98 FLUFF-BUTTON THE RABBIT 
The fern croziers had fully uncoiled, and the 
lowest bells on the wild hyacinth carillons were 
fading, before the babies acquired their fur jackets. 
Under ordinary circumstances they would have 
remained below ground a few days longer, but an 
unfortunate accident hurried them out into the 
world. 
Theoretically June is the month of sunshine 
and flowers ; actually in Knockdane, at all events 
there are flowers enough, but June is too often 
ushered in by pitiless soaking rain. All the new 
greenery of the woods is saturated, and the hem- 
locks and nettles, stimulated to ardent growth, 
begin to send up their shoots waist-high. This is 
what happened in the season of which I write, for 
it rained for two nights and a day, and all the 
flowers seemed drowned. There was trouble enough 
in the Garry's Hill burrows, but it was very serious 
indeed for Brownie. A nesting-hole is dug for 
temporary use only, and has not the drainage of a 
permanent burrow. The water soon began to filter 
in from the sides, and a very respectable trickle ran 
from the entrance. By the second morning the 
bedding was soaked, and the sucklings lay in a 
pool of water. For the present they were homeless, 
and Brownie saw that the only thing was to take 
them into the fields. Three brown tots, blinking 
