and wished that they
didn't have to. But Benny Badger was not like them. He loved to dig. And
instead of wishing that it wasn't far to the ground squirrel's chamber
he kept hoping that it was a good, long tunnel, so that he might have
plenty of fun digging his way to the end of it.

_He_ didn't pause to look back at the pile of dirt he had thrown behind
him. In fact, he didn't stop for anything--not even to take a long
breath--until he noticed a sound that made him pause and listen for a
few moments.

It was a yapping, growling noise that caught Benny Badger's ear--a noise
that changed, while he listened, to a howl, and then suddenly ended as
it had begun.

That call, coming as it did out of the night, would have frightened
many people. Not knowing just what it was, they might have thought it
sounded like the cry of a wolf. But Benny Badger showed not the least
sign of fear. On the contrary, he seemed almost angry with himself
because he had stopped even for a few moments to listen.

"Oh, fudge!" he said--or something a good deal like that. "It's nothing
but a Coyote."

And then he went to digging faster than ever, to make up for lost time.

He hadn't been working long after that when Mr. Coyote's call made him
back out of the hole and listen once more.

"Shucks!" said Benny Badger--or something like that, anyhow. "He's
coming this way."

Anyone could have seen that Benny Badger was not pleased. But he
continued his work just the same. And he made the dirt fly even more
furiously than before, because