“And what are we to live on?” I said.
“Rabbits, and birds, and snails, and fish—there’s a big pond down there. Let’s stop. There’ll be nuts and blackberries, and whorts, and pig-nuts, and mushrooms. There’s plenty to eat. Let’s stop.”
He looked up at me eagerly.
“I can make traps for birds, and ketch rabbits, and—look, there she goes.”
He started to his feet, for there was a bound and a rustle just below us, as a rabbit suddenly found it was in danger, and darted away to find out a place of refuge lower down the hill.
“Hey, dog! on, dog!” cried Shock, clapping his hands; and Juno took up the scent directly, running quickly in and out amongst, the furze and heath, while Shock and I followed for about a quarter of a mile, when, panting and hot, we came upon Juno carrying a fine rabbit in her mouth, for this time she had overtaken it before one of the burrows was reached.
“Good dog!” cried Shock. “Dinner;” and, taking the rabbit by the hind legs, the dog wagged her tail as if asking whether she had not done that well, and followed us as we went back to where we had seen the holes in the sandy cliff.
We avoided the cut near which we knew that Ike would be having his nap, and, making our way to the bottom of the cliff, we selected one of the biggest of the holes, stooped and went in, and found that it widened out to some ten or a dozen feet, and then ran back, thirty or forty.
It seemed to be partly natural, partly to have been scooped out by hand, while it certainly seemed just the place for us.
“We’ll stop here,” cried Shock. “You go and get a lot of wood from up a-top, where there’s lots lying, while I skins the rabbud.”