96 FLUFF-BUTTON THE RABBIT 
wounded and slain by their fellows ; the stoat 
had accounted for four ; as many more had bolted 
from the burrow ; and the survivors, some six in 
number, cowered in an old nursery as far as possible 
from their enemy. 
The stoat slept until the day was well advanced 
towards noon, and neither rat nor rabbit dared 
to stir lest he should wake and slay once more. 
At last he rose and glided from the burrow, and 
then and not until then did they venture to 
leave their hiding-places. 
So that was the end of the great invasion of 
Garry's Hill, but it was long before the rabbits 
settled down afterwards. As for the remnants of 
the rats, they retreated to the little-used end of 
the warren and established a system of tiny passages 
of their own, running among those of the rabbits. 
They lived on terms of armed neutrality with their 
unwilling hosts never daring to attack a full- 
grown buck or doe, although not so scrupulous with 
regard to nestlings ; and often on warm summer 
evenings, if you hide behind the brow of the hill 
and wait, you may see the rats and rabbits feeding 
and playing side by side. 
