that neither dog nor man can find him. Of one thing you may be sure, that
whilst you are speculating as to what has become of him, he is digging at a
prodigious rate, or has already made his escape by some secret stair.
If, however, you are quick, terrier No. 2 has interrupted Master Badger as
he is at work, and lets you know: “ It's all right,” “ Come on,” “ He is here,"
“ I ’ve got him,” “ He's.got m eP “ Y o u b e a s tl” “ G e tb a ck l” " I 'l l hold him; “ and
spade and shovel and pick are hard at work again. Backs and arms are aching
with lifting at high pressure out of the deep trench. You dig on, blocking the
hole as the roof falls in, but every now and then the shovels clear it for a
moment to give the dog air. And now the game has shown itself. A terrible
charge down the hole sends out the terrier; and the Badger, seeing the men at
work, backs again, followed by the dog. Now all is excitement. Every snap
punch, grunt, groan, and yell in the fight is heard. A favourite's life in thé
balance 1 The prize in view I The other terriers are tugging at their chains,
frantic to join the fray, yelling fit to split their throats. It is maddening for them
to see the dust and commotion in the trench, to hear the sound of battle so near
to wind the enemy, to hear the cry of their fighting and perhaps wounded companion’
and not to be allowed to share in the glory of the final action. You are close up
to the Badger; he cannot be an arm’s length off. Draw your dog, the Badger will
then turn his tail to you to dig, or he will charge out. Be ready with the tongs,
and a good dog in case he charges. But if he turns tail get hold of it with a
good grip. A long pull and a steady pull will draw him out, bouncing, lunging
and snapping Now, boys, ready with the sack! Dogs off I All wtnt steady
nerves now, three hands on the sack mouth to keep it open, and take care of youb
fingers! A twirl round and a quick plunge, and a Badger is in the bag. Don't
let go his tail till you have slipped the cord on his hind leg, and made the other
end of the cord fast to the bag mouth and to a tree. I have seen a Badger go
a s ^ f s iM e ’^ lke 3 bUllCt thr° Ugh paper’ and il is wel1 to mate all as safe
Mr. Gerald Lascelles tells me that in the New Forest it generally takes
about twenty minutes to dig out a Badger. That so short a time is needed is
accounted for by the fact that Badgers in this part of Hampshire will not break
down through the hard sandy rock soil, for it brings them at once to water which
of course stops them further progress. A small 'finding' terrier is generally used
Bad H I m hiS B He a,S° tdls me that the Hi dig after
Badgers which has come under his notice was recently performed in Cheshire by
Mr. B. Jones and a friend, who with spades and terriers followed some Badgers
for two whole days. On the second day the roof of the ‘ set ’ began to tumble in,
and had it not been for the chance appearance of a practical miner, who assisted
the keen sportsmen to support their gallery with props, they would have had to
desist. As it was, Mr. Jones and his friend persevered till late in the second evening,
and eventually killed the Badger or Badgers after following them for forty feet.
Mr. A. Dorrien-Smith informs me of a still more remarkable dig after
Badgers that occurred at his place, Ashlyns, in Hertfordshire, about the year
1890. Eight men dug steadily for ten days without coming up with the Badgers.1
For centuries Badgers, rabbits, and foxes have all lived together in an immense
series of subterranean galleries situated in a dell close to the house. Colonel Alfred
Lucas, the then tenant of Ashlyns, undertook this foray against the Badger, and
has kindly given me the following account of this remarkable hunt:
* During the middle of the hunting season, a frost occurring, I thought- it
would entertain some of my guests to have a dig after the Badgers in the dell.
Three of us undertook the task by sinking cross shafts to cut the passages by
which we supposed it would be easy to reach the animals in their apartments.
By the evening, however, we found that our efforts were too puny to have any
effect, as we could hear the Badgers digging away dozens of feet below us.
‘ Many men were thrown out of work at this time on account of the frosts,
so on the following day I employed eight able-bodied fellows to attack the
Badgers’ stronghold, thinking that we should soon make a termination of the
affair; but we little knew the magnitude of the task before us. Even by following
the main galleries the network of passages was so confusing, and the solid chalk
of which the ground was composed was so intractable, that little impression seemed
to have been made. Matters were no better the next day, nor the next. We
continually cut cross shafts, and could generally hear the Badgers before u s ; but
after ten days’ arduous toil we had to consider ourselves defeated, and leave the
Badgers masters of the situation. On summer evenings we often used to creep
up to the dell and watch the Badgers and foxes come out. I have seen as
many as eight well-grown Badgers follow each other out of the holes, and pass
into the wood in a foraging party.’
The abominable practice of Badger baiting, so commonly practised in England
in the eighteenth century, is now happily extinct. Dandie Dinmont’s characteristic
1 This surpasses even the great attack described by M. le Masson, which lasted three days and three nights, the men
working in relays.