Tales From Watership Down Part 26

"I want to talk to you," said Bigwig.

"I am in the Mark, sir, and under your orders. But you have made a mistake."

"No, I haven't," replied Bigwig. "You needn't be afraid. Come in here, close beside me."

Hyzenthlay obeyed. He could feel her fast pulse. Her body was tense: her eyes were closed and her claws dug into the floor.

"Hyzenthlay," whispered Bigwig in her ear, "listen carefully. You remember that many days ago now, four rabbits came to Efrafa in the evening. One had very pale gray fur and one had a healed rat bite in his foreleg. You talked with their leader--his name was Holly. I know what he told you."

She turned her head in fear. "How do you know?"

"Never mind. Only listen to me."

Then Bigwig spoke of Hazel and Fiver; of the destruction of the Sandleford warren and the journey to Watership Down. Hyzenthlay neither moved nor interrupted.

"The rabbits who talked to you that evening," said Bigwig, "who told you about the warren that was destroyed and of how they had come to ask for does from Efrafa--do you know what became of them?"

Hyzenthlay's reply was no more than the faintest murmur in his ear.

"I know what I heard. They escaped the next evening. Captain Charlock was killed pursuing them."

"And was any other patrol sent after them, Hyzenthlay? The next day, I mean?"

"We heard that there was no officer to spare, with Bugloss under arrest and Charlock dead."

"Those rabbits returned to us safely. One of them is not far away now, with our Chief Rabbit and several more. They are cunning and resourceful. They are waiting for me to bring does out of Efrafa--as many as I can get to come. I shall be able to send them a message tomorrow morning."

"How?"

"By a bird--if all goes well." Bigwig told her about Kehaar. When he had finished, Hyzenthlay made no reply and he could not tell whether she was considering all that he had said or whether fear and disbelief had so troubled her that she did not know what to say. Did she think he was a spy trying to trap her? Did she perhaps wish only that he would let her go away? At last he said, "Do you believe me?"

"Yes, I believe you."

"Might I not be a spy sent by the Council?"

"You are not. I can tell."

"How?"

"You spoke of your friend--the one who knew that that warren was a bad place. He is not the only such rabbit. Sometimes I can tell these things, too: but not often now, for my heart is in the frost."

"Then will you join me--and persuade your friends as well? We need you: Efrafa doesn't need you."

Again she was silent. Bigwig could hear a worm moving in the earth nearby and faintly down the tunnel came the sound of some small creature pattering through the gra.s.s outside. He waited quietly, knowing that it was vital that he should not upset her.

At last she spoke again, so low in his ear that the words seemed barely more than broken cadences of breathing.

"We can escape from Efrafa. The danger is very great, but in that we can succeed. It is beyond that I cannot see. Confusion and fear at nightfall--and then men, men, it is all things of men! A dog--a rope that snaps like a dry branch. A rabbit--no, it is not possible!--a rabbit that rides in a hrududu! Oh, I have become foolish--tales for kittens on a summer evening. No, I cannot see as I did once: it is like the shapes of trees beyond a field of rain."

"Well, you'd better come and meet this friend of mine," said Bigwig. "He talks just like that, and I've come to trust him, so I trust you, too. If you feel we're going to succeed, that's fine. But what I'm asking is whether you'll bring your friends to join us."

After another silence, Hyzenthlay said, "My courage--my spirit: it's so much less than it was. I'm afraid to let you rely on me."

"I can tell that. What is it that's worn you down? Weren't you the leader of the does who went to the Council?"

"There was myself and Thethuthinnang. I don't know what's happened to the other does who were with us. We were all in the Right Fore Mark then, you know. I've still got the Right Fore mark, but I've been marked again since. Blackavar--you saw him?"

"Yes, of course."

"He was in that Mark. He was our friend and encouraged us. Only a night or two after the does went up to speak to the Council, he tried to run away, but he was caught. You've seen what they did to him. That was the same evening that your friends came: and the next night they escaped. After that, the Council sent for us does once more. The General said that no one else would have the chance to run away. We were to be split up among the Marks, no more than two to each Mark. I don't know why they left Thethuthinnang and me together. Perhaps they didn't stop to think. Efrafa's like that, you know. The order was 'Two to each Mark,' so as long as the order was carried out it didn't particularly matter which two. Now I'm frightened and I feel the Council are always watching."

"Yes, but I'm I'm here now," said Bigwig. here now," said Bigwig.

"The Council are very cunning."

