He had half a dozen houses, but he was seldom at home.

The houses were not always empty when Mr. Tod moved out; because sometimes Tommy Brock moved in; (without asking leave).

Tommy Brock was a short bristly fat waddling person with a grin; he grinned all over his face.  He was not nice in his habits.  He ate wasp nests and frogs and worms; and he waddled about by moonlight, digging things up.

His clothes were very dirty; and as he slept in the daytime, he always went to bed in his boots.  And the bed which he went to bed in was generally Mr. Tod’s.

Now Tommy Brock did occasionally eat rabbit pie; but it was only very little young ones occasionally, when other food was really scarce.  He was friendly with old Mr. Bouncer; they agreed in disliking the wicked otters and Mr. Tod; they often talked over that painful subject.

Old Mr. Bouncer was stricken in years.  He sat in the spring sunshine outside the burrow, in a muffler; smoking a pipe of rabbit tobacco.

He lived with his son Benjamin
Bunny and his daughter-in-law
Flopsy, who had a young family. 
Old Mr. Bouncer was in charge of
the family that afternoon, because
Benjamin and Flopsy had gone out.

The little rabbit babies were just old enough to open their blue eyes and kick.  They lay in a fluffy bed of rabbit wool and hay, in a shallow burrow, separate from the main rabbit hole.  To tell the truth—­old Mr. Bouncer had forgotten them.

He sat in the sun, and conversed cordially with Tommy Brock, who was passing through the wood with a sack and a little spud which he used for digging, and some mole traps.  He complained bitterly about the scarcity of pheasants’ eggs, and accused Mr. Tod of poaching them.  And the otters had cleared off all the frogs while he was asleep in winter—­“I have not had a good square meal for a fort-night, I am living on pig-nuts.  I shall have to turn vegetarian and eat my own tail!” said Tommy Brock.

It was not much of a joke, but it tickled old Mr. Bouncer; because Tommy Brock was so fat and stumpy and grinning.

So old Mr. Bouncer laughed; and pressed Tommy Brock to come inside, to taste a slice of seed cake and “a glass of my daughter Flopsy’s cowslip wine.”  Tommy Brock squeezed himself into the rabbit hole with alacrity.

Then old Mr. Bouncer smoked another pipe, and gave Tommy Brock a cabbage leaf cigar which was so very strong that it made Tommy Brock grin more than ever; and the smoke filled the burrow.  Old Mr. Bouncer coughed and laughed; and Tommy Brock puffed and grinned.

And Mr. Bouncer laughed and coughed, and shut his eyes because of the cabbage smoke ..........

When Flopsy and Benjamin came back old Mr. Bouncer woke up.  Tommy Brock and all the young rabbit babies had disappeared!

Mr. Bouncer would not confess that he had admitted anybody into the rabbit hole.  But the smell of badger was undeniable; and there were round heavy footmarks in the sand.  He was in disgrace; Flopsy wrung her ears, and slapped him.