Watership Down (62 page)

       
"At first Rowsby Woof whined and scratched at the door, but after a time he came back to the mat by the fire and lay down. El-ahrairah moved very quietly along the wall until he was behind a big metal box in the corner under the sink. There were sacks and old papers here, too, and he felt fairly sure that Rowsby Woof could not manage to see behind it. As soon as Rabscuttle had joined him, he spoke.

       
" 'O Rowsby Woof!' whispered El-ahrairah.

       
"Rowsby Woof was up in a flash.

       
" 'Fairy Wogdog!' he cried. 'Is that you I hear?'

       
" 'It is indeed,' said El-ahrairah. 'I am sorry for your disappointment, Rowsby Woof. You did not meet the Queen.'

       
" 'Alas, no,' said Rowsby Woof: and he told what had happened at the crossroads.

       
" 'Never mind,' said El-ahrairah. Do not be downhearted, Rowsby Woof. There was good reason why the Queen did not come. She received news of danger--ah, great danger, Rowsby Woof!--and avoided it in time. I myself am here at the risk of my own safety to warn you. You are lucky indeed that I am your friend, for otherwise your good master must have been stricken with mortal plague.'

       
" 'With plague?' cried Rowsby Woof. 'Oh, how, good fairy?'

       
" 'Many fairies and spirits there are in the animal kingdoms of the East,' said El-ahrairah. 'Some are friends and there are those--may misfortune strike them down--who are our deadly enemies. Worst of them all, Rowsby Woof, is the great rat spirit, the giant of Sumatra, the curse of Hamelin. He dares not openly fight our noble Queen, but he works by stealth, by poison, by disease. Soon after you left me, I learned that he has sent his hateful rat goblins through the clouds, carrying sickness. I warned the Queen; but still I remained here, Rowsby Woof, to warn you. If the sickness falls--and the goblins are very near--it will harm not you, but your master it will slay--and me, too, I fear. You can save him, and you alone. I cannot.'

       
" 'Oh, horror!' cried Rowsby Woof. 'There is no time to be lost! What must I do, Fairy Wogdog?'

       
" 'The sickness works by a spell,' said El-ahrairah. 'But if a real dog of flesh and blood could run four times round the house, barking as loudly as he could, then the spell would be broken and the sickness would have no power. But alas! I forgot! You are shut in, Rowsby Woof. What is to be done? I fear that all is lost!'

       
" 'No, no!' said Rowsby Woof. 'I will save you, Fairy Wogdog, and my dear master, too. Leave it to me!'

       
"Rowsby Woof began to bark. He barked to raise the dead. The windows shook. The coal fell in the grate. The noise was terrifying. They could hear the man upstairs, shouting and cursing. Still Rowsby Woof barked. The man came stamping down. He flung open the window and listened for thieves, but he could hear nothing, partly because there was nothing to hear and partly because of the ceaseless barking. At last he picked up his gun, flung open the door and went cautiously out to see what was the matter. Out shot Rowsby Woof, bellowing like a bull, land tore around the house. The man followed him at a run, leaving the door wide.

       
" 'Quick!' said El-ahrairah. 'Quicker than Wogdog from the Tartar's bow! Come on!'

       
"El-ahrairah and Rabscuttle dashed into the garden and disappeared through the laurels. In the field beyond they paused for a moment. From behind came the sounds of yelping and woofing, mixed with shouts and angry cries of 'Come 'ere, damn you!'

       
" 'Noble fellow,' said El-ahrairah. 'He has saved his master, Rabscuttle. He has saved us all. Let us go home and sleep sound in our burrow.'

       
"For the rest of his life Rowsby Woof never forgot the night when he had waited for the great Dog Queen. True, it was a disappointment, but this, he felt, was a small matter, compared with the recollection of his own noble conduct and of how he had saved both his master and the good fairy Wogdog from the wicked rat spirit."

42.
   
News at Sunset

You will be sure to prove that the act is unjust and hateful to the gods?

Yes, indeed, Socrates; at least, if they will listen to me.

Plato,
Euthyphro

As he came to the end of his story, Dandelion remembered that he was supposed to be relieving Acorn as sentry. The post was a little way away, near the eastern corner of the wood, and Hazel--who wanted to see how Boxwood and Speedwell were getting on with a hole they were digging--went with Dandelion along the foot of the bank. He was just going down the new hole when he noticed that some small creature was pattering about in the grass. It was the mouse that he had saved from the kestrel. Pleased to see that he was still safe and sound, Hazel turned back to have a word with him. The mouse recognized him and sat up, washing his face with his front paws and chattering effusively.

       
"Is a good a days, a hot a days. You like? Plenty for eata, keepa warm is a no trouble. Down in a bottom a hill is a harvest. I go for a corn a, but is a long a way. I tink a you go away, is a not a long a you come a back, yes?"

       
"Yes," said Hazel, "a lot of us went away, but we found what we were looking for and now we've come back for good."

       
"Is a good. Is a lots of rabbits a now, keepa grass a short."

       
"What difference does it make to him if the grass is short?" said Bigwig, who, with Blackavar, was lolloping and nibbling close by. "He doesn't eat it."

       
"Is a good a for get about, you know?" said the mouse in a familiar tone which made Bigwig shake his ears with irritation. "Is a run along the queek--but is a no seeds a from a short a grass. Now is a warren a here and now a today is a new a rabbits a come, soon is another warren a more. New rabbits is a your friends a too?"

       
"Yes, yes, all friends," said Bigwig, turning away. "There was something I wanted to say, Hazel, about the newborn rabbits, when they're ready to come above ground."

       
Hazel, however, had remained where he was, looking intently at the mouse.

