Be not merciful unto them that offend of malicious wickedness. They grin likea dog and run about through the city. But thou, O Lord, shalt have them inderision. Thou shalt laugh all the heathen to scorn.
Psalm 59Now came the dog days -- day after day of hot, still summer, when for hours ata time light seemed the only thing that moved; the sky -- sun, clouds and breeze --awake above the drowsing downs. The beech leaves grew darker on the boughsand fresh grass grew where the old had been nibbled close. The warren wasthriving at last and Hazel could sit basking on the bank and count their blessings.
Above and under ground, the rabbits fell naturally into a quiet, undisturbedrhythm of feeding, digging and sleeping. Several fresh runs and burrows weremade. The does, who had never dug in their lives before, enjoyed the work. BothHyzenthlay and Thethuthinnang told Hazel that they had had no idea how muchof their frustration and unhappiness in Efrafa had been due simply to not beingallowed to dig. Even Clover and Haystack found that they could manage prettywell and boasted that they would bear the warren's first litters in burrows thatthey had dug themselves. Blackavar and Holly became close friends. They talked agreat deal about their different ideas of scouting and tracking, and made somepatrols together, more for their own satisfaction than because there was any realneed. One early morning they persuaded Silver to come with them and traveledover a mile to the outskirts of Kingsclere, returning with a tale of mischief andfeasting in a cottage garden. Blackavar's hearing had weakened since themutilation of his ears; but Holly found that his power of noticing and drawingconclusions from anything unusual was almost uncanny and that he seemed to beable to become invisible at will.
Sixteen bucks and ten does made a happy enough society for a warren. Therewas some bickering here and there, but nothing serious. As Bluebell said, anyrabbits who felt discontented could always go back to Efrafa; and the thought ofall that they had faced together was enough to take the sting out of anything thatmight have made a real quarrel. The contentment of the does spread to everyoneelse, until one evening Hazel remarked that he felt a perfect fraud as Chief Rabbit,for there were no problems and hardly a dispute to be settled.
"Have you thought about the winter yet?" asked Holly.
Four or five of the bucks, with Clover, Hyzenthlay and Vilthuril, were feedingalong the sunny west side of the hanger about an hour before sunset. It was stillhot and the down was so quiet that they could hear the horses tearing the grass inthe paddock of Cannon Heath Farm, more than half a mile away. It certainly didnot seem a time to think of winter.
"It'll probably be colder up here than any of us have been used to," said Hazel.
"But the soil's so light and the roots break it up so much that we can dig a lotdeeper before the cold weather comes. I think we ought to be able to get belowthe frost. As for the wind, we can block some of the holes and sleep warm. Grassis poor in winter, I know; but anyone who wants a change can always go out withHolly here and try his luck at pinching some greenstuff or cattle roots. It's a timeof year to be careful of the elil, though. Myself, I shall be quite happy to sleepunderground, play bob-stones and hear a few stories from time to time.""What about a story now?" said Bluebell. "Come on, Dandelion. 'How I NearlyMissed the Boat.' What about that?""Oh, you mean 'Woundwort Dismayed,'" said Dandelion. "That's Bigwig's story-- I wouldn't presume to tell it. But it makes a change to be thinking about winteron an evening like this. It reminds me of a story I've listened to but never tried totell myself. So some of you may know it and perhaps some won't. It's the story ofRowsby Woof and the Fairy Wogdog.""Off you go," said Fiver, "and lay it on thick.""There was a big rabbit," said Dandelion. "There was a small rabbit. There wasEl-ahrairah; and he had the frost in his fine new whiskers. The earth up and downthe runs of the warren was so hard that you could cut your paws on it, and therobins answered each other across the bare, still copses, 'This is my bit here. Yougo and starve in your own.'
"One evening, when Frith was sinking huge and red in a green sky, El-ahrairahand Rabscuttle limped trembling through the frozen grass, picking a bite here andthere to carry them on for another long night underground. The grass was asbrittle and tasteless as hay, and although they were hungry, they had beenmaking the best of the miserable stuff so long that it was as much as they coulddo to get it down. At last Rabscuttle suggested that they might take a risk for oncein a way and slip across the fields to the edge of the village, where there was a bigvegetable garden.
"This particular garden was bigger than any of the others round about. Theman who worked in it lived in a house at one end and he used to dig or cut greatquantities of vegetables, put them into a hrududu and drive them away. He hadput wire all round the garden to keep rabbits out. All the same, El-ahrairah couldusually find a way in if he wanted to; but it was dangerous, because the man had agun and often shot jays and pigeons and hung them up.
"'It isn't only the gun we'd be risking, either,' said El-ahrairah, thinking it over.
'We'd have to keep an eye open for that confounded Rowsby Woof as well.'
"Now, Rowsby Woof was the man's dog; and he was the most objectionable,malicious, disgusting brute that ever licked a man's hand. He was a big, woollysort of animal with hair all over his eyes and the man kept him to guard thevegetable garden, especially at night. Rowsby Woof, of course, did not eatvegetables himself and anyone might have thought that he would be ready to let afew hungry animals have a lettuce or a carrot now and then and no questionsasked. But not a bit of it. Rowsby Woof used to run loose from evening till dawnthe next day; and not content with keeping men and boys out of the garden, hewould go for any animals he found there -- rats, rabbits, hares, mice, even moles-- and kill them if he could. The moment he smelled anything in the nature of anintruder he would start barking and kicking up a shine, although very often it wasonly this foolish noise which warned a rabbit and enabled him to get away intime. Rowsby Woof was reckoned to be a tremendous ratter and his master hadboasted about this skill of his so often and showed him off so much that he hadbecome revoltingly conceited. He believed himself to be the finest ratter in theworld. He ate a lot of raw meat (but not in the evening, because he was lefthungry at night to keep him active) and this made it rather easier to smell himcoming. But even so, he made the garden a dangerous place.
