but whether it were or no I couldn't be quite sure. At least from that
day neither my sister nor I ever saw her again. I suppose you haven't
met her coming up this big white Road, have you, Mahatma?

"No, no," I answered impatiently, "I have already told you that you are
the first hare I have ever seen upon the Road. Please get on with your
story, or the Lights will change and the Gates be opened before I hear
its end."

Just when I saw her I was thinking of running away, but the sight
terrified me so much that I could not stir. You see, Mahatma, I really
loved my mother as much as a hare can love anything, which is a good
deal.

Well, beyond Giles was, who do you think? That dreadful boy, Tom, with a
gun in his hand too. Did I say that they all had guns, except Giles and
some beater men, only that Tom's was single-barrelled? Then there were
others whom I need not describe, stretching to left and right, and worst
of all, perhaps, there was Giles's great black dog, a silly-looking
beast which always seemed to have its mouth open and its tongue hanging
out, and to be wagging a big tail like the fox's, only black and more
ragged.

As I watched, up got the old hen partridge and one of her young ones
and flew towards me. The Red-faced Man lifted his gun and fired, once,
twice, and down came first the mother partridge and then the young one.
I forgot to say that Tom fired too at the old partridge, which fell dead
quite close to me, leaving a lot of feathers floating in the air. As it
fell Tom screeched out--