Oilback continued on his way, laughing falsely as he answered. "Ho ho ho! It certainly did, mate. I'll just take a look out there meself. You can't trust corsairs y' know!"

Keyla and Brome waited until Bluehide had his back to them on the wall top, then shifted the heavy grating to one side.

"Whew, that was a close thing!" the young mouse murmured under his breath.

Outside in the shadow of the wall, Oilback wiped sweat from his nose, muttering silently to himself. "Whew, that was a close thing!"

He uncorked the flagon and took a deep drink to calm his nerves.

210.

Brome and Keyla ushered the freed slaves into the pit and then climbed in after them, pulling the grating shut over them once they were in.

An old mousewife called Geum started to complain aloud. "It's stuffy down here. I'm stuck like a pea in a pod. Why did we have to come into this dirty place?"

Brome was thumping the walls to find the opening. "Hush, Mother, this is the way we're going to escape. Keep your voice down."

But Geum was not about to be quiet. "The main gate was open. Why didn't we just go out that way? And don't call me mother, cheekyface. I'm not your mother!"

Keyla clamped a paw across her mouth. "Silence, you old scold! Brome knows what he's doing. We wouldn't stand a lame sea bird's chance of walking through Clogg's crew to freedom. This way we'll come up between some rocks beyond their camp. Have you found the opening yet, Brome?"

A shower of loose earth and some pieces of driftwood fell on to the heads of Keyla and Geum.

"Hahah! Here it is," Brome cried excitedly. "For a moment I wasn't sure I could find it. Good old Grumm, he did a great job disguising his tunnel. I'll go first. Keyla, you and Yarrow help the others in and bring up the rear. We'll have to move fast, there's not many hours left until dawn. The last thing we want is to be caught out on the open sh.o.r.e."

It took a considerable time to get all the slaves into the tunnel. They pushed up against each other in the darkness, infants began whimpering and Geum started to complain again.

"Ugh! It's dark and stuffy down here. I don't like it!"

Yarrow shoved her further along from behind. "None of us are exactly joyful about being down here, old one. Just keep going, and put a latch on your lip. You're upsetting the little ones."

Geum's dignity was offended. "Stop pushing me, you 211.

young rip, and mind how you speak to your elders. Oh dear, there's sand falling on the back of my head."

Brome crawled as fast as he was able to. Hearing Geum's last statement added to his haste. He knew the tunnel was only a makeshift affair and could collapse at any moment, particularly now, with the added disturbance of thirty-odd creatures blundering their way through it. Suddenly, just when he thought he was at the end of the tunnel, Brome found he could crawl no farther. The young mouse let out a groan into the thick air.

The tunnel had caved in at the exit end. They were trapped!

212.

Rose was wakened by Martin's cry and the great feathered bulk of the grey heron rolling over her. Something brushed by her. She felt slithering scales and kicked out at them.

Martin was locked in the coils of some reptilian creature, what it was he did not know. It felt like a snake, but it had more than one head and tail. Stabbing viciously with his short sword, he was rewarded by the sound of anguished hissing as the coils fell away from him. Nearby Grumm swung out with his ladle and caught something hard on the skull. It went limp. Pallum hung on grimly to a third sinuous shape as Rose battered it with a supply pack. Martin felt another reptile at his back. Swinging sharply, he slashed crosswise and stabbed down twice. The creature was instantly slain.

Rose was still hitting with the pack as she cried out in the darkness, "Fire, Grumm. Make fire!"

The mole fumbled for flint and tinder as Martin found Rose and Pallum in the darkness. Afraid to use his sword in such close proximity to them, he dropped it and went headlong at the creature they had been trying to tackle. b.u.t.ting, punching and kicking like a mad beast, Martin rendered the thing senseless.

There were no more opponents to fight. They stood 213.

still while sparks flew and Grumm could be heard blowing on the tinder. Suddenly there was a small flame. The mole fed it with dry gra.s.s and twigs. In the ensuing firelight they viewed the attackers and the attacked. It was the two slowworms they had first seen on entering the marshes. They were both dead, slain by Martin, and lying stunned close by was an enormous gra.s.s snake and a young adder.

Grumm shuddered violently. "Surrpints!"

Pallum scrambled over to the limp figure of the Warden. "I think they've killed him!"

Rose was at his side instantly. "Let me take a look."

As she inspected the big bird, Martin called Pallum and Grumm to help him. Between the three of them they heaved the bodies of the four reptiles into the deep ooze of the marsh.

"Over here! This bird is alive!"

Rose was ma.s.saging the Warden's long neck. His eyelids fluttered feebly as she rubbed skillfully. One of the heron's eyes opened momentarily. "I am the laaaaaww!" it managed to croak.

The mousemaid put a paw to its beak. "Yes I know. Be still now, those snakes nearly strangled you. Grumm, put some water on to heat and see if you can find some soft moss and herbs to make a poultice."

