When Robyn came to Notyngham,Sertenly withouten layn,He prayed to God and myld MaryTo bryng hym out save agayn.
Beside him stod a gret-hedid munke,I pray to God woo he be!
Fful sone he knew gode Robyn,As sone as he hym se.
Robin Hood and the Monk (Child's Ballads, No. 119)Hazel sat on the bank in the midsummer night. There had been no more thanfive hours' darkness and that of a pallid, twilit quality which kept him wakefuland restless. Everything was going well. Kehaar had found Holly during theafternoon and corrected his line a little to the west. He had left him in the shelterof a thick hedge, sure of his course for the big warren. It seemed certain now thattwo days would be enough for the journey. Bigwig and some of the other rabbitshad already begun enlarging their burrows in preparation for Holly's return.
Kehaar had had a violent quarrel with a kestrel, screaming insults in a voice fit tostartle a Cornish harbor: and although it had ended inconclusively, the kestrelseemed likely to regard the neighborhood of the hanger with healthy respect forthe future. Things had not looked better since they had first set out fromSandleford.
A spirit of happy mischief entered into Hazel. He felt as he had on the morningwhen they crossed the Enborne and he had set out alone and found the beanfield.
He was confident and ready for adventure. But what adventure? Something worthtelling to Holly and Silver on their return. Something to -- well, not to diminishwhat they were going to do. No, of course not -- but just to show them that theirChief Rabbit was up to anything that they were up to. He thought it over as hehopped down the bank and sniffed out a patch of salad burnet in the grass. What,now, would be likely to give them just a little, not unpleasant shock? Suddenly hethought, "Suppose, when they got back, that there were one or two does herealready?" And in the same moment he remembered what Kehaar had said about abox full of rabbits at the farm. What sort of rabbits could they be? Did they evercome out of their box? Had they ever seen a wild rabbit? Kehaar had said that thefarm was not far from the foot of the down, on a little hill. So it could easily bereached in the early morning, before its men were about. Any dogs wouldprobably be chained, but the cats would be loose. A rabbit could outrun a cat aslong as he kept in the open and saw it coming first. The important thing was notto be stalked unawares. He should be able to move along the hedgerows withoutattracting elil, unless he was very unlucky.
But what did he intend to do, exactly? Why was he going to the farm? Hazelfinished the last of the burnet and answered himself in the starlight. "I'll just havea look round," he said, "and if I can find those box rabbits I'll try to talk to them;nothing more than that. I'm not going to take any risks -- well, not real risks --not until I see whether it's worth it, anyway."Should he go alone? It would be safer and more pleasant to take a companion;but not more than one. They must not attract attention. Who would be best?
Bigwig? Dandelion? Hazel rejected them. He needed someone who would do ashe was told and not start having ideas of his own. At once he thought of Pipkin.
Pipkin would follow him without question and do anything he asked. At thismoment he was probably asleep in the burrow which he shared with Bluebell andAcorn, down a short run leading off the Honeycomb.
Hazel was lucky. He found Pipkin close to the mouth of the burrow and alreadyawake. He brought him out without disturbing the other two rabbits and led himup by the run that gave on the bank. Pipkin looked about him uncertainly,bewildered and half expecting some danger.
"It's all right, Hlao-roo," said Hazel. "There's nothing to be afraid of. I wantyou to come down the hill and help me to find a farm I've heard about. We're justgoing to have a look round it.""Round a farm, Hazel-rah? What for? Won't it be dangerous? Cats and dogsand--""No, you'll be quite all right with me. Just you and me -- I don't want anyoneelse. I've got a secret plan; you mustn't tell the others -- for the time being,anyway. I particularly want you to come and no one else will do."This had exactly the effect that Hazel intended. Pipkin needed no furtherpersuasion and they set off together, over the grass track, across the turf beyondand down the escarpment. They went through the narrow belt of trees and cameinto the field where Holly had called Bigwig in the dark. Here Hazel paused,sniffing and listening. It was the time before dawn when owls return, usuallyhunting as they go. Although a full-grown rabbit is not really in danger from owls,there are few who take no account of them. Stoats and foxes might be abroadalso, but the night was still and damp and Hazel, secure in his mood of gayconfidence, felt sure that he would either smell or hear any hunter on four feet.
Wherever the farm might be, it must lie beyond the road that ran along theopposite edge of the field. He set off at an easy pace, with Pipkin close behind.
Moving quietly in and out of the hedgerow up which Holly and Bluebell had comeand passing, on their way, under the cables humming faintly in the darknessabove, they took only a few minutes to reach the road.
There are times when we know for a certainty that all is well. A batsman whohas played a fine innings will say afterward that he felt he could not miss the ball,and a speaker or an actor, on his lucky day, can sense his audience carrying himas though he were swimming in miraculous, buoyant water. Hazel had this feelingnow. All round him was the quiet summer night, luminous with starlight butpaling to dawn on one side. There was nothing to fear and he felt ready to skipthrough a thousand farmyards one after the other. As he sat with Pipkin on thebank above the tar-smelling road, it did not strike him as particularly lucky whenhe saw a young rat scuttle across from the opposite hedge and disappear into aclump of fading stitchwort below them. He had known that some guide or otherwould turn up. He scrambled quickly down the bank and found the rat nosing inthe ditch.
"The farm," said Hazel, "where's the farm -- near here, on a little hill?"The rat stared at him with twitching whiskers. It had no particular reason to befriendly, but there was something in Hazel's look that made a civil answernatural.
"Over road. Up lane."The sky was growing lighter each moment. Hazel crossed the road withoutwaiting for Pipkin, who caught him up under the hedge bordering the near side ofthe little lane. From here, after another listening pause, they began to make theirway up the slope toward the northern skyline.
Nuthanger is like a farm in an old tale. Between Ecchinswell and the foot ofWatership Down and about half a mile from each, there is a broad knoll, steeperon the north side but falling gently on the south -- like the down ridge itself.
Narrow lanes climb both slopes and come together in a great ring of elm treeswhich encircles the flat summit. Any wind -- even the lightest -- draws from theheight of the elms a rushing sound, multifoliate and powerful. Within this ringstands the farmhouse, with its barns and outbuildings. The house may be twohundred years old or it may be older, built of brick, with a stone-faced frontlooking south toward the down. On the east side, in front of the house, a barnstands clear of the ground on staddle stones; and opposite is the cow byre.
As Hazel and Pipkin reached the top of the slope, the first light showed clearlythe farmyard and buildings. The birds singing all about them were those to whichthey had been accustomed in former days. A robin on a low branch twittered aphrase and listened for another that answered him from beyond the farmhouse. Achaffinch gave its little falling song and further off, high in an elm, a chiffchaffbegan to call. Hazel stopped and then sat up, the better to scent the air. Powerfulsmells of straw and cow dung mingled with those of elm leaves, ashes and cattlefeed. Fainter traces came to his nose as the overtones of a bell sound in a trainedear. Tobacco, naturally: a good deal of cat and rather less dog and then, suddenlyand beyond doubt, rabbit. He looked at Pipkin and saw that he, too, had caught it.
While these scents reached them they were also listening. But beyond the lightmovements of birds and the first buzzing of the flies immediately around t............