104 FLUFF-BUTTON THE RABBIT 
significance of what was left on the hedge bank ? 
So it came to pass that at sunrise, when the larks 
were singing on the hill, and the whitethroats 
babbling in the brambles, Brownie, slithering 
through the hedge with her suckling behind her, 
slipped her head into a snare cunningly set against 
a burrow mouth, and somersaulted into the ditch, 
drawing the noose tight round her neck. At the 
first alarm the little one bolted and hid tremulously 
in a clump of buttercups, not daring to move for 
several minutes. Then, as all was still and the 
robins began to sing again, she ventured to peep out. 
Her mother stood raised on her hind legs as she had 
often seen her before when about to climb such a 
bank ; but now Brownie leaned there statue-still, 
her hind paws just dragging on the ground. The 
White Rabbit did not understand it at all. She 
bit off a few grass blades and tried to chew them 
up, but they seemed hard and stringy to her un- 
accustomed teeth, and she ventured to nuzzle at 
her mother's soft coat. It was quite warm, but 
Brownie took no notice of the caress ; and when the 
little one pushed against her, she swung ever so 
gently to and fro. 
The sun rose over the crest of Garry's Hill, and 
the dragon-flies winged needles of red and blue 
hawked backwards and forwards over the brambles. 
