go FLUFF-BUTTON THE RABBIT 
Garry's Hill stood in a field, at the bottom of 
which was a blackthorn fence among whose roots 
dwelt a colony of brown rats. A stream flowed 
swiftly at the foot of the hedge, and one gusty 
afternoon when one of the rabbits crept out to 
nibble a little sodden grass, it was rising fast. 
The rabbit did not notice it, however, for the Fur 
Folk have no time to waste over what does not 
directly concern them, and even when she saw 
a big grey rat, dripping wet, run up the bank, 
she did not take the alarm. 
All the early part of the night the rain came 
down steadily until the upper galleries of the 
warren were quite wet. The burrow was pitch 
dark, and the air hot and thick, when Cuni awoke. 
She was blocked in on all sides by warm furry 
bodies, nevertheless she detected an unusual noise 
at the burrow's mouth a faint scratching, and 
then a squeak. Something was creeping in. Cuni 
kicked the ground warningly, and as the others 
awoke, she pushed into the main passage. Some- 
thing small and wiry beneath her paws squealed and 
snapped. Cuni darted up the passage stamping 
wildly it was a rat. 
By this time the rest of the rabbits were awake 
and rushing about in a panic. Every now and then 
they collided in the darkness, and fled under the 
