General Jourdan, Mémoires MilitairesSome people have the idea that rabbits spend a good deal of their time runningaway from foxes. It is true that every rabbit fears the fox and will bolt if it smellsone. But many rabbits go all their lives without seeing a fox and probably only afew actually fall victim to an enemy who smells strongly and cannot run as fast asthey can. A fox trying to catch a rabbit usually creeps upwind under cover --perhaps through a patch of woodland to the edge. Then, if he succeeds in gettingclose to where the rabbits are at silflay along the bank or in the field, he lies stilland watches his chance for a quick snatch. It is said that sometimes he fascinatesthem, as the weasel does, by rolling and playing in the open, coming closer littleby little until he can make a grab. However this may be, it is certain that no foxhunts rabbits by going openly up a combe at sunset.
Neither Hazel nor any of the rabbits who had been listening to Dandelion'sstory had ever seen a fox. Nevertheless, they knew that a fox in the open, plain tobe seen, is not dangerous as long as it is spotted1 in time. Hazel realized that hehad been careless to allow everyone to gather round Dandelion and to have failedto post even one sentry2. What wind there was was from the northeast and the fox,coming up the combe from the west, might have broken in upon them withoutwarning. But from this danger they had been saved by Fiver and Pipkin going intothe open. Even in his flash of alarm as Pipkin spoke3, it crossed Hazel's mind thatFiver, no doubt reluctant to advise him in front of the others, had probably seizedthe opportunity provided by Pipkin's fear to post himself as a sentry.
Hazel thought quickly. If the fox were not too close, all they had to do was run.
There was woodland nearby and they could vanish into it, keeping more or lesstogether, and simply continue on their way. He pushed through the burdocks.
"How close is it?" he asked. "And where's Fiver?""I'm here," replied Fiver, from a few yards away. He was squatting4 under thelong briars of a dog rose and did not turn his head as Hazel came up beside him.
"And there's the fox," he added. Hazel followed his gaze.
The rough, weed-covered ground of the combe sloped away below them, a longdip bounded on the north by Caesar's Belt. The last of the setting sun shonestraight up it through a break in the trees. The fox was below them and still someway off. Although it was almost directly downwind and therefore must be able tosmell them, it did not look as though it were particularly interested in rabbits. Itwas trotting6 steadily7 up the combe like a dog, trailing its white-tipped brush. Incolor it was sandy brown, with dark legs and ears. Even now, though obviouslynot hunting, it had a crafty8, predatory look that made the watchers among thedog roses shiver. As it passed behind a patch of thistles and disappeared fromview, Hazel and Fiver returned to the others.
"Come on," said Hazel. "If you've never seen a fox, don't bother to go and looknow. Just follow me."He was about to lead the way up the south side of the combe when suddenly arabbit shouldered him roughly aside, pushed past Fiver and was gone into theopen. Hazel stopped and looked round in amazement9.
"Who was that?" he asked.
"Bigwig," answered Fiver, staring.
Together they went quickly back to the briars and once more looked into thecombe. Bigwig, in full view, was loping warily10 downhill, straight toward the fox.
They watched him, aghast. He drew near, but still the fox paid no attention.
"Hazel," said Silver from behind, "shall I--?""No one is to move," said Hazel quickly. "Keep still, all of you."At about thirty yards' distance the fox saw the approaching rabbit. It pausedfor a moment and then continued to trot5 forward. It was almost upon him beforeBigwig turned and began to limp up the north slope of the combe toward the treesof the Belt. The fox hesitated again and then followed him.
"What's he up to?" muttered Blackberry.
"Trying to draw it off, I suppose," replied Fiver.
"But he didn't have to! We should have got away without that.""Confounded fool!" said Hazel. "I don't know when I've been so angry."The fox had quickened its pace and was now some distance away from them. Itappeared to be overtaking Bigwig. The sun had set and in the failing light theycould just make him out as he entered the undergrowth. He disappeared and thefox followed. For several moments all was quiet. Then, horribly clear across thedarkening, empty combe, there came the agonizing11 squeal12 of a stricken rabbit.
