7. The Lendri and the River

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, Acorn¹, who was on the windward side of the little group,suddenly started and sat back, with ears up and nostrils² twitching³. 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 jaws⁴ grinning, the muzzle⁵ close to the ground. Behind, they couldjust discern great, powerful paws and a shaggy black body. The eyes were peeringat them, full of savage⁶ cunning. The head moved slowly, taking in the duskylengths of the wood ride in both directions, and then fixed⁷ 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 alders⁸. Somewhere beyond, a plover⁹ 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 chilly¹⁰ 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 perplexed¹¹ he usually grew angry. The day before,Fiver's warning had troubled him, and he had spoken in anger to the Threarahand left the Owsla. Then, while he was in an uncertain mood about the idea ofleaving the warren, Captain Holly¹² had appeared in capital time to be attacked andto provide a perfect reason for their departure. Now, at the sight of the river,Bigwig's assurance was leaking again and unless he, Hazel, could restore it insome way, they were likely to be in for trouble. He thought of the Threarah andhis wily courtesy.
"I don't know what we should have done without you just now, Bigwig," hesaid. "What was that animal? Would it have killed us?""A lendri," said Bigwig. "I've heard about them in the Owsla. They're not reallydangerous. They can't catch a rabbit that runs, and nearly always you can smellthem coming. They're funny things: I've heard of rabbits living almost on top ofthem and coming to no harm. But they're best avoided, all the same. They'll digout rabbit kittens and they'll kill an injured rabbit if they find one. They're one ofthe Thousand, all right. I ought to have guessed from the smell, but it was new tome.""It had killed before it met us," said Blackberry with a shudder¹³. "I saw theblood on its lips.""A rat, perhaps, or pheasant chicks. Lucky for us it had killed, otherwise itmight have been quicker. Still, fortunately we did the right thing. We really cameout of it very well," said Bigwig.
Fiver came limping down the path with Pipkin. They, too, checked and staredat the sight of the river.
"What do you think we ought to do now, Fiver?" asked Hazel.
Fiver looked down at the water and twitched¹⁴ his ears.
"We shall have to cross it," he said. "But I don't think I can swim, Hazel. I'mworn out, and Pipkin's a good deal worse than I am.""Cross it?" cried Bigwig. "Cross it? Who's going to cross it? What do you wantto cross it for? I never heard such nonsense."Like all wild animals, rabbits can swim if they have to; and some even swimwhen it suits them. Rabbits have been known to live on the edge of a wood andregularly swim a brook¹⁵ to feed in the fields beyond. But most rabbits avoidswimming, and certainly an exhausted¹⁶ rabbit could not swim the Enborne.
"I don't want to jump in there," said Speedwell.
"Why not just go along the bank?" asked Hawkbit.
Hazel suspected that if Fiver felt they ought to cross the river, it might bedangerous not to. But how were the others to be persuaded? At this moment, ashe was still wondering what to say to them, he suddenly realized that somethinghad lightened his spirits. What could it be? A smell? A sound? Then he knew.
Nearby, across the river, a lark¹⁷ had begun to twitter and climb. It was morning. Ablackbird called one or two deep, slow notes and was followed by a wood pigeon.
Soon they were in a gray twilight¹⁸ and could see that the stream bordered thefurther edge of the wood. On the other side lay open fields.

1 acorn   

n.橡实，橡子

参考例句：

• The oak is implicit in the acorn.橡树孕育于橡子之中。
• The tree grew from a small acorn.橡树从一粒小橡子生长而来。

2 nostrils   

鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Her nostrils flared with anger. 她气得两个鼻孔都鼓了起来。
• The horse dilated its nostrils. 马张大鼻孔。

3 twitching   

n.颤搐

参考例句：

• The child in a spasm kept twitching his arms and legs. 那个害痉挛的孩子四肢不断地抽搐。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• My eyelids keep twitching all the time. 我眼皮老是跳。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 jaws   

n.口部；嘴

参考例句：

• The antelope could not escape the crocodile's gaping jaws. 那只羚羊无法从鱷鱼张开的大口中逃脱。
• The scored jaws of a vise help it bite the work. 台钳上有刻痕的虎钳牙帮助它紧咬住工件。

5 muzzle   

n.鼻口部；口套；枪(炮)口；vt.使缄默

参考例句：

• He placed the muzzle of the pistol between his teeth.他把手枪的枪口放在牙齿中间。
• The President wanted to muzzle the press.总统企图遏制新闻自由。

6 savage   

adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人

参考例句：

• The poor man received a savage beating from the thugs.那可怜的人遭到暴徒的痛打。
• He has a savage temper.他脾气粗暴。

7 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

8 alders   

n.桤木( alder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

9 plover   

n.珩，珩科鸟，千鸟

参考例句：

• He wondered if the plover was the fastest bird.他想知道千鸟是不是最快的鸟。
• American plover of inland waters and fields having a distinctive cry.美洲内陆水域和牧场的鸻，叫声特别。

10 chilly   

adj.凉快的，寒冷的

参考例句：

• I feel chilly without a coat.我由于没有穿大衣而感到凉飕飕的。
• I grew chilly when the fire went out.炉火熄灭后，寒气逼人。

11 perplexed   

adj.不知所措的

参考例句：

• The farmer felt the cow,went away,returned,sorely perplexed,always afraid of being cheated.那农民摸摸那头牛，走了又回来，犹豫不决，总怕上当受骗。
• The child was perplexed by the intricate plot of the story.这孩子被那头绪纷繁的故事弄得迷惑不解。

12 holly   

n.[植]冬青属灌木

参考例句：

• I recently acquired some wood from a holly tree.最近我从一棵冬青树上弄了些木料。
• People often decorate their houses with holly at Christmas.人们总是在圣诞节时用冬青来装饰房屋。

13 shudder   

v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动

参考例句：

• The sight of the coffin sent a shudder through him.看到那副棺材，他浑身一阵战栗。
• We all shudder at the thought of the dreadful dirty place.我们一想到那可怕的肮脏地方就浑身战惊。

14 twitched   

vt.& vi.（使）抽动，（使）颤动（twitch的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• Her lips twitched with amusement. 她忍俊不禁地颤动着嘴唇。
• The child's mouth twitched as if she were about to cry. 这小孩的嘴抽动着，像是要哭。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 brook   

n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让

参考例句：

• In our room we could hear the murmur of a distant brook.在我们房间能听到远处小溪汩汩的流水声。
• The brook trickled through the valley.小溪涓涓流过峡谷。

16 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

17 lark   

n.云雀，百灵鸟；n.嬉戏，玩笑；vi.嬉戏

参考例句：

• He thinks it cruel to confine a lark in a cage.他认为把云雀关在笼子里太残忍了。
• She lived in the village with her grandparents as cheerful as a lark.她同祖父母一起住在乡间非常快活。

18 twilight   

n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期

参考例句：

• Twilight merged into darkness.夕阳的光辉融于黑暗中。
• Twilight was sweet with the smell of lilac and freshly turned earth.薄暮充满紫丁香和新翻耕的泥土的香味。