As dawn broke over the little camp, Rose sat nursing her patient. The Warden was a fierce bird, quick to recover and hard to keep still. She had bound his neck with a warm soothing poultice of moss and herbs, checking the rest of him to a.s.sure herself that the young adder had not struck him.

"You'll be all right, the adder didn't bite you. Warden, please lie still. Your neck was badly squeezed. Try not to move it."

The grey heron tried to rise but fell back croaking hoa.r.s.ely, "Snakes are lawbreakers. I will punish them. I am the law!"

214.

Grumm looked up from the soup he was making. "Doant you'm never be soilent, burd? Close thoi gurt beak. Hurr!"

As they were held up by the Warden's injuries, breakfast was a leisurely affair. Pallum roasted some vegetables, leek, pennycress, and shallots. Grumm made excellent wild celery and herb soup then experimented on some barley scones. The Warden became so fierce when Pallum tried to feed him soup that the hedgehog hid behind Grumm. "I don't think he likes your soup."

Grumm shook his ladle at the heron. "Doant be natural, creetur not loikin' moi zoop. He'm never grow big 'n' strong loik oi."

"I am Warden of Marshwood Hill. Warden does not eat zoop!"

"Oh, goo an' boil thoi 'ead, gurt burdbag!"

Rose was surprised at the Warden's powers of recovery. Barely halfway through the morning he was up and walking as he conversed with Martin. The young mouse told him the story of what had taken place in the night. The big bird glared savagely at him.

"I thank you. Martin is mouse warrior, but you must learn!"

"Learn what?"

"Learn to kill all lawbreakers. Two snakes not dead!"

"But I threw them in the swamp."

"Next time kill first, then they will never break the law again!"

The Warden was inflexible when dealing with lawbreakers.

By noon they were back on the path again, travelling behind the Warden. Rose was mentioning to Martin that the mists were beginning to clear and sunlight was now plainly visible filtering through, when Pallum called, "Ahead, look up!"

There was the mountain. Rising above the mists into the summer day, it towered in solitary splendor, the 215.

lower slopes clad in verdant pine, rising to shrub and wild lupin, which gave way to naked dun-hued rock all the way to its majestic peak.

Grumm shielded his eyes with a digging claw, peering up. "Well, dig moi tunnel! Us'ns got t' cloimb yon gurt 'ill?"

The Warden halted, fixing them with his fierce eye. "You can see the mountain?"

Rose nodded her head, awed at the sight. "We surely can. Have we got to climb over it?"

The heron stood on one leg. "No, only halfway. Do you see the cave?"

The four friends searched the rocky ma.s.s, straining their eyes. Martin looked at Rose and shrugged before turning to the Warden. "We cannot see a cave, but if you say it is there then we believe you. Halfway up, you said."

The Warden nodded. "Yes, halfway up. It is a runnel through the mountain. Now I must leave you. These are my marshes. I am the law here. I stay."

With an awkward hopskip he took to the air, wings beating until he caught a thermal. Swooping over them, the bird called out, "You saved my life. I will not forget this. You are not lawbreakers. Maybe I will be able to help you someday. I go now. Goodbye!"

As he swooped away, Rose cried aloud, "Thank you for your help. Besides the cave, is there anything else we should look out for when we climb the mountain?"

Wheeling in a half-turn, the heron called a final message, "Ask Boldred, the mountain is not mine. These are my marshes and I alone am the laaaaaa-aawwwwwww!"

With that, the Warden of Marshwood Hill was gone, soaring above his domain of treacherous ooze and reptilian subjects.

In the late afternoon they came out of the marshlands. Crossing a stretch of dry scrub country, the four travel- 216.

lers stopped at the fringe of pines in the mountainous foothills. It was green and shady where Martin decided they would camp.

"We'll rest here until the morning before attempting to climb the mountain. A good meal and a long sleep is what we need."

Grumm shook the food packs out, his homely face a picture of dismay as he took stock of their supplies. "Burr, 'ardly any vittles left!"

Two wizened apples, a few pawfuls of wheat flour, one or two candied nuts and three raspberry scones were all that remained of Polleekin's good food. The mole shook their final canteen. "Lack a day, on'y arf full o' mint cordial!"

Rose chuckled as she prodded her friend's tubby little stomach. "Oh dearie me, Grumm Trencher, are you going to let us all starve and waste away to leaf shadows?"

Grumm polished his ladle vigorously with dry gra.s.s. "You'm a snip, Miz Roser, no mistake about that! Roight, oi'm taken charge yurr an' now. Pallum, surch furr veg-gibles, zurr Marthen, an' you'm, Miz Roser, lukk for water an' gather wudd. Oi'll see wot can be 'unted oop. Listen now, oi wants you'm all back yurr afore sunset. Be that clear?"

Pallum, Martin and Rose giggled as they whispered among themselves. Grumm waved the ladle at them. "Oi said, be that clear?"

They turned to him with serious faces, trying hard not to laugh as they stood stiffly to attention saluting.

"To hear is to obey, Lord Grumm!"

