'No,' said Holly, 'not fugitives. Campion's there. We ran right into him and three or four more that Blackavar recognized. I believe Woundwort's there himself. They've come for us - don't make any mistake about that.'
'You're sure it's more than a patrol?'
'I'm certain,' answered Holly. 'We could smell them: and we heard them, too - below us in the combe. We wondered what so many rabbits could be doing there and we were going down to see when we suddenly came face to face with Campion. We looked at him and he looked at us and then I realized what it must mean and we turned and ran. He didn't follow us - probably because he'd had no orders. But how long will it take them to get here?'
Blackavar had returned from underground, bringing Silver and Blackberry.
'We ought to leave at once, sir,' he said to Hazel. 'We might be able to get quite a long way before they come.'
Hazel looked about him. 'Anyone who wants to go can go,' he said. 'I shan't. We made this warren ourselves and Frith only knows what we've been through on account of it. I'm not going to leave it now.'
'Neither am I,' said Bigwig. 'If I'm for the Black Rabbit there's one or two from Efrafa will come with me.'
There was a short silence.
'Holly's right to want to stop the holes,' went on Hazel. 'It's the best thing to do. We fill the holes in, good and thorough. Then they have to dig us out. The warren's deep. It's under a bank, with tree roots all through it and over the top. How long can all those rabbits stay on the down without attracting elil? They'll have to give it up.'
'You
don't know these Efrafans,' said Blackavar. 'My mother used to tell me what happened at Nutley Copse. It would be better to go now.'
'Well, go on then,' answered Hazel. 'I'm not stopping you. And I'm not leaving this warren. It's my home.' He looked at Hyzenthlay, heavy with young, who was sitting in the mouth of the nearest hole and listening to the talk. 'How far do you think she'll get? And Clover - do we leave her or what?'
'No, we must stay,' said Strawberry. 'I believe El-ahrairah will save us from this Woundwort: and if he doesn't, I'm not going back to Efrafa, I'll tell you that.'
'Fill in the holes,' said Hazel.
As the sun set, the rabbits fell to clawing and scrabbling in the runs. The sides were hard with the hot weather. It was not easy to get started and when the soil began to fall, it was light and powdery and did little to block the holes. It was Blackberry who hit upon the idea of working outwards from inside the Honeycomb itself, scratching down the ceilings of the runs where they came into the meeting hall and blocking the holes by breaking the underground walls into them. One run, leading up into the wood, was left open for coming and going. It was the one where Kehaar used to shelter and the lobby at the mouth was still cluttered with guano. As Hazel passed the place, it occurred to him that Woundwort did not know that Kehaar had left them. He dug out as much of the mess as he could and scattered it about. Then, as the work went on below, he squatted on the bank and watched the darkening eastern sky-line.
His thoughts were very sad. Indeed, they were desperate. Although he had spoken resolutely in front of the others, he knew only too well how little hope there was of saving the warren from the Efrafans. They knew what they were doing. No doubt they had their methods of breaking into a closed warren. It was the faintest of chances that elil would disperse them. Most of the Thousand hunted rabbits for food. A stoat or a fox took a rabbit and took no more until it was ready to hunt again. But the Efrafans were accustomed to a death here and there. Unless General Woundwort himself were killed, they would stay until the job was done. Nothing would stop them, short of some unexpected catastrophe.
But suppose that he himself were to go and talk to Woundwort? Might there not just possibly be a chance of getting him to see sense? Whatever had happened at Nutley Copse, the Efrafans could not fight to the finish against rabbits like Bigwig, Holly and Silver without losing lives - probably a good many lives. Woundwort must know this. Perhaps it might not be too late, even now, to persuade him to agree to a new plan - a plan that would be as good for one warren as the other.
'And perhaps it might be,' thought Hazel grimly. 'But it's a possible chance and so I'm afraid the Chief Rabbit has got to take it. And since this savage brute is probably not to be trusted, I suppose the Chief Rabbit must go alone.'
He returned to the Honeycomb and found Bigwig.
'I'm off to talk to General Woundwort, if I can get hold of him,' he said. 'You're Chief Rabbit until I come back. Keep them at it.'
'But Hazel,' said Bigwig, 'wait a moment. It's not safe -'
'I shan't be long,' said Hazel. 'I'm just going to ask him what he's up to.'
A moment later he was down the bank and limping up the track, pausing from time to time to sit up and look about him for an Efrafan patrol.
43. The Great Patrol
What is the world, O soldiers?
It is I.
I, this incessant snow,
This northern sky;
Soldiers, this solitude
Through which we go