       
"Wait a moment, Bigwig," he said. "What did you say, mouse, about another warren? Where is there going to be another warren?"

       
The mouse was surprised. "You not a know? Not a your friends?"

       
"I don't know until you tell me. What did you mean about new rabbits and another warren soon?" His tone was urgent and inquisitive.

       
The mouse became nervous and, after the manner of his kind, began to say what he thought the rabbits would like to hear.

       
"Maybe is a no warren. Is a plenty good a rabbits 'ere, is all a my friends. Is a no more rabbits. Not a for want other rabbits."

       
"But what other rabbits?" persisted Hazel.

       
"No, sir. No, sir, no other rabbits, is a not a go for soon a rabbits, all stay 'ere are my friends, a save a me a very good a my life, zen 'ow can I if a she mek me?" twittered the mouse.

       
Hazel considered this lot briefly, but it beat him.

       
"Oh, come on, Hazel," said Bigwig. "Let the poor little beast alone. I want to talk to you."

       
Hazel ignored him. Going close to the mouse, he bent his head and spoke quietly and firmly.

       
"You've often said you're our friend," he said. "If you are, tell me, and don't be afraid, what you know about other rabbits coming."

       
The mouse looked confused. Then he said, "I not see other rabbits, sir, but a my brother 'e say yellowhammer say is a new rabbits, plenty, plenty rabbits, come to combe over on a morning side. Maybe is a lots a rubbish. I tell you a wrong, you no like a mouse for more, not a friend a more."

       
"No, that's all right," said Hazel. "Don't worry. Just tell me again. Where did the bird say these new rabbits were?"

       
" 'E say is a come just a now on a morning side. I not a see."

       
"Good fellow," said Hazel. "That's very helpful." He turned back to the others. "What d'you make of this, Bigwig?" he asked.

       
"Not much," answered Bigwig. "Long-grass rumors. These little creatures say anything and change it five times a day. Ask him again fu Inlé--he'll tell you something else."

       
"If you're right, then I'm wrong and we can all forget it," said Hazel. "But I'm going to get to the bottom of this. Someone must go and see. I'd go myself, but I've got no speed with this leg."

       
"Well, leave it for tonight, anyway," said Bigwig. "We can--"

       
"Someone must go and see," repeated Hazel firmly. "A good patroller, too. Blackavar, go and get Holly for me, will you?"

       
"I'm here, as it happens," said Holly, who had come along the top of the bank while Hazel was speaking. "What's the trouble, Hazel-rah?"

       
"There's a rumor of strangers on the down, on the morning side," replied Hazel, "and I wish I knew more. Can you and Blackavar run over that way--say, as far as the top of the combe--and find out what's going on?"

       
"Yes, of course, Hazel-rah," said Holly. "If there really are some other rabbits there, we'd better bring them back with us, hadn't we? We could do with a few more."

       
"It depends who they are," said Hazel. "That's what I want to find out. Go at once, Holly, will you? Somehow it worries me not to know."

       
Holly and Blackavar had hardly set off when Speedwell appeared above ground. He had an excited, triumphant look which attracted everyone's attention immediately. He squatted in front of Hazel and looked round him in silence, to make sure of his effect.

       
"You've finished the hole?" asked Hazel.

       
"Never mind the hole," answered Speedwell. "I didn't come up to say that. Clover's had her litter. All good, healthy kittens. Three bucks and three does, she says."

       
"You'd better go up in the beech tree and sing that," said Hazel. "See that everybody knows! But tell them not to go crowding down disturbing her."

       
"I shouldn't think they would," said Bigwig. "Who'd be a kitten again, or even want to see one--blind and deaf and no fur?"

       
"Some of the does may want to see them," said Hazel. "They're excited, you know. But we don't want Clover disturbed into eating them or anything miserable like that."

       
"It looks as though we really are going to live a natural life again at last, doesn't it?" said Bigwig, as they browsed their way along the bank. "What a summer it's been! I keep dreaming I'm back in Efrafa, you know; but it'll pass off, I suppose. One thing I brought back out of that place, though, and that's the value of keeping a warren hidden. As we get bigger, Hazel, we ought to take care of that. We'll do better than Efrafa, though. When we've reached the right size, rabbits can be encouraged to leave."

       
"Well, don't
you
leave," said Hazel, "or I'll tell Kehaar to bring you back by the scruff of the neck. I'm relying on you to produce us a really good Owsla."

       
"It's certainly something to look forward to," said Bigwig. "Take a pack of young fellows across to the farm and chase the cats out of the barn to get an appetite. Well, it'll come. I say, this grass is as dry as horsehair on barbed wire, isn't it? What about a run down the hill to the fields--just you and I and Fiver? Corn's been cut, you know, and there should be good pickings. I expect they're going to burn off the field, but they haven't done it yet."

       
"No, we must wait a bit," said Hazel. "I want to hear what Holly and Blackavar have to say when they come in."

       
"That needn't keep you long," replied Bigwig. "Here they come already, unless I'm much mistaken. Straight down the open track, too! Not bothered about keeping hidden, are they? What a rate they're going!"

       
"There's something wrong," said Hazel, staring at the approaching rabbits.

       
Holly and Blackavar reached the long shadow of the wood at top speed, as though they were being pursued. The watchers expected them to slow down as they came to the bank, but they kept straight on and appeared actually to be going to run underground. At the last moment Holly stopped, looked about him and stamped twice. Blackavar disappeared down the nearest hole. At the stamping, all the rabbits above ground ran for cover.

       
"Here, wait a minute," said Hazel, pushing past Pipkin and Hawkbit as they came across the grass. "Holly, what's the alarm? Tell us something, instead of stamping the place to pieces. What's happened?"