"Then why come here and persuade my rabbits to go out on Wide Patrols with you?"
"I don't persuade them. They're eager to come."
"Because of the influence of your personality. They want to feel that you're their friend."
Campion made no reply.
"Isn't that so?"
"Possibly."
"You're a distinguished rabbit. You were Woundwort's best officer. You led the assault at Nutley Copse. You did everything you could to help him take the Efrafans to destroy Hazel's warren, and you brought the survivors back to Efrafa when no one else could have done it. Do you really think that my rabbits aren't going to admire you and want to be like you?"
"They may. But as I've said, all I do is take out on Wide Patrol any rabbits who want to come."
"What for?"
"For my enjoyment and their good."
"And that's all?"
"Yes."
There was a pause. A young rabbit came up to speak to Groundsel, who dismissed him with a curt "Not now. Not now." It was Fiver who spoke next.
"You say for your 'enjoyment and their good.' Could you perhaps tell us a little more about that? What do you enjoy and what do you think does them good?"
Campion remained silent for some little time, as though meditating on his reply. When next he began to speak, it was in a relaxed, almost gentle tone, very different from his hitherto sharp, brief replies.
"To have grown up in Efrafa, to have begun by admiring Woundwort although far below his notice; then to have become an officer and after a time to realize that you were one of the few rabbits that he respected and relied upon to carry out what he wanted, even though he wasn't there himself--these are the experiences which have made me what I am, good or bad. They've made me self-reliant, able to think for myself; to think for Woundwort and act for him when he wasn't there to tell me what to do--all this has been my entire life. And now that he's gone, no one can expect me to forget his influence in a matter of months. Of course, I've realized now all he did, all he thought, that was wrong. I needn't tell it to you now."
He paused, but no one spoke, and after a little he continued.
"Bringing those survivors back, alone, from Watership to Efrafa last summer--that was the hardest thing I've ever had to do, and do without the General. It called on every particle of strength and self-reliance I'd got; it nearly killed me; and when we'd got back and I'd recovered, why wouldn't I feel proud of what I'd done? I knew then what I was capable of.
"But I didn't show it. I was half expecting to be killed by the rabbits who'd hated Woundwort and had only been held back by Vervain and by Woundwort's own authority.
"But they didn't kill me. They made me Chief Rabbit. They needed me to think for them and act for them; to dismantle Woundwort bit by bit and persuade them to keep the parts that made sense.
"There was one part that to me made more sense than all the rest put together, and that was the Wide Patrols. Woundwort always said, again and again, that rabbits didn't have to run away or to hide in holes. They could beat the elil if only they had the determination and self-confidence to do it. And to get that, they had to learn how to be wary, self-reliant, tenacious and brave. And that they learned through the Wide Patrols.
"To be taking out a Wide Patrol on a fine morning--there's nothing more wonderful in the world. To know that they trust you and want to come with you; to know there'll be danger and not to care, and to make them feel like that too. And then if danger suddenly becomes a reality, to stand up to it and either beat it or escape by using you wits. And to see your rabbits, the three or four with you on the Patrol, improving all the time, until they become fit to lead a Patrol themselves--that's all very enjoyable, I assure you. Wide Patrols make cunning trackers, swift runners and brave fighters. You know this, Groundsel. You've been an Efrafan officer and must have been on quite a few Patrols yourself."
As he paused and looked about him at his questioners, Hazel asked, "But weren't rabbits killed on these Patrols?"
"No more than we could afford to lose," answered Campion. "When I'd got Efrafa back to something like normal, last autumn, I tried to get the Wide Patrols started again, but not a rabbit would come. They said they'd had enough of what they called 'Woundwort's fancy ways.' So I had to drop it. To go on pressing them would probably have been the right way to get myself killed.
"But I still longed to take out a Wide Patrol myself. I wanted it for my own enjoyment and nothing more. But you can't do a Wide Patrol by yourself. You'd know if you'd ever tried. The mutual reliance and the comradeship aren't there.
"So I came up here to see if things were any different at Vleflain. They were. I didn't have to coax or wheedle anyone. Right from the start I had the material for three or four Patrols and more. And this is what I mean by saying it's for my enjoyment and their good. The rabbits I've taken out are far, far better for it."
"But isn't it true," persisted Hazel, "that quite a lot of rabbits have been killed or lost on these Patrols of yours?"
"I wouldn't say a lot," said Campion. "I'd say a few. And that's the price that has to be paid, of course, for all that's gained."
"Why didn't you come and speak to me first?" said Groundsel. "I'm the Chief Rabbit here, in case it's happened to escape your notice."
"Don't you talk like that to me," flashed Campion. "I remember when you were a nobody. And if you want the real answer, it's because I didn't want to ask any favors from a junior Efrafan officer."