Bantam promised this, as indeed he would have any thing else.
“You must go to Old Weasel of Holm-wood,” whispered Marten, laying his forepaws on Bantam’s breast to hold him near him, “and find his daughter. Tell her that young Ferret is a scapegrace and a good-for-nothing fellow, and that Judge Fox has sent him to prison. Then tell her that I am very rich, and that my son Longtail is making a handsome fortune by his school. This is a delicate matter, Bantam: if you manage cleverly, I will be your friend through life; if you betray me, mark this.” And the old man clapped his paw on the cutlass he usually wore by his side.
Bantam, glad to get out of his clutches on any terms, promised the strictest compliance, and flew rather than ran back to his farmyard as soon as he was released. There the first person he saw was his wife, who had returned, and was wondering what had become of him. To her, of course, he told all his strange adventure, and she, silly thing, went immediately and cackled the whole story to Dame Goose; who told it to one of the young Goslings, who told it to old Mr. Drake; he quacked it about so loudly that his wife and children soon learned it; and in ten minutes there was not one in all Holm-farm who did not know of this wonderful adventure. As for performing his promise, we must do Mr. Bantam the credit of saying he never for a moment thought of being such a silly, for he well knew that the day which saw him enter Old Weasel’s house would be his last.
MR. BANTAM’S INTERVIEW WITH OLD MARTEN.
[CHAPTER III.]
After old Marten had let Bantam go, he himself went straight to his son, whom he found engaged in his professional pursuits. At the moment of his father’s entry, young Longtail was hearing a class of the young Rabbits, on one of whom he was inflicting summary chastisement for great neglect and carelessness in his arithmetic. The poor young fellow was squeaking terribly, and his three brothers, with tears in their eyes, were trying with all their might to cast up their sums on their slates, which shook so in their hands that they could scarce see the figures. Their master left off the beating when he saw his father, and consequently young Rabbit, for the first and perhaps only time in his life, was very glad to see the old man. The class was dismissed; and if you had seen these four youngsters scamper off, shaking their white tails and jumping half a yard high as they ran to the Warren, you would have thought it was a good thing to have the light-heartedness of children.
The Martens, father and son, retired up an oak-tree, at the old man’s request, to talk over their private affairs. When the son heard of his father’s plans, and how young Ferret had been arrested, he was struck dumb with amazement. He had never dreamed that his father would interfere in such a matter; and if the truth must be told, he was already engaged to Miss Pussy, the eldest daughter of old Mrs. Hare of the Ferns.
However, he knew better than to contradict his father’s intentions too suddenly, for he felt assured that the old man would cut him off with a shilling if he were to offend him; so he pretended to acquiesce in all that was said, and promised compliance in every particular.
But as soon as his father had bidden him farewell, and had got out of sight, young Longtail ran as fast as his legs would carry him to the cavern where the doctor was imprisoned, paid the amount of the debt for which he had been arrested, and took young Ferret home with him to consult about their future conduct.