"O Frith and Inlé!" cried Blackberry, stamping. Pipkin turned to bolt. Hazel didnot move.
"Shall we go, Hazel?" asked Silver. "We can't help him now."As he spoke, Bigwig suddenly broke out of the trees, running very fast. Almostbefore they could grasp that he was alive, he had recrossed the entire upper slopeof the combe in a single dash and bolted in among them.
"Come on," said Bigwig, "let's get out of here!""But what -- what -- Are you wounded?" asked Bluebell13 in bewilderment.
"No," said Bigwig, "never better! Let's go!""You can wait until I'm ready," said Hazel in a cold, angry tone. "You've doneyour best to kill yourself and acted like a complete fool. Now hold your tongueand sit down!" He turned and, although it was rapidly becoming too dark to seeany distance, made as though he were still looking out across the combe. Behindhim, the rabbits fidgeted nervously14. Several had begun to feel a dreamlike senseof unreality. The long day above ground, the close, overgrown combe, thefrightening story in which they had been absorbed, the sudden appearance of thefox, the shock of Bigwig's inexplicable15 adventure -- all these, following one uponanother, had flooded their spirits and left them dull and bemused.
"Get them out, Hazel," whispered Fiver, "before they all go tharn."Hazel turned at once. "Well, no fox," he said cheerfully. "It's gone and we'll go,too. For goodness' sake keep close together, because if anyone gets lost in thedark we may not find him again. And remember, if we come upon any strangerabbits, you're to attack them at once and ask questions afterward16."They skirted the side of the wood that lay along the southern edge of the combeand then, in ones and twos, slipped across the empty road beyond. Little by littletheir spirits cleared. They found themselves in open farmland -- indeed, theycould both smell and hear the farm, not far away on the evening side -- and thegoing was easy: smooth, wide pasture fields, sloping gently downhill and dividednot by hedges but by broad, low banks, each as wide as a lane and overgrown withelder, dogwood and spindle. It was true rabbit country, reassuring17 after the Beltand the tangled18, goose-grassed combe; and when they had covered a gooddistance over the turf -- halting continually to listen and sniff19 and running, nowone and now another, from each piece of cover to the next -- Hazel felt safe ingiving them a rest. As soon as he had sent out Speedwell and Hawkbit as sentries,he led Bigwig to one side.
"I'm angry with you," he said. "You're the one rabbit we're not going to be ableto do without and you have to go and run a silly risk like that. It wasn't necessaryand it wasn't even clever. What were you up to?""I'm afraid I just lost my head, Hazel," replied Bigwig. "I've been strung up allday, thinking about this business at Efrafa -- got me really on edge. When I feellike that I have to do something -- you know, fight or run a risk. I thought if Icould make that fox look a fool I wouldn't feel so worried about the other thing.
What's more, it worked -- I feel a lot better now.""Playing El-ahrairah," said Hazel. "You duffer, you might have thrown your lifeaway for nothing -- we all thought you had. Don't try it again, there's a good chap.
You know everything's going to depend on you. But tell me, whatever happenedin the trees? Why did you cry like that, if you were all right?""I didn't," said Bigwig. "It was very queer, what happened, and bad, too, I'mafraid. I was going to lose the homba in the trees, you see, and then come back.
Well, I went into the undergrowth, and I'd just stopped limping and was startingto run really fast when suddenly I found myself face to face with a bunch ofrabbits -- strangers. They were coming toward me, as if they were going out intothe open combe. Of course, I didn't have time to get a good look at them, but theyseemed to be big fellows. 'Look out -- run!' I said as I dashed up to them, but allthey did was try to stop me. One of them said, 'You stay here!' or something likethat, and then he got right in my way. So I knocked him down -- I had to -- andraced off, and the next thing I heard was this dreadful squealing20. Of course, Iwent even faster then and I got clear of the trees and came back to you.""So the homba got this other rabbit?""It must have. After all, I led it right onto them, even though I didn't mean to.
