o drive _me_ away from
here. . . . I drove a snake away yesterday," he added. And he looked
very thoughtfully at Benny Badger, as if he were picking out a soft
place in which to sink his cruel beak.

"You needn't be so touchy," said Benny. "I'm not going to disturb you.
I'm sure I shouldn't care to live in your house."

The owl was a peppery fellow. He grew angry at once.

"Why not?" he demanded. "What's the matter with my house?"

"I'll tell you," Benny replied. "It's a second-hand one. And that's bad
enough. But it would be still worse if I took it away from you, because
then it would be third-hand."

The owl looked daggers at him.

"You've insulted me!" he cried loudly, swelling himself up--or so it
seemed.

"Have I?" Benny Badger inquired. "Don't mention it! I'm sure you're
quite welcome." To tell the truth, he had not the least idea what the
owl meant.

Naturally, Benny's words only made the owl angrier than ever. And he
became actually rude.

"If I were you," he spluttered, "until I learned better manners I would
dig a hole somewhere, crawl inside it, and pull it in after me."

Now, that was a new idea--for Benny Badger. And he liked it.

"What fun that would be!" he exclaimed. "Then when I wanted to go out
I'd have to dig my way again!"

The owl gave a queer cry. And looking quite discouraged, he flew off and
left Benny Badger sitting there in the grass.

XVI

SPOILING A GAME

Though the owl left him in such a rude fashion, Benny Badger wasted no
time in thinking about what had just happened. There was something far
more worth while that claimed his thoughts. For the prairie dog village
still remained where it had been. And as Benny looked at it he found it
highly interesting.

Even as he glanced at the doorway of the nearest house he caught sight
of a small head with bulging eyes, which stared at him without blinking.

Benny moved nearer. And the head promptly vanished.

Then Benny Badger smiled all over his face.

"Ah!" he exclaimed. "Here's somebody else at home!" And he looked all
around at a number of other doorways. To his great delight he saw other
eyes peeping at him.

"There's a lot of 'em at home!" Benny cried with great glee.

He never felt happier in all his life. Everything was exactly as he
would have wished it. And he was just taking off his coat, and trying to
decide where he would begin to dig, when something happened that made
him look very peevish. And he sli