there. They feel they can-Oh, great Frith!'
As he spoke a tawny shape, dog-like, sprang out of the overhanging nut bushes as silently as light from behind a cloud. It landed between the two does, grabbed one by the neck and dragged her up the bank in a flash. The wind veered and the reek of fox came over the grass. With stamping and flashing of tails every rabbit on the slope dashed for cover.
Hazel and Bluebell found themselves crouched with Blackavar. The Efrafan was matter-of-fact and detached.
'Poor little beast,' he said. 'You see, their instincts are weakened by life in the Mark. Fancy feeding under bushes on the windward side of a wood! Never mind, Hazel-rah, these things happen. But look, I tell you what. Unless there are two hombil, which would be very bad luck, we've got till ni-Frith at least to get away. That homba won't be hunting any more for some time. I suggest we all move on as soon as we can.'
With a word of agreement, Hazel went out to call the rabbits together. They made a scattered but swift run to the northeast, along the edge of a field of ripening wheat. No one spoke of the doe. They had covered more than three quarters of a mile before Bigwig and Hazel halted to rest and to make sure that no one had fallen behind. Blackavar came up with Hyzenthlay, Bigwig said,
'You told us how it would be, didn't you? And I was the one who wouldn't listen.'
'Told you?' said Blackavar. 'I don't understand.'
'That there was likely to be a fox.'
'I don't remember, I'm afraid. But I don't see that any of us could possibly have known. Anyway, what's a doe more or less?'
Bigwig looked at him in astonishment, but Blackavar, apparently unconcerned either to stress what he had said or to break off the talk, simply began to nibble the grass. Bigwig, puzzled moved away and himself began to feed a little distance off, with Hyzenthlay and Hazel.
'What's he getting at?' he asked after a while. 'You were all there when he warned us, two nights ago, that there was likely to be a fox. I treated him badly.'
'In Efrafa,' said Hyzenthlay, 'if a rabbit gave advice and the advice wasn't accepted, he immediately forgot it and so did everyone else. Blackavar thought what Hazel decided; and whether it turned out later to be right or wrong was all the same. His own advice had never been given.'
'I can believe that,' said Bigwig. 'Efrafa! Ants led by a dog! But we're not in Efrafa now. Has he really forgotten that he warned us?'
'Probably he really has. But whether or not, you'd never get him to admit that he warned you or to listen while you told him he'd been right. He could no more do that than pass hraka underground.'
'But you're an Efrafan. Do you think like that, too?'
'I'm a doe,' said Hyzenthlay.
During the early afternoon they began to approach the Belt and Bigwig was the first to recognize the place where Dandelion had told the story of the Black Rabbit of Inle.
'It was the same fox, you know,' he said to Hazel. 'That's almost certain. I ought to have realized how likely it was that-'
'Look here,' said Hazel, 'you know very well what we owe to you. The does all think El-ahrairah sent you to get them out of Efrafa. They believe no one else could have done it. As for what happened this morning, it was my fault as much as yours. But I never supposed we
They were coming to a thicket of juniper and dog roses, tangled at ground level with nettles and trails of bryony on which the berries were now beginning to ripen and turn red. As they stopped to pick a line into the undergrowth, four big rabbits appeared out of the long grass and sat looking down at them. One of the does, coming up the slope a little way behind, stamped and turned to bolt. They heard Blackavar check her sharply.
'Well, why don't you answer his question, Thlayli?' said one of the rabbits. 'Who am I?'
There was a pause. Then Hazel spoke.
'I can see they're Efrafans because they're marked,' he said. 'Is that Woundwort?'
'No,' said Blackavar, at his shoulder. 'That's Captain Campion.'
'I see,' said Hazel. 'Well, I've heard of you, Campion. I don't know whether you mean us any harm, but the best thing you can do is to let well alone. As far as we're concerned, our dealings with Efrafa are finished.'
'You may think that,' replied Campion, 'but you'll find it's otherwise. That doe behind you must come with us; and so must any others that are with you.'
As he spoke, Silver and Acorn appeared lower down the slope, followed by Thethuthinnang. After a glance at the Efrafans, Silver spoke quickly to Thethuthinnang, who slipped back through the burdocks. Then he came up to Hazel.
'I've sent for the white bird, Hazel,' he said quietly.
As a piece of bluff it was effective. They saw Campion look upward nervously and another of the patrol glanced back to the cover of the bushes.
'What you're saying is stupid,' said Hazel to Campion. 'There are a lot of us here and unless you've got more rabbits than I can see, we're too many for you.'
Campion hesitated. The truth was that for once in his life he had acted rashly. He had seen Hazel and Bigwig approaching, with Blackavar and one doe behind them. In his eagerness to have something really worthwhile to show on his return to the Council, he had jumped to the conclusion that they were alone. The Efrafans usually kept fairly close together in the open and it had not occurred to Campion that other rabbits might straggle more widely. He had seen a golden opportunity to attack-perhaps kill-the detestable Thlayli and Blackavar, together with their one companion-who seemed to be lame-and bring the doe back to the Council. This he could certainly have done; and he had decided to confront rather than ambush them, in the hope that the bucks would surrender without fighting. But now, as more rabbits began to appear in ones and twos, he realized that he had made a mistake.
'I have a great many more rabbits,' he said. 'The does must stay here. The rest of you can go. Otherwise we shall kill you.'
'Very well,' said Hazel. 'Bring your whole patrol into the open and we'll do as you say.'
By this time a considerable number of rabbits was coming up the slope. Campion and his patrol looked at them in silence but made no move.
'You'd better stay where you are,' said Hazel at length. 'If you try to interfere with us it will be the worse for you. Silver and Blackberry, take the does and go on. The rest of us will join you.'
'Hazel-rah,' whispered Blackavar, 'the patrol must be killed-all of them. They mustn't report back to the General.'
This had also occurred to Hazel. But as he thought of the dreadful fight and the four Efrafans actually torn to pieces-for that was what it would mean-he could not find it in his heart to do it. Like Bigwig, he felt a reluctant liking for Campion. Besides, it would take some doing. Quite probably some of his own rabbits would be killed- certainly wounded. They would not reach the Honeycomb that night and they would leave a fresh blood trail wherever they went. Apart from his dislike of the whole idea, there were disadvantages that might be fatal.
'No, we'll let them alone,' he replied firmly.
Blackavar was silent and they sat watching Campion as the last of the does disappeared through the bushes.
'Now,' said Hazel, 'take your patrol and go the same way that you saw us come. Don't speak-go.'
Campion and the patrol made off downhill and Hazel, relieved to be rid of them so easily, hurried after Silver, with the others close behind.
Once through the Belt, they made excellent progress. After the rest of a day and a half the does were in good shape. The promise of an end to the journey that night and the thought that they had escaped both the fox and the patrol made them eager and responsive. The only cause of delay was Blackavar, who seemed uneasy and kept hanging about in the rear. At last, in the late afternoon, Hazel sent for him and told him to go ahead, on the line of the path they were following, and look out for the long strip of the beech hanger in the dip on the morning side. Blackavar had not been gone very long before he came racing back.