But I never saw what actually happened.""What became of the others?""I've no idea. They must have run, I suppose.""I see," said Hazel thoughtfully. "Well, perhaps it's all for the best. But lookhere, Bigwig, no more fancy tricks until the proper time -- there's too much atstake. You'd better stay near Silver and me -- we'll keep you in good heart."At that moment Silver came up to them.
"Hazel," he said, "I've just realized where we are and it's a lot too close toEfrafa. I think we ought to make off as soon as we can.""I want to go right round Efrafa -- wide," said Hazel. "Do you think you canfind the way to that iron road Holly21 told us about?""I think so," replied Silver. "But we can't make too big a circle or they'll becompletely exhausted22. I can't say I know the way, but I can tell the direction allright.""Well, we'll just have to take the risk," said Hazel. "If only we can get there byearly morning, they can rest at the other end."They met with no more adventures that night, moving quietly along the edgesof the fields under the dim light of a quarter-moon. The half-darkness was full ofsounds and movement. Once Acorn23 put up a plover24, which flew round them,calling shrilly25, until at length they crossed a bank and left it behind. Soon after,somewhere near them, they heard the unceasing bubbling of a nightjar -- apeaceful sound, without menace, which died gradually away as they pushed on.
And once they heard a corncrake calling as it crept among the long grass of a pathverge. (It makes a sound like a human fingernail drawn26 down the teeth of acomb.) But elil they met none and although they were continually on the watchfor signs of an Efrafan patrol, they saw nothing but mice, and a few hedgehogshunting for slugs along the ditches.
At last, as the first lark27 rose toward the light that was still far up in the sky,Silver, his pale fur sodden28 dark with dew, came limping back to where Hazel wasencouraging Bluebell and Pipkin.
"You can pluck up your spirits, Bluebell," he said. "I think we're close to theiron road.""I wouldn't care about my spirits," said Bluebell, "if my legs weren't so tired.
Slugs are lucky not to have legs. I think I'll be a slug.""Well, I'm a hedgehog," said Hazel, "so you'd better get on!""You're not," replied Bluebell. "You haven't enough fleas29. Now, slugs don'thave fleas, either. How comforting to be a slug, among the dandelions so snug--""And feel the blackbird's sudden tug," said Hazel. "All right, Silver, we'recoming. But where is the iron road? Holly said a steep, overgrown bank. I can'tmake out anything like that.""No, that's away up by Efrafa. Down here it runs in a sort of combe of its own.
Can't you smell it?"Hazel sniffed30. In the cool damp, he picked up at once the unnatural31 smells ofmetal, coal smoke and oil. They went forward and in a very short time foundthemselves looking down from among the bushes and undergrowth on the edgeof the railway cutting. All was quiet, but as they paused at the top of the bank, atussling pack of six or seven sparrows flew down to the line and began to peckabout between the sleepers32. Somehow, the sight was reassuring.
"Are we to cross, Hazel-rah?" asked Blackberry.
"Yes," said Hazel, "at once. Put it between us and Efrafa: then we'll feed."They went rather hesitantly down into the cutting, half expecting the fiery,thundering angel of Frith to appear out of the twilight33; but the silence remainedunbroken. Soon they were all feeding in the meadow beyond, too tired to payattention to concealment34 or to anything but the ease of resting their legs andnibbling the grass.
From above the larches35 Kehaar sailed down among them, alighted and foldedhis long, pale gray wings.
