Chapter 17 The Return of Ulysses.
When it began to grow dark, the badger took a lantern in one paw, grasped a stick with the other and said Now then follow me.
Mole first, because I'm very pleased with him.
Rat next, and toad last.
And look, toady, don't you chatter as much as usual, or you'll be sent back.
The badger led them along the river a little way and then suddenly swung himself over the edge into a hole in the riverbank a little above the water.
At last they were in the secret passage.
The expedition had really begun.
It was cold and dark and damp and low and narrow.
They groped and shuffled along, with their ears pricked up, till at last the badger said We should be pretty nearly under the hole.
Sure enough, the passage began to slope upward.
They groped onward a little farther, and then the noise broke out very close above them.
"'Hurray!
Hurray!
Hurray'.
They heard and the stamping of little feet on the floor and the pounding of little fists on the tables.
"'What a time they're having!' said the badger.
"'Come on!'
They hurried along the passage till it came to a full stop, where they found themselves standing under the trap door that led up into the butler's pantry.
Such a tremendous noise was going on in the banquet hall that there was little danger of being heard.
The badger said, Now, boys, all together!
And the four of them put their shoulders to the trap door and heaved it open.
The noise as they came up from the passage was simply deafening.
At last, as the cheering and hammering subsided, a voice could be made out saying Well, I do not propose to keep you much longer.
Great applause.
But before I take my seat, I should like to say one word about our kind host, Mr. Toad.
We all know Toad. laughter.
Good Toad, modest Toad, honest Toad, shrieks of merriment.
Let me get him, muttered Toad, grinding his teeth.
Hold on a minute, said the badger, holding Toad back with difficulty.
Get ready, all of you.
The badger drew himself up, took a firm grip of his stick with both paws, glanced around at his friends and cried The hour is come.
Follow me.
The door flung wide open.
My, what a squealing and a squeaking and a screeching filled the air.
The affair was soon over.
Up and down the length of the hall strode the four comrades, whacking with their sticks and sending their surprise to enemies scattering.
In five minutes the room was clear.
Through the broken windows the shrieks of fleeing weasels could be heard.
The badger, resting on his stick, wiped his brow.
Oh, he said, you are the best of fellows.
Just go and make sure those guards are running away too.
Thanks to you, they were expecting an attack from outside, but not from below.
We won't have much trouble from them.
The mole vanished through a window, and Badger asked the others to set a table on its legs again.
I want some food, I do, he said.
Stir your stumps, Toad, and look lively.
We've got your house back for you, and you haven't offered us so much as a sandwich.
Toad felt rather hurt that the badger didn't praise him as he had praised Mole.
But he bustled about and so did the rat, and soon they found some jelly in a glass dish and a cold chicken and quite a bit of lobster salad and a great quantity of cheese, butter and celery.
They were just about to sit down when the Mole clambered in through the window, chuckling.
It's all over.
As soon as the guards heard the shrieks and the yells inside the hole, some of them threw down their weapons and fled.
The others stood fast for a bit, but when the weasels came rushing out, they all disappeared.
Excellent and deserving animal, said the badger.
Then the mole pulled his chair up to the table and pitched into the cold chicken.
Toad, like the gentleman he was, put all his jealousy aside and said heartily ah, Thank you kindly, dear Mole, for all of your pains this evening and especially for your cleverness this morning.
The badger was pleased at that and added, Well spoken, my brave toad.
They finished their supper in great joy and contentment and soon retired to sleep between clean sheets in soft beds, safe in Toad's ancestral home.
After this excitement, the four animals continued to lead their lives in great happiness and ease, undisturbed by further uprisings or invasions.
Toad, after due consultation with his friends, selected a handsome gold chain and locket set with pearls, which he sent to the jailer's daughter with a letter of thanks for helping him escape.
Even the badger admitted that Toad had become modest, grateful, and appreciative.
The engine driver in turn was properly thanked for his pains and troubles and, under severe pressure from Badger, even the bargewoman was found and thanked, though Toad kicked terribly at this.
Sometimes, in the course of long summer evenings, the friends would take a stroll together in the wild wood now successfully tamed so far as they were concerned.
It was pleasing to see how respectfully they were greeted by its inhabitants and how the mother weasels would bring their young ones to the mouths of their holes and say pointing Look baby, there goes the great Mr Toad and that's the galleon water rat, and yonder comes the famous Mr Mole, of whom you have heard your father tell.
When their children were quite beyond control, they would quiet them by telling how, if they didn't hush up, the terrible grey badger would come and scold them.
This was not true in the slightest.
Badger, though he cared very little about society, was rather fond of children, but it never failed to have its full effect.
