"Tell us the badger story," said they to the red-headed boy. "Pooh! that ain't much," he answered, modestly. "Please tell us," they insisted. "Wal, one day my Uncle Mose see a side-hill badger--" "What's a side-hill badger?" a voice interrupted. "An animal what lives on a hill, an' has legs longer on one side than on t 'other, so 't he can run round the side of it," said he, glibly, and with a look of pity for such ignorance. "Go on with the story," said another voice. "My Uncle Mose sat an' watched one day up in the limb of a tree above the hole of a badger. By-an'-by an ol' he badger come out, an' my uncle dropped onto his back, an' rode him round an' round the hill 'til he was jes' tuckered out. Then Uncle Mose put a rope on his neck an' tied him to a tree, an' the ol' badger dug an' dug until they was a hole in the ground so big you could put a house in it. An' my uncle he got an idee, an' so one day he fetched him out to South Colton an' learnt him how to dig wells an' cellars, an' bym-by the ol' badger could earn more money than a hired man." "Shucks!" said Socky, turning upon his adversary with sneering, studied scorn. "That's nothing!" Then proudly stepping forward, he flung the latest exploit of his Uncle Silas into the freckled face of the red-headed boy. It stunned the able advocate of old Moses Leonard--a mighty hunter in his time--and there fell a moment of silence followed by murmurs of applause. The little barbarian--Lizzie Cornell--had begun to scent the battle and stood sharpening an arrow. "It's a lie," said the red-headed boy, recovering the power of speech. "His father's a thief an' a drunkard, anyway." That was the arrow of Lizzie Cornell. Socky had raised his fists to vindicate his honor, when, hearing the remark about his father, he turned quickly upon the girl who made it. What manner of rebuke he would have administered, history is unable to record. The minister had come. The children began to scatter. Lizzie and her red-headed cousin ran around the church. Socky and Sue stood with angry faces. Suddenly Socky leaned upon the church door and burst into tears. He dimly comprehended the disgrace which Lizzie had sought to put upon him. The minister could not persuade him to enter the church or to explain the nature of his trouble. When all had gone into Sunday-school, the boy turned, wiping his eyes. Sue stood beside him, a portrait of despair. "Le's go home an' tell our father," said she. They started slowly, but as their indignation grew their feet hurried. Neither spoke in the long journey to their door. They ran through the hall and rushed in upon their father who sat reading. "Oh, father!" said the girl, in excited tones; "Lizzie Cornell says you're a thief an' a drunkard." Gordon rose and turned pale. The hands and voices of the children were ever raised against him. "It's a lie!" said he, turning away.