Chapter 5 - The Water Rats

With a solid supper under their belts, Badger led Radagast along the passage towards the door at the edge of the Wild Wood, not far from the River Bank and the Water Rat's home. "Radagast," asked Badger "you said that you left your chest here before the Wild Wood grew up?"

"Long before, and long before there was a sett here. It was a hobbit hole first, if that means anything to you. Then those hobbits moved west, all the way to what is now Ireland, and my chest remained here, some way underground. Eventually the Romans arrived and had a villa put up on top. All the stonework around us is theirs. They did not stay long, the area was abandoned, the villa soon collapsed and got covered over. Then the first badgers arrived and dug their sett among the ruins. They were ordinary animals then, not like you present-day Wild Wooders."

Radagast had hinted – and not for the first time - at a subject which to both Wild Wooders and River Bankers was taboo: their own dual nature. Badger quickly changed the subject. "Are there still hobbits in the wide world?"

"Indeed there are, but not in England I think. There are groups I know in Ireland, and in France, and several places in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. I have heard of others in Italy and Spain."

"What of dwarves, Radagast, you said that they made your chest?"

"They are found here and there in the mountains all over northern Europe, but they are diminished both in numbers and height since the old days. They are very secretive, hiding from men. There are a few in north Wales, but you could search for a lifetime and never find a trace of them. Lately I have had dealings with them because of their enemy the goblins. Fortunately they too have declined in size and numbers, and the bigger orcs are long gone."

They had now reached the secret door at the end of the long passage. Badger carefully locked it as they passed into the cold night air. There was a moon in the sky giving sufficient light to find their way out of the bushes and brambles to the hedge that was the boundary of the wood. Past that there were pastures and then a meadow leading down to the river.

"Ratty lives right on the river, him and his new wife. They got married this spring; they had a quiet wedding in the village church and then a lavish reception at Toad Hall – Toad insisted on it and paid for it. I think Ratty would have preferred something more modest. That was the last time I saw Toad. The water rats I've met a couple of times since, but I'm not one for socializing."

"Are you sure I'll be welcome?" asked the wizard. "The Water Rat may be a good friend of yours, but we are imposing on his good lady."

"Oh, don't worry about that. I've had enough time in her company to know that she has an adventurous streak; harbouring a wanted criminal will appeal to her I'm certain. She is an ardent suffragette, always getting into trouble with the police."

"Sorry," asked Radagast, "but what is a suffragette?"

Badger decided that explaining the finer points of democracy to a wizard might be difficult. He admired his friend's wife for her spirit and conviction, but did not approve of females in general having the vote. Indeed he did not approve of universal male suffrage: voting should be the prerogative of the property owner, someone who had a proper stake in the country. The thought of every feckless rabbit and weasel – and he knew many – casting a vote appalled him.

"We'll be there in a few minutes and she can explain it to you herself. It would be difficult to prevent her doing it. Ratty indulges her. Not," he added hurriedly "that he is under her thumb or anything like that. It's just his easy-going way."

It was not long before Badger, Radagast, Ratty and Cola were together in the Water Rats' neat little sitting room sipping a rather good sherry and nibbling little almond biscuits. Cola brightly explained, as she always did to new people she met, that her proper name was 'Arvicola' – an old family name – but that everyone called her 'Cola'. Badger had gone ahead in case the Water Rats had visitors, and found that Ratty and his young wife were 'at home' and quite alone. There was a little awkwardness at first, but once Cola realised that Radagast was genuine and not "some swindling smoke-and-mirrors hedge wizard," she warmed to him and turned on her considerable charm. They had seen the local paper and were positively keen to help the fugitive. "Fortunately" said the practical Ratty, "we are currently managing without servants. One hundred pounds is a huge sum, and most Wild Wooders would inform for the price of a pint."

"That is what raised my suspicions" said Cola, pleased to seem a vole of the world. "The going rate for foreign spies is only five pounds, ten if they openly carry weapons."

Radagast let Badger do the talking, and he gave the water rats an account of what had happened from the time he had found the wizard in his study. The two water rats readily agreed to house Radagast and keep him hidden. Badger then left to get home, fearing that there would be a determined effort to break into it during his absence.

Cola had many questions for Radagast; she wanted to know why he was in the area now, what was so important about his missing chest, who he thought had organised his ambush, and so on and so on. All questions that Badger had been too delicate to raise with his new friend.

"I have been on this earth very much longer than was expected, and I have to leave soon. Things are changing and there are a great many loose ends to be cleared up and unfinished business to be seen to. You animals here, you River Bankers and villagers and Wild Wooders, and all the rest, are one of the most pressing. The chest is another: I simply must not leave it for men to get their hands on it.

"Who organised the ambush? I could make a wild guess, but I prefer to wait and see if Otter or his son can find out who put up that hundred pound award: I am convinced that it is the same person. And the same who persuaded the authorities that I am a danger to them, and the same who has poisoned the minds of men hereabouts against me.

"Lurking around doing nothing goes against the grain, but it is better to keep my head down here for a day or two than find myself in a prison for years on trumped up charges like Toad. Do you know when Toad is due home, or when Fox is due to leave Toad Hall? You are not good friends of Fox by any chance?

Ratty shook his head. "He is not a friend, no, though I know him better than Badger does. The Foxes have lived in a big house called The Earth on the edge of the village for generations. The village squires if you like. Fox's father came into money several years ago and started making changes. He funded an elementary school for the village children: mice and hedgehogs at first; then youngsters from the Wild Wood: rabbits, squirrels, weasels and even ferrets. Not stoats though, they go their own way. There was talk of an infirmary and though nothing came of it he and old Toad did endow some almshouses between them.

"Now, Fox is spending money on himself. He started by buying paintings and statues. Now his whole family is staying at Toad Hall while major changes are going on at The Earth; they are practically rebuilding it. And the entertaining! He often travels abroad on business, and this summer he has had lots of foreign guests staying at Toad Hall. The stoats say he treats the place like his own. They don't like these foreigners at all, but say that Fox is treating them like royalty! Expensive wines, chauffeur driven motor cars everywhere, no expense spared."

"Why the stoats in particular?" asked Radagast.

"Before he left, Toad dismissed the servants saying that Fox wanted to bring in his own. There was a lot of muttering in the Wild Wood, but then Fox took on three times the number that Toad had had, and all of them stoats from the Wild Wood; he even had several given training as chauffeurs. At first the stoats were cock-a-hoop – Fox was paying top wages – but when the guests arrived they brought their own servants with them, and those servants did not get on at all with the stoats. There were fisticuffs below stairs more than once! Fox always sided with the visitors and gradually most of the stoats were dismissed."

Cola chipped in: "The stoats are tight-lipped about it all, but they are disappointed to put it mildly! They were staking a lot on the money they expected to earn. The weasels and the other Wild Wooders have little sympathy for them because all the work being done on Fox's old house is bringing them in much needed earnings. However it's all going to change very soon: Toad is due back before the end of the month and Fox must vacate the hall by next Friday at the latest."

The three remained talking late into the night. Not once was the suffragette movement mentioned. Ratty and Cola had met through a folklore society and they were fascinated by Radagast's tales of elves, dwarves and goblins. But when he asked them about Pan they could only blink and yawn; it was time for bed.