"Mother died. She just pined away, and after she'd gone we all began to feel even more desperate. I was the one with the best chance, because I was the girl's favorite and got lifted out of the hutch more than the others. And it was at one of these times, when she'd lifted me out, that I saw there was a hole in the wall--a hole at floor level. There was a man who used to scrub the floor--it was a smooth, hard floor--with a stiff broom, and he used to brush the dirty water out through that hole. I noticed carefully whereabouts it was.
"One day, not long ago, the two girls lifted me out to show a friend, another girl. And as near as I could make out, this other girl was begging to be allowed to hold me just for a few moments. She was older than the other two, and they didn't like to refuse her.
"The girl who was holding me was just passing me across to the bigger girl, when somehow or other she fumbled, and I felt that my back legs were free. I gave a tremendous backward kick and felt my claws tear this girl's bare arm all the way up. She screamed, and I just leaped and landed on the floor. The girls tried to grab me, but I scrambled away and ran like mad for the drain hole. I went straight through it and found myself in a yard.
"I had no idea which way to go. I simply ran. I was lucky. I got out of the yard and found myself in a field full of big animals. You call them cows, don't you? I ran across that and got into a lot of trees, and there I hid all night. No other animals troubled me, and now, of course, I know why.
"I wandered about, feeding and hiding, for quite a few days, and one night I met a hedgehog who didn't seem to mind the way I smelled. The hedgehog told me there were a lot of rabbits who lived up the hill. I stayed near him that night, and as soon as it began to get light I asked him the way. He said, 'Straight up the hill,' so up I went.
"I was just settling down for a rest in the grass at the top, when these rabbits--your rabbits, aren't they?--found me and sniffed me over. Then they all set upon me. I fought as hard as I could, but naturally the four of them got me down. They kept crying out, 'Kill him! Kill him!' and they would have killed me, sure enough, if you hadn't come and saved me.
"What's going to happen now? Are some other rabbits going to kill me? Are you going to kill me?"
"No," said Hazel. "Hyzenthlay and I will see to that. You're safe here. But for the moment you must stay in this burrow. Don't go out on any account. One of us will stay with you today."
"But whatever are we going to do with him?" asked Hyzenthlay. "You know the rabbit lore. The warren will never accept him."
"I know," replied Hazel, "but I'm not going to let him be killed--not if I can help it. Now I've heard his story, I'm entirely on his side."
"Then he'll have to stay here, in your burrow. He won't be safe anywhere else. And if we make him go away, he'll be quite helpless on his own against the elil."
"I know. I don't know what to do any more than you. But he'll have to eat, of course. I'll silflay with him myself after dark, when there's no one else about. You go back to the other rabbits now and try to find out whether any of them are ready to accept him. Talk to Bigwig. And Fiver too, if you can."
Hyzenthlay went. Hazel remained all day with Stonecrop, who seemed exhausted and slept most of the time. No other rabbits came to the burrow, until Hyzenthlay returned that evening.
/> "I'm afraid it's a bad lookout, Hazelrah," she said. "Peerton and his friends have been telling everyone about Stonecrop and saying that not to kill him in accordance with custom would bring bad luck down on the warren. I haven't been able to find anyone, except Vilthuril and Thethuthinnang, who'd listen to me at all. Even Bigwig was very doubtful. He wouldn't say that you were right."
As soon as it was dark, the two of them took Stonecrop to silflay on the Down. He was not used to eating grass and in any case was too afraid and apprehensive to make much of a feed. In all manner of small respects and behavior he showed that he was different from normal wild rabbits and had not their ways. Hazel, noting this, felt close to despair on his behalf. He would probably never become a wild rabbit--not in months. However, he said nothing of this but only tried his best to encourage Stonecrop and make him feel that at any rate he had two friends. They got back to the burrow without meeting anyone.
Next morning, Fiver came to see them and in particular "to get an idea" of Stonecrop, as he put it. He said nothing about the smell but spent a long time talking to Stonecrop, who evidently liked him and was drawn out to become more warm and responsive than he had been since coming to the warren.
"But what are we going to do, Fiver?" asked Hazel, as Fiver settled down beside Stonecrop and seemed to be making himself comfortable and ready to stay.
"I don't know," replied Fiver, "but just give me time, give me some time, Hazel. You're always so impatient."
"Well, you'd be impatient if you had to sit here and feel the whole warren seething at your back," said Hazel. "It's the first time I've ever felt that they weren't with me. I don't like it."
Fiver joined them that night on the silflay after dark, and had evidently gained Stonecrop's confidence to the extent of feeling able to correct and advise him about some of his ways which differed from those of wild rabbits.
"Cheer up," he said. "We've got two or three rabbits that we helped escape from a hutch last summer, and they've managed to live here all right. Of course, things were different then. We were desperate for does at any cost, and these rabbits didn't smell of men nearly so strongly as you. But you'll be all right, don't worry." And with that he went to sleep for the night.
On the following morning Bigwig unexpectedly came into the burrow, and at once recoiled from Stonecrop's smell.
"Frith on a hrududu! Hazel," he said, "I'd no idea it would be so strong. How can you stand it?"
"I hope you've come to give me some advice," said Hazel, who felt really glad to see him. "I've missed you this last day or two."
"Well, I will give you some advice," answered Bigwig, "but you won't like it. Hazelrah, the plain truth is that you can't hope to get this rabbit accepted in the warren. It's quite out of the question. Our rabbits simply won't have him, not for any inducement you can offer. Peerton and his friends have already seen to that. But even without Peerton, I don't believe they'd ever have accepted him. I mean, it's flying in the face of Nature, Hazel. I don't think El-ahrairah himself could get him accepted--and that's assuming he wanted to, which I don't believe he would. A rabbit who smells of Man has got to be killed, and that's been the way of it everywhere, time out of mind."
Hazel said nothing, and after a pause Bigwig went on: "But I'm afraid it's more serious than that, Hazel. The plain truth is that your position as Chief Rabbit is in real danger. Your authority's leaking away drop by drop as long as they don't see you, as long as they know you're holed up here with this accursed rabbit. Whatever you're up to, you've got to drop it, or else you'll be in bad trouble--worse than Flyairth, I reckon. You simply can't afford to go on like this. For all our sakes, for the sake of the whole warren, give it up, now!"
Hazel still remained silent, and it was Fiver who spoke next.
"I'll tell you the thing to do, Hazel. Take Stonecrop to the new warren and ask Groundsel to have him. That's the answer, take it from me."
"But that's just plain stupid, Fiver," said Bigwig impatiently. "Groundsel's rabbits won't have him any more than our rabbits here."
"Yes, they will," answered Fiver calmly.