'This particular garden was bigger than any of the others round about. The man who worked in it lived in a house at one end and he used to dig or cut great quantities of vegetables, put them into a hrududu and drive them away. He had put wire all round the garden to keep rabbits out. All the same, El-ahrairah could usually find a way in if he wanted to: but it was dangerous, because the man had a gun and often shot jays and pigeons and hung them up.
' "It isn't only the gun we'd be risking, either," said El-ahrairah thinking it over. "We'd have to keep an eye open for that confounded Rowsby Woof as well."
'Now Rowsby Woof was the man's dog; and he was the most objectionable, malicious, disgusting brute that ever licked a man's hand. He was a big, woolly sort of animal with hair all over his eyes and the man kept him to guard the vegetable garden, especially at night. Rowsby Woof, of course, did not eat vegetables himself and anyone might have thought that he would be ready to let a few hungry animals have a lettuce or a carrot now and then and no questions asked. But not a bit of it. Rowsby Woof used to run loose from evening till dawn the next day: and not content with keeping men and boys out of the garden, he would go for any animals he found there - rats, rabbits, hares, mice, even moles - and kill them if he could. The moment he smelt anything in the nature of an intruder he would start barking and kicking up a shine, although very often it was only this foolish noise which warned a rabbit and enabled him to get away in time. Rowsby Woof was reckoned to be a tremendous ratter and his master had boasted about this skill of his so often and showed him off so much, that he had become revoltingly conceited. He believed himself to be the finest ratter in the world. He ate a lot of raw meat (but not in the evening, because he was left hungry at night to keep him active) and this made it rather easier to smell him coming. But even so, he made the garden a dangerous place.
' "Well, let's chance Rowsby Woof for once," said Rabscuttle. "I reckon you and I ought to be able to give him the slip if we have to."
'El-ahrairah and Rabscuttle made their way across the fields to the outskirts of the garden. When they got there, the first thing they saw was the man himself, with a white stick burning away in his mouth, cutting row after row of frosted cabbages. Rowsby Woof was with him, wagging his tail and jumping about in a ridiculous manner. After a time the man piled as many of the cabbages as he could into a wheel-thing and pushed them away to the house. He came back several times and when he had taken all the cabbages to the door of the house he began carrying them inside.
' "What's he doing that for?" asked Rabscuttle.
' "I suppose he wants to get the frost out of them tonight," replied El-ahrairah, "before he takes them away in the hrududu tomorrow."
' "They'd be much better to eat with the frost out of them, wouldn't they?" said Rabscuttle. "I wish we could get at them while they're in there. Still, never mind. Now's our chance. Let's see what we can do up this end of the garden while he's busy down there."
'But hardly had they crossed the top of the garden and got among the cabbages than Rowsby Woof had winded them and down he came, barking and yelping, and they were lucky to get out in time.
' "Dirty little beasts," shouted Rowsby Woof. "How - how! How-how dare you come snou - snou - snouting round here? Get out - out! Out - out!"
' "Contemptible brute!" said El-ahrairah, as they scurried back to the warren with nothing to show for all their trouble. "He's really annoyed me. I don't know yet how it's going to be done, but by Frith and Inle! before this frost thaws, we'll eat his cabbages inside the house and make him look a fool into the bargain."
' "That's saying too much, master," said Rabscuttle. "A pity to throw your life away for a cabbage,
after all we've done together."
' "Well, I shall be watching my chance," said El-ahrairah. "I shall just be watching my chance, that's all."
'The following afternoon Rabscuttle was out, nosing along the top of the bank beside the lane, when a hrududu came by. It had doors at the back and these doors had somehow come open and were swinging about as the hrududu went along. There were things wrapped up in bags like the ones men sometimes leave about the fields; and as the hrududu passed Rabscuttle, one of these bags fell out into the lane. When the hrududu had gone Rabscuttle, who hoped that the bag might have something to eat inside, slipped down into the lane to have a sniff at it. But he was disappointed to find that all it contained was some kind of meat. Later, he told El-ahrairah about his disappointment.
' "Meat?" said El-ahrairah. "Is it still there?"
' "How should I know?" said Rabscuttle. "Beastly stuff."
' "Come with me," said El-ahrairah. "Quickly, too."
'When they got to the lane the meat was still there. El-ahrairah dragged the bag into the ditch and they buried it.
' "But what good will this be to us, master?" said Rabscuttle.
' "I don't know yet," said El-ahriarah. "But some good it will surely be, if the rats don't get it. Come home now, though. It's getting dark."
'As they were going home, they came on an old, black wheel-covering thrown away from a hrududu, lying in the ditch. If you've ever seen these things, you'll know that they're something like a huge fungus - smooth and very strong, but pad-like and yielding too. They smell unpleasant and are no good to eat.
' "Come on," said El-ahrairah immediately. "We have to gnaw off a good chunk of this. I need it."
'Rabscuttle wondered whether his master was going mad, but he did as he was told. The stuff had grown fairly rotten and before long they were able to gnaw off a lump about as big as a rabbit's head. It tasted dreadful, but El-ahrairah carried it carefully back to the warren. He spent a lot of time that night nibbling at it and after morning silflay the next day he continued. About ni-Frith he woke Rabscuttle, made him come outside and put the lump in front of him.
' "What does that look like?" he said. "Never mind the smell. What does it look like?"
'Rabscuttle looked at it. "It looks rather like a dog's black nose, master," he answered, "except that it's dry."
' "Splendid," said El-ahrairah, and went to sleep.
'It was still frosty - very clear and cold - that night, with half a moon, but fu Inle, when all the rabbits were keeping warm underground, El-ahrairah told Rabscuttle to come with him. El-ahrairah carried the black nose himself and on the way he pushed it well into every nasty thing he could find. He found a -'
'Well, never mind,' said Hazel. 'Go on with the story.'
'In the end (continued Dandelion), Rabscuttle kept well away from him, but El-ahrairah held his breath and still carried the nose somehow, until they got to the place where they had buried the meat.