He went by, leaving, so far as I was concerned, a somewhat painful
impression from which I sought relief in the company of the open-souled
Hare.
"Well," I said, "I suppose that you died of exhaustion after your
coursing experience, and came on here."
"Died of exhaustion, Mahatma, not a bit of it! In three days I was as
well as ever, only much more cunning than I had been before. In the
night I fed in the fields upon whatever I could get, but in the daytime
I always lay up in woods. This I did because I found out the shooting
was over, and I knew that greyhounds, which run by sight, would never
come into woods."
The weeks went by and the days began to lengthen. Pretty yellow flowers
that I had not seen before appeared in the woods, and I ate plenty of
them; they have a nice flavour. Then I met another hare and loved her,
because she reminded me of my sister. We used to play about together and
were very happy. "I wonder what she will do now that I am gone."
"Console herself with somebody else," I suggested sarcastically.
"No, she won't do that, Mahatma, because the hounds 'chopped' her just
outside the Round Plantation. I mean they caught and ate her. You think
that I am contradicting myself, but I am not. I mean I wonder what she
will do without me in whatever world she has reached, for I don't see
her here." Well, I went to the little Round Plantation because I found
that Giles seldom came there and I thought it would be safer, but as it
proved I made a great mistake.
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