At the outset they had supposed that as they got to know the lendri it would treat them in a more friendly way. However, it did not. Its manner to them remained bleak and cold. It seldom spoke except to give orders or warnings of danger, or to find fault with something they had done. It never commended their work. Initially El-ahrairah did his best to converse with it, but was met only with silence or inattention. They grew less alert, less swift, less responsive to the countless signals that healthy rabbits continually receive from the wind, from scents and from noises and movement round about them.
One cold, wet morning, when they both felt worn out by a long night of carrying worms, Rabscuttle said, "Master, do you think we could get the lendri to say when it will release us and take us through the forest? For I don't know how much more of this I can stand; and you don't look or smell right either, for the matter of that."
El-ahrairah plucked up courage to ask the lendri that night, but the only reply he got was: "When I'm ready. Work harder and I may feel like it."
One night they met a hare in the fields. After the usual scornful and wounding words, it ended, "And why you're doing it I can't imagine and nor can anyone else." El-ahrairah explained why they were doing it. "And do you seriously suppose that that lendri will ever let you go and help you on your way?" asked the hare. "Of course it won't. It'll simply keep you working until you either die or run away."
At this, even El-ahrairah felt close to despair. Yet had he only known it, Lord Frith was not so far away from his faithful rabbits as they thought.
Two or three nights later, as they were digging for worms quite near the sett, Rabscuttle noticed a place where the ground had been newly disturbed. "Look, master," he said. "Look at all that loose earth. That's not been dug long. It wasn't like that the other day. It'll be a good place for worms, don't you think?"
They began digging in the soft soil. They had not dug very deep before El-ahrairah paused, sniffing and hesitating. "Come over here, Rabscuttle, and tell me what you think."
Rabscuttle also sniffed. "There's something been buried, master, not so long ago. Something that's been alive but isn't now. Should we let it alone?"
"No," replied El-ahrairah. "We'll go on."
They dug deeper. "Master, that's a hand, the hand of a human being."
"Yes," said El-ahrairah. "The hand of a woman. And if I'm not mistaken, the whole body's there. It wouldn't smell like that otherwise."
"Surely we'd better leave it, master?"
"No," said El-ahrairah. "We'll uncover some more."
In the darkness and silence, they went on digging until it was plain that a whole human body had been buried.
"Now just leave a light covering of earth," said El-ahrairah, "and we'll go away and forage somewhere else. What we want is for human beings to find that body, and soon."
It was two days, however, before a man, wearing heavy boots and carrying a gun, came strolling along the verge of the forest. The rabbits, watching from the mouth of the sett, saw him catch sight of the newly dug ground, stop to look more closely, then go up to it and kick away some of the earth. As soon as he was sure of what was there, he marked the place with a torn-off branch and set off running as best he could with his gun and clumsy boots.
"Now we'll go and tell the lendri," said El-ahrairah.
Having heard what they had to tell him, the lendri joined them near the mouth of the sett. They had not long to wait. A hrududu, full of men, drove up and stopped nearby. The men got out and began surrounding the place where the body lay, with posts which had blue-and-white tape running between them. More men came, until there seemed to be men everywhere, talking together in loud voices.
The lendri, plainly very much afraid, turned and went back down the tunnel as fast as it could. The two rabbits followed it.
"We must keep up with it," panted El-ahrairah, "wherever it goes."
Scrambling and stumbling, they followed the lendri down a side tunnel where they had never been before. It seemed not to have been used for some time past. In places it was partly blocked by fallen earth, which the lendri flung aside or behind it with great strokes of its Paws. The rabbits were showered with earth and sometimes struck painfully by small stones, but still struggled on behind the terrified lendri, which was clearly intent upon nothing but getting away from the men.
After what seemed a long time, the tunnel led slowly upward and came out in the open air. At the mouth the lendri stopped, sniffing, listening and looking all about. Finally it came cautiously out into the forest, went a short distance forward and concealed itself in the cover of some thick bushes.
"I don't think it knew we were following," whispered El-ahrairah. "We'll wait now until it moves off."
As they waited, they listened for the sound of the men, but could hear only the faintest noise in the distance. "We must have come quite a long way," whispered El-ahrairah. "Creep out now, as quietly as you can. We can't stay here. If anything frightens the lendri, it'll bolt back into this hole and trample us down."
They managed to slink silently some way along the forest floor, stopping at length as they came to a small clearing. Making his way cautiously round its edge, El-ahrairah found what he was looking for--the marks of tires in the muddy ground. They led away down a slight descent, and the rabbits followed them until they heard men talking nearby and smelled white sticks. They waited a long time in the undergrowth, until at last the men started up their hrududu and drove away.
The sound receded in the distance. "Come on," said El-ahrairah. "We need to get out while it's still light."
They had not gone far before they found themselves on the edge of the forest and looking out at green fields.
"But is this edge the one we want, master?" asked Rabscuttle. "I mean, it could be another part of the edge where we were, couldn't it?"
"Look at the sun," replied El-ahrairah. "It's almost in our eyes. The breeze is coming from in front of us too. This is the sunset side of the forest, all right."
And so it proved. They slept that night in a thick bramble bush. Nothing disturbed them, and the following afternoon they came back to their own warren.