FLUFF-BUTTON THE RABBIT 105 
The White Rabbit did not stray very far from the 
place ; she waited for her mother to go on, but 
Brownie gave no signal, nor did she stir. The little 
one grew uneasy, and raising herself on her fluffy 
tail licked her mother's flank to show that she was 
hungry, but even this never-failing appeal received 
no answer. Nevertheless soon afterwards, when 
Jack Skehan went the round of his snares, he found 
a doe rabbit hanging in the hedge bottom with her 
neck broken ; and nestling at her side, tiptoeing 
up to reach, a little white rabbit was helping herself 
to a warm drink. Even in death Brownie fulfilled 
the first office of motherhood. 
How the White Rabbit knew that man was 
dangerous I cannot say. Hitherto she had inno- 
cently trusted every bird and beast ; but bolt she 
did, and only just in time, as a dirty brown hand 
snatched at her. She ran up the hedge as fast as 
her stumpy legs could carry her, stubbing her nose 
against hemlock stalks, and tripping over bramble 
trailers. It seemed to her that she had run many 
miles, but as a matter of fact it was only ten yards 
before she flopped down, utterly breathless, with 
her flanks heaving. For the first time she was 
afraid terribly afraid. Every leaf concealed an 
enemy, every rustle seemed a footstep. Fear was 
abroad on the hedgeside. The shadow of the man's 
