Cartman, Cowslip, Silverweed, Laburnum and Kingcup were crouched in the ditch across the road from the farmer's house. At length they saw the farmer and his wife come out. The farmer was wearing a cast on his left foot. After he stepped in the trap, his wife had driven him to the emergency room. The metal peg of the snare had lodged itself in his big toe, and the doctor had had to amputate it.
The man and his wife both got into their car and drove off, not noticing the rabbits concealed in the ditch across the road.
Cowslip rubbed his paws together with glee. "That road leads to town. They'll probably be gone all day."
"Kewl," said Cartman. "We'll have plenty of time to gather food. Where's the garden?"
"Behind the house," said Kingcup.
They hopped across the road and into the front yard. As they approached the house, Cartman noticed a small flap cut into the front door. He knew what that usually meant. He froze with terror. "You didn't tell me he had a dog!"
"Relax," said Cowslip. "He used to have a dog, but it died a couple of months ago."
"Oh." Cartman was relieved.
They went around to the back of the house and there was the garden. Rows upon rows of lettuce, carrots, potatoes, kale, corn and asparagus. Except for the asparagus, they were all foods Cartman loved. "Okay," he said. "Let's dig in!"
The rabbits threw themselves upon the spread. They ate as much as they could hold. Cartman had a little of everything except the asparagus. However, he did pull all the asparagus plants out of the ground, from sheer spite.
When they had eaten their fill, Cartman said, "Now we need to find something to carry the rest of this food back to the warren. Maybe there's some bags or something in there." He pointed at a greenhouse off to the side of the garden.
He trotted over to the greenhouse and pushed the door open. He did indeed find a pile of sacks inside… but there was a tree in there too, bearing an orange fruit he had never seen before. "What's this?"
"It's a peach tree," said Laburnum. "The farmer brought us peaches exactly once, but I remember they were the best fruit I ever tasted."
Cartman picked up a peach that had fallen to the ground. He bit into it. It was scrumptious!
He turned back to the others. "Okay, you guys take these sacks outside and fill 'em up. Silverweed, you go back to the front of the house and stand guard. I'm going to stay in here for a while…"
The other rabbits obediently trooped out. Cartman remained in the greenhouse, continuing to eat the fallen peaches. He just couldn't get enough of them! Soon he had eaten all the ones that were on the ground, but the biggest and juiciest ones were hanging from the upper branches of the tree…
Luckily, there was a ladder propped against the tree. Cartman put his front paws on the bottom rung. With great effort, he managed to hoist the rest of his body up there too. Then he put his front paws on the next rung. Laboriously, he continued his ascent. Rabbits' bodies are not made for climbing ladders; probably most rabbits could not have managed this feat. But he wanted those peaches so bad!
He had almost reached the top when he heard Silverweed calling from outside. "The hudrudu's coming back!" "Hudrudu" is the rabbit word for "car."
Cartman ignored him and kept pulling himself up the ladder. He told himself that he would eat just one more peach, and then hightail it out of there. Surely there would be time for one more…
Cowslip poked his head in. "Didn't you hear Silverweed? We've gotta go!"
"Just a minute," said Cartman, waving him off.
Unfortunately, this movement caused him to overbalance. The ladder swayed. Cartman grabbed at the tree branches to steady himself. CRASH! Down came the tree, down came the ladder, and down came Cartman!
Cowslip turned on his heels and took off like the Black Rabbit of Inle was after him, but Cartman was too dazed to move. He lay stunned beneath the wreckage of the peach tree for a few minutes. Then he heard the farmer's voice. "WOT'S 'APPENED TO MY GARDEN!"
"Dear, you really mustn't excite yoreself loike this," his wife said calmly. "Remember yer blood pressure."
"It's them rabbits! They been at me veggibles!" The farmer limped into the greenhouse, and there he saw the fallen tree… and Cartman. His face was red as a tomato.
"My prize peaches! I wos gonna exhibit 'em at the fair this summer! WHERE'S MY RIFLE?"
He ran for the house, as fast as he could with his cast. Cartman knew he was in deep hraka, but even now he couldn't bring himself to run. He was paralyzed with terror- a state that rabbits call "tharn."
Until the farmer came back with a gun and fired at him. That galvanized Cartman into action. He leapt to his feet and dodged between the farmer's legs before he could shoot again. He dashed out into the garden and ran past the farmer's wife. He spotted a bunch of half full sacks of vegetables. There was no sign of the other rabbits. Evidently, they had not had time to carry off the plunder with them.
The farmer fired again, narrowly missing Cartman. Cartman sped out the garden gate, across the lawn, and into the road. The farmer followed, cursing.
It was a good thing the man was in a cast. Otherwise Cartman never could have outrun him. The farmer chased Cartman back to the meadow. He fired several more shots, but they all missed.
Cartman was exhausted, but he kept running. He was nearly at the entrance to the warren now.
He had almost reached it when the man fired a final shot. It grazed the top of Cartman's head and blew off one of his ears.