"'Well, let's chance Rowsby Woof for once,' said Rabscuttle. 'I reckon you and Iought to be able to give him the slip if we have to.'
"El-ahrairah and Rabscuttle made their way across the fields to the outskirts ofthe garden. When they got there, the first thing they saw was the man himself,with a white stick burning away in his mouth, cutting row after row of frostedcabbages. Rowsby Woof was with him, wagging his tail and jumping about in aridiculous manner. After a time the man piled as many of the cabbages as hecould into a wheel thing and pushed them away to the house. He came backseveral times and when he had taken all the cabbages to the door of the house hebegan carrying them inside.
"'What's he doing that for?' asked Rabscuttle.
"'I suppose he wants to get the frost out of them tonight,' replied El-ahrairah,'before he takes them away in the hrududu tomorrow.'
"'They'd be much better to eat with the frost out of them, wouldn't they?' saidRabscuttle. 'I wish we could get at them while they're in there. Still, never mind.
Now's our chance. Let's see what we can do up this end of the garden while he'sbusy down there.'
"But hardly had they crossed the top of the garden and got among the cabbagesthan Rowsby Woof had winded them and down he came, barking and yelping,and they were lucky to get out in time.
"'Dirty little beasts,' shouted Rowsby Woof. 'How--how! How--how dare youcome snou--snou--snouting round here? Get out -- out! Out -- out!'
"'Contemptible brute!' said El-ahrairah, as they scurried back to the warrenwith nothing to show for all their trouble. 'He's really annoyed me. I don't knowyet how it's going to be done, but, by Frith and Inlé, before this frost thaws, we'lleat his cabbages inside the house and make him look a fool into the bargain!'
"'That's saying too much, master,' said Rabscuttle. 'A pity to throw your lifeaway for a cabbage, after all we've done together.'
"'Well, I shall be watching my chance,' said El-ahrairah. 'I shall just bewatching my chance, that's all.'
"The following afternoon Rabscuttle was out, nosing along the top of the bankbeside the lane, when a hrududu came by. It had doors at the back and thesedoors had somehow come open and were swinging about as the hrududu wentalong. There were things inside wrapped up in bags like the ones men sometimesleave about the fields; and as the hrududu passed Rabscuttle, one of these bagsfell out into the lane. When the hrududu had gone Rabscuttle, who hoped that thebag might have something to eat inside, slipped down into the lane to have a sniffat it. But he was disappointed to find that all it contained was some kind of meat.
Later he told El-ahrairah about his disappointment.
"'Meat?' said El-ahrairah. 'Is it still there?'
"'How should I know?' said Rabscuttle. 'Beastly stuff.'
"'Come with me,' said El-ahrairah. 'Quickly, too.'
"When they got to the lane the meat was still there. El-ahrairah dragged thebag into the ditch and they buried it.
"'But what good will this be to us, master?' said Rabscuttle.
"'I don't know yet,' said El-ahrairah. 'But some good it will surely be, if the ratsdon't get it. Come home now, though. It's getting dark.'
"As they were going home, they came on an old black wheel-covering thrownaway from a hrududu, lying in the ditch. If you've ever seen these things, you'llknow that they're something like a huge fungus -- smooth and very strong, butpad-like and yielding too. They smell unpleasant, and are no good to eat.
"'Come on,' said El-ahrairah immediately. 'We have to gnaw off a good chunkof this. I need it.'
"Rabscuttle wondered whether his master was going mad, but he did as he wastold. The stuff had grown fairly rotten and before long they were able to gnaw offa lump about as big as a rabbits head. It tasted dreadful, but El-ahrairah carried itcarefully back to the warren. He spent a lot of time that night nibbling at it andafter morning silflay the next day he continued. About ni-Frith he wokeRabscuttle, made him come outside and put the lump in front of him.
"'What does that look like?' he said. 'Never mind the smell. What does it looklike?'
"Rabscuttle looked at it. 'It looks rather like a dog's black nose, master,' heanswered, 'except that it's dry.'
"'Splendid,' said El-ahrairah, and went to sleep.
"It was still frosty -- very clear and cold -- that night, with half a moon, but fuInlé, when all the rabbits were keeping warm underground, El-ahrairah toldRabscuttle to come with him. El-ahrairah carried the black nose himself and onthe way he pushed it well into every nasty thing he could find. He found a--""Well, never mind," said Hazel. "Go on with the story.""In the end," continued Dandelion, "Rabscuttle kept well away from him, butEl-ahrairah held his breath and still carried the nose somehow, until they got tothe place where they had buried the meat.
"'Dig it up,' said El-ahrairah. 'Come on.'
"They dug it up and the paper came off. The meat was all bits joined togetherin a kind of trail like a spray of bryony, and poor Rabscuttle was told to drag italong to the bottom of the vegetable garden. It was hard work and he was gladwhen he was able to drop it.
"'Now,' said El-ahrairah, 'we'll go round to the front.'
"When they got to the front, they could tell that the man had gone out. For onething, the house was all dark but, besides, they could smell that he had beenthrough the gate a little while before. The front of the house had a flower gardenand this was separated from the back and the vegetable garden by a high, close-boarded fence that ran right across and ended in a big clump of laurels. Just theother side of the fence was the back door that led into the kitchen.
"El-ahrairah and Rabscuttle went quietly through the front garden and peepedthrough a crack in the fence. Rowsby Woof was sitting on the gravel path, wideawake and shivering in the cold. He was so near that they could see his eyes blinkin the............