Full of elation and confidence, all his terrors forgotten, Hazel crawled over to Pipkin and together they slipped into the undergrowth. He said nothing and Pipkin did not seem to expect him to speak. From the shelter of a clump of purple loosestrife they looked back at the river.
The water came out from the bridge into a second pool. All round, on both banks, trees and undergrowth grew close. There was a kind of swamp here and it was hard to tell where water ended and woodland began. Plants grew in clumps both in and out of the muddy shallows. The bottom was covered with fine silt and mud that was half water and in this the two rabbits had made furrows as they dragged themselves to shore. Running diagonally across the pool, from the brickwork of the bridge near the opposite bank to a point a little below them on their own side, was a grating of thin, vertical iron rods. In the cutting season the river weed, drifting in tangled mats from the fishing reaches above, was held against this grating and raked out of the pool by men in waders, who piled it to be used as compost. The left bank was a great rubbish-heap of rotting weed among the trees. It was a green, rank-smelling place, humid and enclosed.
'Good old Kehaar!' said Hazel, gazing with satisfaction round the foetid solitude, 'I should have trusted him.'
As he spoke, a third rabbit came swimming out from under the bridge. The sight of him, struggling in the current like a fly in a spider's web, filled them both with fear. To watch another in danger can be almost as bad as sharing it. The rabbit fetched up against the grating, drifted a little way along it, found the bottom and crawled out of the turbid water. It was Blackavar. He lay on his side and seemed unaware of Hazel and Pipkin when they came up to him. After a little while, however, he began to cough, vomited some water and sat up.
'Are you all right?' asked Hazel.
'More or less,' said Blackavar. 'But have we got to do much more tonight, sir? I'm very tired.'
'No, you can rest here,' said Hazel. 'But why did you risk it on your own? We might already have gone under for all you knew.'
'I thought you gave an order,' replied Blackavar.
'I see,' said Hazel. 'Well, at that rate you're going to find us a sloppy lot, I'm afraid. Was there anyone else who looked like coming when you jumped in?'
'I think they're a bit nervous,' answered Blackavar. 'You can't blame them.'
'No, but the trouble is that anything can happen,' said Hazel, fretting. 'They may all go tharn, sitting there. The men may come back. If only we could tell them it's all right -'
'I think we can, sir,' said Blackavar. 'Unless I'm wrong, it's only a matter of slipping up the bank there and down the other side. Shall I go?'
Hazel was disco
ncerted. From what he had gathered, this was a disgraced prisoner from Efrafa - not even a member of the Owsla, apparently: and he had just said that he felt exhausted. He was going to take some living up to.
'We'll both go,' he said. 'Hlao-roo, can you stay here and keep a look-out? With any luck, they'll start coming through to you. Help them if you can.'
Hazel and Blackavar slipped through the dripping undergrowth. The grass track which crossed the bridge ran above them, at the top of a steep bank. They climbed the bank and looked out cautiously from the long grass at the verge. The track was empty and there was nothing to be heard or smelt. They crossed it and reached the end of the bridge on the upstream side. Here the bank dropped almost sheer to the river, some six feet below. Blackavar scrambled down without hesitation, but Hazel followed more slowly. Just above the bridge, between it and a thorn-bush upstream, was a ledge of turf which overhung the water. Out in the river, a few feet away, the punt lay against the weedy piers.
'Silver!' said Hazel, 'Fiver! Come on, get them into the water. It's all right below the bridge. Get the does in first, if you can. There's no time to lose. The men may come back.'
It was no easy matter to rouse the torpid, bewildered does and make them understand what they had to do. Silver went from one to another. Dandelion, as soon as he saw Hazel on the bank, went at once to the bow and plunged in. Speedwell followed, but as Fiver was about to go Silver stopped him.
'If all our bucks go, Hazel,' he said, 'the does will be left alone and I don't think they'll manage it.'
'They'll obey Thlayli, sir,' said Blackavar, before Hazel could reply. 'I think he's the one to get them started.'
Bigwig was still lying in the bilge water, in the place he had taken up when they came to the first bridge. He seemed to be asleep, but when Silver nuzzled him he raised his head and looked about in a dazed manner.
'Oh, hullo, Silver,' he said. 'I'm afraid this shoulder of mine's going to be a bother. I feel awfully cold, too. Where's Hazel?'
Silver explained. Bigwig got up with difficulty and they saw that he was still bleeding. He limped to the thwart and climbed on it.
'Hyzenthlay,' he said, 'your friends can't be any wetter, so we'll get them to jump in now. One by one, don't you think? Then there'll be no risk of them scratching or hurting each other as they swim.'
In spite of what Blackavar had said, it was a long time before everyone had left the boat. There were in fact ten does altogether - though none of the rabbits knew the number - and although one or two responded to Bigwig's patient urging, several were so much exhausted that they remained huddled where they were, or looked stupidly at the water until others were brought to take their place. From time to time Bigwig would ask one of the bucks to give a lead and in this way Acorn, Hawkbit and Bluebell all scrambled over the side. The injured doe, Thrayonlosa, was clearly in a bad way and Blackberry and Thethuthinnang swam through together, one in front of her and one behind.
As darkness closed in the rain stopped. Hazel and Blackavar went back to the bank of the pool below the bridge. The sky cleared and the oppression lifted as the thunder moved away eastwards. But it was fu Inle before Bigwig himself came through the bridge with Silver and Fiver. It was much as ever he could keep afloat and when he reached the grating he rolled over in the water, belly uppermost, like a dying fish. He drifted into the shallows and, with Silver's help, pulled himself out. Hazel and several of the others were waiting for him, but he cut them short with a flash of his old, bullying manner.
'Come on, get out of the way,' he said,' I'm going to sleep now, Hazel, and Frith help you if you say I'm not.'
'That's how we go on, you see,' said Hazel to the staring Blackavar. 'You'll get used to it after a bit. Now, let's look for somewhere dry that no one else has found and then perhaps we can sleep too.'
Every dry spot among the undergrowth seemed to be crowded with exhausted, sleeping rabbits. After searching for a time they found a fallen tree-trunk, from the under side of which the bark had pulled away. They crept beneath the twigs and leaves, settled themselves in the smooth, curved trough - which soon took on some of the warmth of their bodies - and slept at once.
40. The Way Back