He crippled the rabbit, which started to flounder up the slope.

Venters did not wish to lose the meat, and he never allowed crippled game to escape, to die lingeringly in some covert.

So after a careful glance below, and back toward the canyon, he began to chase the rabbit.
The fact that rabbits generally ran uphill was not new to him.

But it presently seemed singular why this rabbit, that might have escaped downward, chose to ascend the slope.

Venters knew then that it had a burrow higher up.