The Tale of Mr. Tod | Page 3

and there, beneath
a crag--Mr. Tod had made one of his homes. It was at the top of a steep
bank; the rocks and bushes overhung it. The rabbits crept up carefully,
listening and peeping.

[Illustration]
[Illustration]
This house was something between a cave, a prison, and a tumbledown
pig-stye. There was a strong door, which was shut and locked.
The setting sun made the window panes glow like red flame; but the
kitchen fire was not alight. It was neatly laid with dry sticks, as the
rabbits could see, when they peeped through the window.
Benjamin sighed with relief.
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But there were preparations upon the kitchen table which made him
shudder. There was an immense empty pie-dish of blue willow pattern,
and a large carving knife and fork, and a chopper.
At the other end of the table was a partly unfolded tablecloth, a plate, a
tumbler, a knife and fork, salt-cellar, mustard and a chair--in short,
preparations for one person's supper.
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No person was to be seen, and no young rabbits. The kitchen was
empty and silent; the clock had run down. Peter and Benjamin flattened
their noses against the window, and stared into the dusk.
Then they scrambled round the rocks to the other side of the house. It
was damp and smelly, and overgrown with thorns and briars.
The rabbits shivered in their shoes.
"Oh my poor rabbit babies! What a dreadful place; I shall never see
them again!" sighed Benjamin.
They crept up to the bedroom window. It was closed and bolted like the
kitchen. But there were signs that this window had been recently open;

the cobwebs were disturbed, and there were fresh dirty footmarks upon
the window-sill.
The room inside was so dark, that at first they could make out nothing;
but they could hear a noise--a slow deep regular snoring grunt. And as
their eyes became accustomed to the darkness, they perceived that
somebody was asleep on Mr. Tod's bed, curled up under the
blanket.--"He has gone to bed in his boots," whispered Peter.
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Benjamin, who was all of a twitter, pulled Peter off the window-sill.
Tommy Brock's snores continued, grunty and regular from Mr. Tod's
bed. Nothing could be seen of the young family.
The sun had set; an owl began to hoot in the wood. There were many
unpleasant things lying about, that had much better have been buried;
rabbit bones and skulls, and chickens' legs and other horrors. It was a
shocking place, and very dark.
They went back to the front of the house, and tried in every way to
move the bolt of the kitchen window. They tried to push up a rusty nail
between the window sashes; but it was of no use, especially without a
light.
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They sat side by side outside the window, whispering and listening.
In half an hour the moon rose over the wood. It shone full and clear and
cold, upon the house amongst the rocks, and in at the kitchen window.
But alas, no little rabbit babies were to be seen!
The moonbeams twinkled on the carving knife and the pie dish, and
made a path of brightness across the dirty floor.
The light showed a little door in a wall beside the kitchen fireplace--a
little iron door belonging to a brick oven, of that old-fashioned sort that

used to be heated with faggots of wood.
And presently at the same moment Peter and Benjamin noticed that
whenever they shook the window--the little door opposite shook in
answer. The young family were alive; shut up in the oven!
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Benjamin was so excited that it was a mercy he did not awake Tommy
Brock, whose snores continued solemnly in Mr. Tod's bed.
But there really was not very much comfort in the discovery. They
could not open the window; and although the young family was
alive--the little rabbits were quite incapable of letting themselves out;
they were not old enough to crawl.
After much whispering, Peter and Benjamin decided to dig a tunnel.
They began to burrow a yard or two lower down the bank. They hoped
that they might be able to work between the large stones under the
house; the kitchen floor was so dirty that it was impossible to say
whether it was made of earth or flags.
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They dug and dug for hours. They could not tunnel straight on account
of stones; but by the end of the night they were under the kitchen floor.
Benjamin was on his back, scratching upwards. Peter's claws were
worn down; he was outside the tunnel, shuffling sand away. He called
out that it was morning--sunrise; and that the jays were making a noise
down below in the woods.
Benjamin Bunny came out of the dark tunnel, shaking