"They'll need to be. We've got some rabbits who are far more cunning, believe me. El-ahrairah's Owsla, no less. But tell me--was Nelthilta with you when you went to the Council?"

"Oh, no, she was born here, in the Near Hind. She's got spirit, you know, but she's young and silly. It excites her to let everyone see that she's a friend of rabbits who are thought of as rebels. She doesn't realize what she's doing or what the Council are really like. It's all a kind of game to her--to cheek the officers and so on. One day she'll go too far and get us into trouble again. She couldn't be trusted with a secret, on any account."

"How many does in this Mark would be ready to join an escape?"

"Hrair. There's a great deal of discontent, you know. But, Thlayli, they mustn't be told until a very short time before we run--not just Nelthilta, but all of them. No one can keep a secret in a warren and there are spies everywhere. You and I must make a plan ourselves and tell no one but Thethuthinnang. She and I will get enough does to come with us when the time comes."

Bigwig realized that he had stumbled, quite unexpectedly, upon what he needed most of all: a strong, sensible friend who would think on her own account and help to bear his burden.

"I'll leave it to you to pick the does," he said. "I can make the chance to run if you'll have them ready to take it."

"When?"

"Sunset will be best, and the sooner the better. Hazel and the others will meet us and fight any patrol that follows. But the main thing is that the bird will fight for us. Even Woundwort won't be expecting that."

Hyzenthlay was silent again and Bigwig realized with admiration that she was going over what he had said and searching for flaws.

"But how many can the bird fight?" she said at last. "Can he drive them all all away? This is going to be a big break-out and, make no mistake, Thlayli, the General himself will be after us with the best rabbits he has. We can't go on running away forever. They won't lose track of us and sooner or later they'll overtake us." away? This is going to be a big break-out and, make no mistake, Thlayli, the General himself will be after us with the best rabbits he has. We can't go on running away forever. They won't lose track of us and sooner or later they'll overtake us."

"I told you our rabbits were more cunning than the Council. I don't think you'd really understand this part, however carefully I explained. Have you ever seen a river?"

"What is a river?"

"Well, there you are. I can't explain. But I promise you we shan't have to run far. We shall actually disappear before the Owsla's eyes--if they're there to see. I must say I'm looking forward to that."

She said nothing and he added, "You must trust me, Hyzenthlay. Upon my life, we're going to vanish. I'm not deceiving you."

"If you were wrong, those who died quickly would be the lucky ones."

"No one's going to die. My friends have prepared a trick that El-ahrairah himself would be proud of."

"If it is to be at sunset," she said, "it must be tomorrow or the next night. In two days the Mark loses the evening silflay. You know that?"

"Yes, I'd heard. Tomorrow, then. Why wait longer? But there is one other thing. We're going to take Blackavar." "Blackavar? How? He is guarded by Council police."

"I know. It adds very much to the risk, but I've decided that I can't leave him behind. What I mean to do is this. Tomorrow evening, when the Mark silflay, you and Thethuthinnang must keep the does near you--as many as you've got together--ready to run. I shall meet the bird a little way out in the meadow and tell him to attack the sentries as soon as he sees me go back into the hole. Then I shall come back and deal with Blackavar's guards myself. They won't be expecting anything of the sort. I'll have him out in a moment and join you. There'll be complete confusion and in that confusion we'll run. The bird will attack anyone who tries to follow us. Remember, we go straight down to the great arch in the iron road. My friends will be waiting there. You've only to follow me--I'll lead the way."

"Captain Campion may be on patrol."

"Oh, I do hope he is," said Bigwig. "I really do."

"Blackavar may not run at once. He will be as startled as the guards."

"Is it possible to warn him?"

"No. His guards never leave him and they take him out to silflay alone."

"For how long will he have to live like that?"

"When he has been to every Mark in turn, the Council will kill him. We all feel sure of that."

"Then that settles it. I won't won't go without him." go without him."

"Thlayli, you are very brave. Are you cunning, too? All our lives will depend on you tomorrow."

"Well, can you see anything wrong with the plan?"

"No, but I am only a doe who has never been out of Efrafa. Suppose something unexpected happens?"

"Risk is risk. Don't you want to get out and come and live on the high downs with us? Think of it!"

"Oh, Thlayli! Shall we mate with whom we choose and dig our own burrows and bear our litters alive?"

"You shall: and tell stories in the Honeycomb and silflay whenever you feel like it. It's a fine life, I promise you."

"I'll come! I'll run any risk."

