When the moon rose that night, Cartman slipped out of the warren and went aboveground. As he sneaked across the meadow, there was no sign of any living creature.
Cartman was determined to get revenge on the farmer who had shot off his ear. He didn't know exactly what he was gonna do yet, but he was sure he would think of something once he arrived at the farmer's house.
When he finally got there, all the lights in the house were off. The man and his wife had gone to bed.
Slowly, Cartman approached the house. He hopped onto the porch. He went to the doggie door, pushed the flap open, and crawled inside.
He found himself in the living room. Everything was quiet. The only sounds Cartman could hear were soft snores from upstairs. Cartman had never been inside a human's house before. He looked around in awe, examining everything in the room. He did not know what most of the things were.
But in a fireplace on the far wall, he saw a pile of logs burning, and fire was something he recognized only too well. Cartman grinned from ear to ear. The perfect plan had just popped into his head.
He hopped over to the fire. Cautiously, he hooked his paw around the edge of one of the burning logs. It rolled out of the fireplace and onto the floor, igniting a rug. Cartman jumped back quickly so he wouldn't get burned himself.
As the fire spread around the room, Cartman dashed back outside as fast as he could run. He made it just in time.
He hurried across the front lawn and dived into the ditch at the side of the road. From there, he watched the farmer's house burn.
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"Cole? Wake up!"
"Eh?"
The farmer's wife was standing over him, beside their bed. He sat up blearily. "Wot's the matter?"
"I smell smoke! I think the 'ouse is on fire!"
Now the man smelled it too. He leaped to his feet and rushed out the bedroom door into the hallway. He stood on the second-floor landing and peered over the balustrade overlooking the living room. Sure enough, the house was on fire. The entire living room was ablaze. The carpet and all the furniture were burning.
The man clenched his fists. "This is that rabbit's doin'!"
"Don't be ridiculous, Cole." His wife was standing next to him now. "We've gotta get out of 'ere!"
They started for the stairs, but by the time they got to the top of the staircase, the flames had already reached the bottom. They turned and ran back to their room.
"The window," the woman said. "We've gotta jump out the window!"
But she couldn't get the window open. "Wot're we gonna do?" she cried.
Cole had picked up the telephone. "The fire department is our only 'ope now!" He began to dial.
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Outside, Cartman watched gleefully as the fire spread to every inch of the house. He could hear the cries and screams from inside. They were music to his ears. "Oh, the tears of unfathomable sadness," he murmured. "So sweet." That farmer was regretting ever pissing him off now, he was sure.
But then, just as the house was about to collapse completely, Cartman heard a siren. He turned and saw a big red hudrudu coming down the road. The fire truck stopped in front of the house and pulled onto the lawn. The firefighters turned on their hose and started spraying the house.
Cartman was outraged. "What? No! You can't do that! You're ruining my revenge!"
But he knew there was nothing he could do about it. He couldn't fight all these firemen. Angrily, he turned and scampered away.
The firefighters were able to put the fire out eventually, but by then the farmer's wife had already asphyxiated, and the farmer himself was badly burned. An ambulance had to come and take him back to the hospital.