Clown-face, the badger, was also abroad, hunting field-mice or any young, tender creature which he might track. Creeping through the matted jungles of undergrowth, he soon discovered the racoons digging up roots. Thinking to have some fun at their expense and perhaps drive them away from something which he might eat, suddenly he stuck his painted clown-like face through a dark opening of the bushes and grunted at them. The old hermit himself spied the horrible face first, and so frightened was he that without pausing to finish the root in his black paws, he tore off through the bushes with all the others following him. The hermit did not stop running until he reached his home tree, for never had he seen or dreamed of such a face as that which had peered out at him from the woods. In time Clown-face, the badger, by using his wits managed to have things pretty much his own way there in the forest. He found where the young quails nested. He foraged in the unprotected huts of the muskrats and stole their young. He ate the turtles' eggs and made himself a great nuisance to all. The only living thing which Clown-face, the badger, dreads now is the hedgehog, for, being almost as ugly and strange-appearing as the badger, it does not fear him or turn aside. So between the two is a bitter feud, because Clown-face often ventures to devour the hedgehog's rations. Some time I know there is going to be a terrific encounter between them in the woods, because the stupid-appearing hedgehog never troubles himself to get out of the badger's way, but lies down in his very path, quite unconcernedly. One day Clown-face is going to get to the limit of his patience and rebel. Then I wonder which one will come off the better, the badger or the hedgehog? Meantime, the wit of Clown-face, the badger, serves him very well. He still roams over the forest trails and along the beach unmolested by the dwellers of the wild. CHAPTER XII THE SUGAR CAMP ON LONE MOUNTAIN It was nearing March, but deep snow still covered the hills up in the North country, and there were, as yet, scant signs of spring; not even a bird was to be seen, excepting occasionally a solitary crow. When the sun shone out in the middle of the day, the brown fence tops began to show above the white drifts down in the clearings. By night the freezing cold returned; everything froze up solid, and upon the snow crusts which were thick and glossy it was just the best kind of slide.