"With that they went away, leaving Mr. Mole shaking with fright at the
bottom of his hole. 'It's of no use,' thought Mr. Mole. 'If I go
outside, they will soon find me, and if I stay here, they will dig me
out. Oh, dear, oh, dear! What ever can I do?'

"He lay there feeling very helpless and miserable, when all of a
sudden a thought came to him. If he had made his hole small, just big
enough for him to crawl into, Mr. Badger and Mr. Fox would have had to
do a great deal of digging to make it big enough for either of them to
get in! He would make a little tunnel off one side and hide in that.
So he went to work and made a little tunnel off one side just big
enough for him to squeeze into. He worked very hard and very fast, and
by the time Mr. Badger and Mr. Fox returned, Mr. Mole was at the end
of a long tunnel, so far from the hole he had first dug that he knew
it would take them a long time to dig him out, even if they noticed
his tunnel.

"But they didn't. They dug down to the bottom of his hole and then,
because they didn't find him there, they straightway fell to
quarreling, each blaming the other for suggesting such a lot of hard
work for nothing. Finally they went away, still calling each other
names, and from that day to this, Foxes and Badgers have never been
friends.

"Mr. Mole was very thankful for his narrow escape, and it set him to
thinking. If he had a lot of these underground tunnels, no one would
be able to catch him. It was a splendid idea! He went to work on it at
once. And then he made a discovery--such a splendid discovery! There
was plenty of food to eat right down under ground--worms and
grubs--all he needed. After that, Mr. Mole spent all his time in his