"We will not come back empty-pawed, O Mighty One!"

"We are yours to command, for you are the law!"

They dashed off laughing, leaving Grumm polishing his ladle. "Oi doant see nuthin' funny. Vittles be serious, ho urr!"

217.

Twilight found the four friends seated around a cozy little fire. Their foraging had proved extremely fruitful: apples, early wild plums and some green acorns, parsley, dandelion, wild oats and a piece of honeycomb, which Pallum had found floating in a small rivulet of ice-cold mountain water. There were also a few mushrooms and some watercress which had been growing by the rivulet. Grumm borrowed Martin's sword and used the blade to peel and chop. The others took their ease, laying back under a small spreading pine to watch him.

"Hurr, mushrooms 'n' cress goes with parsley 'n' danneeline," the mole explained as he prepared supper. "Chop up they green acorns too. Twill make gudd zoop, a'most thick as stew." He paused to rap Rose's paw with the ladle as she tried to steal a wild plum. "Gurroff, mizzy! Oi needs they, to put wi' last o' flour and woild oaters an' hunny. Chop 'ee apples vurry liddle. Pa.s.s oi yon flat stone, oi needs it furr moi asperimend."

Martin looked at Rose as he pa.s.sed Grumm the flat thin rock. "Asperimend? What does he mean?"

"He means experiment. Grumm is always experimenting with food. He's very good, his experiments can turn out tasty."

The soup when it came was savory, and they blew on it as they sipped it from their scallop sh.e.l.ls. Grumm had patted his mixture of wild plum, flour, oats, honey and apples into small round cakes that he cooked on the flat rock over the fire. The sweet smell wreathed round the camp as he turned off the first batch to cool in the gra.s.s. Taking one gingerly, he broke it, giving half to Rose. "Wot you'm think o' that, mizzy?"

The mousemaid juggled it in her paws, blowing on it as she took several quick nibbles. "Oh, Grumm, it tastes wonderful. So sweet and sticky!"

The mole wrinkled his snout in a satisfied manner. "Hurr, oi knew 't would. Oi'll make a couple o' batches an' we'll pack they'm furr rations. Oi 'opes oi c'n 218.

amember moi asperimend when we reaches 'ome to Noonvale."

Grumm gave them a cake apiece to eat after their soup. He was packing the rest of them away when a cracking of branches coupled with screams and wild laughter sounded close by. Before Martin could retrieve his sword from Grumm, a dozen or more young squirrels bounded into the camp, screeching, scrabbling and fighting. One of the creatures tripped and stumbled over Rose. He snapped at her and pushed her roughly as he struggled to rise. Martin was across to him in a twinkling. He dealt the squirrel a hefty blow and sent him sprawling again. Now the camp seemed to be full of wild-looking squirrels. They wore sashes of gaily colored barkcloth and had bird feathers fastened to their tails. Disregarding the four travellers, they fought and screeched all round them, ignoring the upset and discomfort they were causing. One creature grabbed hold of Grumm, using him as a shield to escape from another, who was trying, apparently, to steal the feathers from his tail.

Martin had stood enough. He did not want to kill any of them as they had not directly attacked him or his friends, but he was determined that they should be taught a lesson. Seizing Grumm's ladle, he dashed at the two who were whirling the mole about as one tried to catch the other.

Whopp! Thock!

Martin dealt out two stunning blows which sat the wild pair down flat on their tails. He brandished the ladle and roared, "Stop this! D'you hear me? Stoppit this instant!"

The squirrels halted, panting heavily and grinning at each other.

Martin shook the ladle, his voice stern and loud.

"You hooligans, what d'you mean by dashing in and wrecking our camp like this, eh? Have you no manners at all? You're like a mob of wild beasts!"

219.

One squirrel grabbed a feather from the tail of another and hopped nimbly on to a low pine branch. "Hah! 'Snot your land, it's ours. We're the Gawtrybe, we do what we like. So there!" He stuck his tongue out impudently at Martin.

Pallum was quick. Leaping up, he caught the branch and tw.a.n.ged it, catapulting the squirrel onto the ground. The other squirrels thought this was hilarious and started doing it to each other, one leaping on a low branch as the other tw.a.n.ged it off.

Rose was furious. Placing her paws on her hips, she yelled at them, "Do you want me to call the Warden of Marshwood Hill?"

They stopped momentarily again, then started laughing as one of their number began imitating the grey heron's sticklike walk and doing a pa.s.sable impression of the bird.

"I am the law, I slay all lawbreakers! Heeheehee, Warden can't touch us, he only rules the marshland, never comes up here!"

Rose drew herself up to her full height. "Then I'll tell Boldred!"

All activity ceased. They looked around nervously, then one of them pulled an impudent face. "Yah, you can't, 'cos she's not here, look!" Jumping up and down, he chanted, "Boldred, Boldred, boulder-head old Bold-red!" Spreading his paws wide, he smirked cheekily, "See, she's not here!"