Quant au courage moral, il avait trouvé fort rare, disait-il celui de deux heuresaprès minuit; c'est-à-dire le courage de l'improviste.
Napoleon BonaparteAs Dandelion ended, Acorn, who was on the windward side of the little group,suddenly started and sat back, with ears up and nostrils twitching. The strange,rank smell was stronger than ever and after a few moments they all heard a heavymovement close by. Suddenly, on the other side of the path, the fern parted andthere looked out a long, dog-like head, striped black and white. It was pointeddownward, the jaws grinning, the muzzle close to the ground. Behind, they couldjust discern great, powerful paws and a shaggy black body. The eyes were peeringat them, full of savage cunning. The head moved slowly, taking in the duskylengths of the wood ride in both directions, and then fixed them once more withits fierce, terrible stare. The jaws opened wider and they could see the teeth,glimmering white as the stripes along the head. For long moments it gazed andthe rabbits remained motionless, staring back without a sound. Then Bigwig, whowas nearest to the path, turned and slipped back among the others.
"A lendri," he muttered as he passed through them. "It may be dangerous andit may not, but I'm taking no chances with it. Let's get away."They followed him through the fern and very soon came upon another, parallelpath. Bigwig turned into it and broke into a run. Dandelion overtook him and thetwo disappeared among the ilex trees. Hazel and the others followed as best theycould, with Pipkin limping and staggering behind, his fear driving him on in spiteof the pain in his paw.
Hazel came out on the further side of the ilexes and followed the path round abend. Then he stopped dead and sat back on his haunches. Immediately in frontof him, Bigwig and Dandelion were staring out from the sheer edge of a highbank, and below the bank ran a stream. It was in fact the little river Enborne,twelve to fifteen feet wide and at this time of year two or three feet deep withspring rain, but to the rabbits it seemed immense, such a river as they had neverimagined. The moon had almost set and the night was now dark, but they couldsee the water faintly shining as it flowed and could just make out, on the furtherside, a thin belt of nut trees and alders. Somewhere beyond, a plover called threeor four times and was silent.
One by one, most of the others came up, stopped at the bank and looked at thewater without speaking. A chilly breeze was moving and several of them trembledwhere they sat.
"Well, this is a nice surprise, Hazel," said Bigwig at length. "Or were youexpecting this when you took us into the wood?"Hazel realized wearily that Bigwig was probably going to be troublesome. Hewas certainly no coward, but he was likely to remain steady only as long as hecould see his way clear and be sure of what to do. To him, perplexity was worsethan danger; and when he was perplexed he usually grew angry. The day before,Fiver's w............