Marvellous happy it was to beAlone, and yet not solitary.
O out of terror and dark, to comeIn sight of home.
Walter de la Mare, The Pilgrim"You're not too tired to silflay, are you?" asked Dandelion. "And at the propertime of day, for a change? It's a lovely evening, if my nose says right. We ought totry not to be more miserable than we can help, you know.""Just before we silflay," said Bigwig, "can I tell you, Holly, that I don't believeanyone else could have brought himself and three other rabbits safely back out ofa place like that?""Frith meant us to get back," replied Holly. "That's the real reason why we'rehere."As he turned to follow Speedwell up the run that led into the wood, he foundClover beside him. "You and your friends must find it strange to go outside andeat grass," he said. "You'll get used to it, you know. And I can promise you thatHazel-rah was right when he told you it's a better life here than in a hutch. Comewith me and I'll show you a patch of nice, short tail-grass, if Bigwig hasn't had itall while I've been away."Holly had taken to Clover. She seemed more robust and less timid thanBoxwood and Haystack and was evidently doing her best to adapt herself towarren life. What her stock might be he could not tell, but she looked healthy.
"I like it underground all right," said Clover, as they came up into the fresh air.
"The closed space is really very much like a hutch, except that it's darker. Thedifficult thing for us is going to be feeding in the open. We're not used to beingfree to go where we like and we don't know what to do. You all act so quickly andhalf the time I don't know why. I'd prefer not to feed very far from the hole, if youdon't mind."They moved slowly across the sunset grass, nibbling as they went: Clover wassoon absorbed in feeding, but Holly stopped continually to sit up and sniff abouthim at the peaceful, empty down. When he noticed Bigwig, a little way off, staringfixedly to the north, he at once followed his gaze.
"What is it?" he asked.
"It's Blackberry," replied Bigwig. He sounded relieved.
Blackberry came hopping rather slowly down from the skyline. He looked tiredout, but as soon as he saw the other rabbits he came on faster and made his wayto Bigwig.
"Where have you been?" asked Bigwig. "And where's Fiver? Wasn't he withyou?""Fiver's with Hazel," said Blackberry. "Hazel's alive. He's been wounded -- it'shard to tell how badly -- but he won't die."The other three rabbits looked at him speechlessly. Blackberry waited,enjoying the effect.
"Hazel's alive?" said Bigwig. "Are you sure?""Quite sure," said Blackberry. "He's at the foot of the hill at this very moment,in that ditch where you were the night Holly and Bluebell arrived.""I can hardly believe it," said Holly. "If it's true, it's the best news I've everheard in my life. Blackberry, you really are sure? What happened? Tell us.""Fiver found him," said Blackberry. "Fiver took me with him, nearly all the wayback to the farm: then he went along the ditch and found Hazel gone to groundup a land drain. He was very weak from loss of blood and he couldn't get out ofthe drain by himself. We had to drag him by his good hind leg. He couldn't turnround, you see.""But how on earth did Fiver know?""How does Fiver know what he knows? You'd better ask him. When we'd gotHazel into the ditch, Fiver looked to see how badly he was hurt. He's got a nastywound in one hind leg, but the bone isn't broken: and he's torn all along one side.
We cleaned up the places as well as we could and then we started out to bring himback. It's taken us the whole evening. Can you imagine it -- daylight, dead silenceand a lame rabbit reeking of fresh blood? Luckily, it's been the hottest day we'vehad this summer -- not a mouse stirring. Time and again we had to take cover inthe cow parsley and rest. I was all on the jump, but Fiver was like a butterfly on astone. He sat in the grass and combed his ears. 'Don't get upset,' he kept saying.
'There's nothing to worry about. We can take our time.' After what I'd seen, I'dhave believed him if he'd said we could hunt foxes. But when we got to the bottomof the hill Hazel was completely finished and he couldn't go any further. He andFiver have taken shelter in the overgrown ditch and I came on to tell you. Andhere I am."There was silence while Bigwig and Holly took in the news. At last Bigwig said,"Will they stay there tonight?""I think so," replied Blackberry. "I'm sure Hazel won't be able to manage thehill until he's a good deal stronger.""I'll go down there," said Bigwig. "I can help to make the ditch a bit morecomfortable, and probably Fiver will be able to do with someone else to help tolook after Hazel""I should hurry, then, if I were you," said Blackberry. "The sun will be downsoon.""Hah!" said Bigwig, "If I meet a stoat, it'd better look out, that's all. I'll bringyou one back tomorrow, shall I?" He raced off and disappeared over the edge.
"Let's go and get the others together," said Holly. "Come on, Blackberry, you'llhave to tell the whole thing, from the beginning."The three quarters of a mile in the blazing heat, from Nuthanger to the foot ofthe hill, had cost Hazel more pain and effort than anything in his life. If Fiver hadnot found him, he would have died in the drain. When Fiver's urging hadpenetrated his dark, ebbing stupor, he had at first actually tried not to respond. Itwas so much easier to remain where he was, on the far side of the suffering hehad undergone. Later, when he found himself lying in the green gloom of theditch, with Fiver searching his wounds and assuring him that he could stand andmove, still he could not face the idea of setting out to return. His torn sidethrobbed and the pain in his leg seemed to have affected his senses. He felt dizzyand could not hear or smell properly. At last, when he understood that Fiver andBlackberry had risked a second journey to the farm, in the broadest of daylight,solely to find him and save his life, he forced himself to his feet and began tostumble down the slope to the road. His sight was swimming and he had to stopagain and again. Without Fiver's encouragement he would have lain down oncemore and given up. In the road, he could not climb the bank and had to limpalong the verge until he could crawl under a gate. Much later, as they came underthe pylon line, he remembered the overgrown ditch at the foot of the hill and sethimself to reach it. Once there, he lay down and at once returned to the sleep oftotal exhaustion.
When Bigwig arrived, just before dark, he found Fiver snatching a quick feedin the long grass. It was out of the question to disturb Hazel by digging, and theyspent the night crouched beside him on the narrow floor.
Coming out in the gray light before dawn, the first creature Bigwig saw wasKehaar, foraging between the elders. He stamped to attract his attention andKehaar sailed across to him with one beat of his wings and a long glide.
"Meester Pigvig, you find Meester 'Azel?""Yes," said Bigwig, "he's in the ditch here.""'E not dead?""No, but he's wounded and very weak. The farm man shot him with a gun, youknow.""You get black stones out?""How do you mean?""Alvays vid gun ees coming liddle black stones. You never see?""No, I don't know about guns.""Take out black stones, 'e get better. 'E come now, ya?""I'll see," said Bigwig. He went down to Hazel and found him awake andtalking to Fiver. When Bigwig told him that Kehaar was outside he draggedhimself up the short run and into the grass.
"Dis damn gun," said Kehaar. "'E put liddle stones for 'urt you. I look, ya?""I suppose you'd better," said Hazel. "My leg's still very bad, I'm afraid."He lay down and Kehaar's head flicked from side to side as though he werelooking for snails in Hazel's brown fur. He peered closely up the length of the tornflank.
"Ees not stones 'ere," he said. "Go in, go out -- no stop. Now I see you leg.
Maybe 'urt you, not long."Two shotgun pellets were buried in the muscle of the haunch. Kehaar detectedthem by smell and removed them exactly as he might have picked spiders o............