He was well out into the great field and looking for a sight of the distant arch when he felt along the ground the first stamping thuds of the alarm. He pulled up and looked about him. There did not seem to be any stragglers. The does - however many there were - were well up with him, but scattered to either side. Rabbits in flight tend to keep away from each other and the does had opened out as they left the hole. If there was a patrol between him and the iron road they would not get past it without loss unless they came closer together. He would have to collect them, despite the delay. Then another thought came to him. If they could get out of sight, their pursuers might be puzzled, for the rain and the failing light would make tracking difficult.
The rain was falling faster now and the wind was rising. Over on the evening side, a hedge ran down the length of the field towards the iron road. He saw Blackavar near-by and ran across to him.
'I want everyone the other side of that hedge,' he said. 'Can you get hold of some of them and bring them that way?'
Bigwig remembered that Blackavar knew nothing except that they were on the' run. There was no time to explain about Hazel and the river.
'Go straight to that ash tree in the hedge,' he said, 'and take all the does you can pick up on the way. Get through to the other side and I'll be there as soon as you are.'
At this moment Hyzenthlay and Thethuthinnang came running towards them, followed by two or three other does. They were plainly confused and uncertain.
'The stamping, Thlayli!' panted Thethuthinnang. 'They're coming!'
'Well, run, then,' said Bigwig. 'Keep near me, all of you.'
They were better runners than he had dared to hope. As they made for the ash tree, more does fell in with them and it seemed to him that they ought now to be a match for a patrol, unless it were a very strong one. Once through the hedge he turned south and, keeping close beside it, led them down the slope. There, ahead of him, was the arch in the overgrown embankment. But would Hazel be there? And where was Kehaar?
'Well, and what was to happen after that, Nelthilta?' asked General Woundwort. 'Make sure you tell us everything, because we know a good deal already. Let her alone, Vervain,' he added. 'She can't talk if you keep cuffing her, you fool.'
'Hyzenthlay said - oh! oh! - she said a big bird would attack the Owsla sentries,' gasped Nelthilta,' and we would run away in the confusion. And then -'
'She said a bird would attack the sentries?' interrupted Woundwort, puzzled. 'Are you telling the truth? What sort of a bird?'
'I don't - I don't know,' panted Nelthilta. 'The new officer - she said he had told the bird -'
'What do you know about a bird?' said Woundwort, turning to Chervil.
'I reported it
, sir,' replied Chervil. 'You'll not forget, sir, that I reported the bird -'
There was a scuffling outside the crowded Council burrow and Avens came pushing his way in.
'The new officer, sir!' he cried, 'He's gone! Taken a crowd of the Mark does with him. Jumped on Bartsia and broke his leg, sir! Blackavar's cut and run too. We never had a chance to stop them. Goodness knows how many have joined him. Thlayli - it's Thayli's doing!'
'Thlayli?' cried Woundwort. 'Embleer Frith, I'll blind him when I catch him! Chervil, Vervain, Avens - yes and 'you two as well - come with me. Which way has he gone?'
'He was going downhill, sir,' answered Avens.
'Lead the way you saw him take,' said Woundwort.
As they came out from the Crixa, two or three of the Efrafan officers checked at the sight of the murky light and increasing rain. But the sight of the General was more alarming still. Pausing only to stamp the escape alarm, they set out behind him towards the iron road.
Very soon they came upon traces of blood which the rain had not yet washed away, and these they followed towards the ash tree in the hedge to the west of the warren.
Bigwig came out from the farther side of the railway arch, sat up and looked round him. There was no sign either of Hazel or of Kehaar. For the first time since he had attacked Bartsia he began to feel uncertain and troubled. Perhaps, after all, Kehaar had not understood his cryptic message that morning? Or had some disaster overtaken Hazel and the rest? If they were dead - scattered - if there was no one left alive to meet him? He and his does would wander about the fields until the patrols hunted them down.
'No, it shan't come to that,' said Bigwig to himself. 'At the worst we can cross the river and try to hide in the woodland. Confound this shoulder! It's going to be more nuisance than I thought. Well, I'll try to get them down to the plank bridge at least. If we're not overtaken soon, perhaps the rain will discourage whoever's after us; but I doubt it.'
He turned back to the does waiting under the arch. Most of them looked bewildered. Hyzenthlay had promised that they were to be protected by a great bird and that the new officer was going to work a secret trick to evade the pursuit - a trick which would defeat even the General. These things had not happened. They were wet through. Runnels of water were trickling through the arch from the uphill side, and the bare earth was beginning to turn into mud. Ahead of them, there was nothing to be seen but a track leading through the nettles into another wide and empty field.
'Come on,' said Bigwig. 'It's not far now and then we'll all be safe. This way.'
All the rabbits obeyed him at once. There was something to be said for Efrafan discipline, thought Bigwig grimly, as they left the arch and met the force of the rain.
Along one side of the field, beside the elms, farm tractors had pounded a broad, flat path downhill towards the water-meadow below - that same path up which he had run three nights before, after he had left Hazel by the boat. It was turning muddy now - unpleasant going for rabbits - but at least it led straight to the river and was open enough for Kehaar to spot them if he should turn up.
He had just begun to run once more when a rabbit overtook him.