"Meester 'Azel, vat36 you do? You no stay 'ere?""They're tired out, Kehaar. They've got to have a rest.""Ees not to rest 'ere. Ees rabbits come.""Yes, but not just yet. We can--""Ya, ya, ees coming for find you! Ees close!""Oh, curse these confounded patrols!" cried Hazel. "Come on, all of you, getdown the field into that wood! Yes, you, too, Speedwell, unless you want to haveyour ears chewed off in Efrafa. Come on, move!"They tottered37 over the pasture to the woodland beyond and lay completelyexhausted on flat, bare ground under fir trees. Hazel and Fiver consulted Kehaaragain.
"It's no good expecting them to go any further, Kehaar," said Hazel. "They'vebeen going all night, you know. We'll have to sleep here today. Did you actuallysee a patrol?""Ya, ya, come all along by udder side iron road. Yoost in time you go.""Well, then, you saved us. But look, Kehaar, could you go and see where theyare now? If they're gone, I'm going to tell our lot to go to sleep -- not that theyneed telling: look at them!"Kehaar returned with the news that the Efrafan patrol had turned back withoutcrossing the iron road. Then he offered to keep watch himself until the eveningand Hazel, greatly relieved, at once told the rabbits to sleep. One or two hadalready fallen asleep, lying on their sides on the open ground. Hazel wonderedwhether he ought to wake them and tell them to get under thicker cover, but as hewas thinking about it he fell asleep himself.
The day came on hot and still. Among the trees the wood pigeons calleddrowsily and from time to time a late cuckoo stammered38. In the fields, nothingmoved except the constantly swishing tails of the cows gathered flank to flank inthe shade.
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1
spotted
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| adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的 | |
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2
sentry
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| n.哨兵，警卫 | |
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3
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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4
squatting
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| v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的现在分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。 | |
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5
trot
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| n.疾走，慢跑；n.老太婆；现成译本；(复数）trots:腹泻（与the 连用）；v.小跑，快步走，赶紧 | |
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6
trotting
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| 小跑，急走( trot的现在分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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7
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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8
crafty
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| adj.狡猾的，诡诈的 | |
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9
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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10
warily
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| adv.留心地 | |
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11
agonizing
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| adj.痛苦难忍的；使人苦恼的v.使极度痛苦；折磨(agonize的ing形式) | |
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12
squeal
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| v.发出长而尖的声音；n.长而尖的声音 | |
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13
bluebell
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| n.风铃草 | |
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14
nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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15
inexplicable
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| adj.无法解释的，难理解的 | |
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16
afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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reassuring
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| a.使人消除恐惧和疑虑的，使人放心的 | |
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18
tangled
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| adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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19
sniff
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| vi.嗅…味道；抽鼻涕；对嗤之以鼻，蔑视 | |
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20
squealing
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| v.长声尖叫，用长而尖锐的声音说( squeal的现在分词 ) | |
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21
holly
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| n.[植]冬青属灌木 | |
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22
exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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23
acorn
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| n.橡实，橡子 | |
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24
plover
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| n.珩，珩科鸟，千鸟 | |
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25
shrilly
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| 尖声的； 光亮的，耀眼的 | |
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26
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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27
lark
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| n.云雀，百灵鸟；n.嬉戏，玩笑；vi.嬉戏 | |
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28
sodden
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| adj.浑身湿透的；v.使浸透；使呆头呆脑 | |
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29
fleas
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| n.跳蚤( flea的名词复数 )；爱财如命；没好气地（拒绝某人的要求） | |
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30
sniffed
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| v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说 | |
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31
unnatural
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| adj.不自然的；反常的 | |
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32
sleepers
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| n.卧铺（通常以复数形式出现）；卧车( sleeper的名词复数 )；轨枕；睡觉（呈某种状态）的人；小耳环 | |
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33
twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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34
concealment
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| n.隐藏, 掩盖，隐瞒 | |
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35
larches
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| n.落叶松（木材）( larch的名词复数 ) | |
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36
vat
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| n.(=value added tax)增值税，大桶 | |
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37
tottered
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| v.走得或动得不稳( totter的过去式和过去分词 )；踉跄；蹒跚；摇摇欲坠 | |
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38
stammered
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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