"What a stroke of luck that you should be in this Mark," said Bigwig. "Before this talk with you tonight, I was at my wits' end, wondering whatever I was going to do."

"I'll go back to the lower burrows now, Thlayli. Some of the other rabbits are bound to wonder why you sent for me. It's not mating time with me, you see. If I go now, we can say you made a mistake and were disappointed. Don't forget to say that."

"I won't. Yes, go now, and have them ready at silflay tomorrow evening, I shan't fail you."

When she had gone, Bigwig felt desperately tired and lonely. He tried to hold in his mind that his friends were not far off and that he would see them again in less than a day. But he knew that all Efrafa lay between himself and Hazel. His thoughts broke up into the dismal fancies of anxiety. He fell into a half-dream, in which Captain Campion turned into a seagull and flew screaming over the river, until he woke in panic: and dozed again, to see Captain Chervil driving Blackavar before him toward a shining wire in the gra.s.s. And over all, as big as a horse in a field, aware of all that pa.s.sed from one end of the world to the other, brooded the gigantic figure of General Woundwort. At last, worn out with his apprehensions, he pa.s.sed into a deep sleep where even his fear could not follow, and lay without sound or movement in the solitary burrow.

*Thethuthinnang: "Movement of Leaves." The first and last syllables are stressed, as in the phrase "Once in a way."

36.Approaching Thunder

We was just goin' ter scarper When along comes Bill 'Arper, So we never done nuffin' at all Music Hall Song Bigwig wavered gradually up from sleep, like a bubble of marsh gas from the bed of a still stream. There was another rabbit beside him in the burrow--a buck. He started up at once and said, "Who is it?"

"Avens," replied the other. "Time for silflay, Thlayli. Larks have gone up. You're a sound sleeper."

"I dare say," said Bigwig. "Well, I'm ready." He was about to lead the way down the run, but Avens' next words brought him to a halt.

"Who's Fiver?" said Avens.

Bigwig grew tense. "What did you say?"

"I said, who's Fiver?"

"How should I know?"

"Well, you were talking in your sleep. You kept saying, 'Ask Fiver, ask Fiver.' I wondered who he was."

"Oh, I see. A rabbit I knew once. He used to foretell the weather and so on."

"Well, he could do it now, then. Can you smell the thunder?"

Bigwig sniffed. Mixed with the scents of gra.s.s and cattle came the warm, thick smell of a heavy cloud ma.s.s, still far off. He perceived it uneasily. Almost all animals are disturbed by the approach of thunder, which oppresses them with its mounting tension and breaks the natural rhythm by which they live. Bigwig's inclination was to go back to his burrow, but he had little doubt that no mere trifle like a thundery morning would be allowed to interfere with the timetable of an Efrafan Mark.

He was right. Chervil was already at the entrance, squatting opposite Blackavar and his escort. He looked round as his officers came up the run.

"Come on, Thlayli," he said. "Sentries are out already. Does the thunder worry you?"

"It does rather," replied Bigwig.

"It won't break today," said Chervil. "It's a long way off yet. I'd give it until tomorrow evening. Anyway, don't let the Mark see it affects you. Nothing's to be altered unless the General says so."

"Couldn't wake him up," said Avens, with a touch of malice. "There was a doe in your burrow last night, Thlayli, wasn't there?"

"Oh, was there?" said Chervil. "Which one?"

"Hyzenthlay," replied Bigwig.

"Oh, the marli tharn,"* said Chervil. "Funny, I didn't think she was ready."

"She wasn't," said Bigwig. "I made a mistake. But if you remember, you asked me to do what I could to get to know the awkward squad and bring them a bit more under control, so I kept her talking for a time, just the same."

"Get anywhere?"

"Hard to say, really," said Bigwig, "but I'll keep at it."

He spent the time while the Mark went out in deciding upon the best and quickest way to enter the hole and attack Blackavar's escort. He would have to put one of them out of action in no time at all and then go straight for the other, who would be that much less unprepared. If he had to fight him, it would be better to avoid doing it between Blackavar and the mouth of the hole, for Blackavar would be as bewildered as the rest and might bolt back down the run. If he was going to bolt anywhere he must bolt outward. Of course, with any luck, the second guard might make off underground without fighting at all, but one could not count on that. Efrafan Owslafa were not given to running away.

As he went out into the field, he wondered whether he would be spotted by Kehaar. The arrangement had been that Kehaar would find him whenever he might come above ground on the second day.