At that Nibble gave a little jump. But he just struck the top of the tunnel and pricked his soft, loppy ear in the hay. So he went back to crawling, all blind and scared in the blackness, trying to stifle his sniffles and tasting the salt tears that rolled down his nose. And all around him he seemed to see the long yellow teeth and the frothy whiskers of Ouphe, parted in a wicked grin.
Suddenly he struck something small and soft. And the tiny voice whispered: “Take my tail in your mouth and follow me. But don’t bite too hard.”
Nibble Rabbit opened his mouth and caught hold of a slim thing, like a little round stalk of grass, that was tickling his eyebrows. And he knew it was a field-mouse’s tail. It twitched as her little feet started running through the inky black tunnels Ouphe the Rat had made for himself. And the way she turned and twisted made Nibble afraid she didn’t know for sure just where she was going. It was no wonder that he had got lost among them!
But he scrambled along behind her as fast as he could. And at last they made a sharp turn and Nibble could see the snow outside glistening in the sun. My, how nice it seemed when he reached it, though it made his eyes blink. And when he tried to thank the field-mouse she had disappeared.
He crept around the edge of the haystack, looking for where his tracks led into it, so he could follow them back to the Woods again. At the second corner he caught sight of the sparrows, still swinging in the elm tree, just as he had left them before he hid in Ouphe’s own hole. Of course he waited to hear whether Ouphe were still on that side of the stack. Nibble didn’t want to be chased by him.
And right then Chirp sang out, “It was a rabbit we were talking to. He’s been sitting there all the while in that hole below you.”
Nibble simply couldn’t believe his ears. It sounded as though Chirp wanted Ouphe to get him. But Chirp knew what he was doing. For he flashed “Wait!” with two white feathers in his tail. Chirp knows a thing or two, if he is conceited, and he signalled so plainly any rabbit would know what he meant by it. But a rat wouldn’t.
You ought to have seen the change that came over Ouphe. He quickly cleaned his whiskers and began to talk as though he had honey in his throat. “What? A rabbit? Why, Mr. Sparrow, how could you keep me here playing jokes when I had a visitor? That was very unkind of you. I must invite him in and make him at home.”
He said it so Nibble wouldn’t be afraid of him and begin to run. Because then he’d have a fine hunt through all those twisty black tunnels to find him. But Nibble knew mighty well that he was only pretending. When he snarled out that he’d “slit Chirp’s throat” and “crunch the bones of his baby birds” Ouphe had meant every wicked word of it.
“Ha, ha!” laughed Chirp. “You’re so funny, Mr. Ouphe, we don’t quite know how to take you. That rabbit just stepped inside when he heard you invite him. I saw his tail.”