Winifred nodded with satisfaction. "Good shot! Let him go and tell old Irontrousers about that!"

"If we are making plans, has any creature got a suggestion?" the Abbot asked, keeping his voice low.

"Hourr, oi'ave. If n you can't cross Gurt'all or goo out Abbey, whoi doant me'n moi moles runnel out?"

There was no doubting Foremole's logic, as Constance was first to agree.

"Splendid idea. There's no telling what we could do if we could tunnel out without Ironbeak knowing. However, I was thinking of what he said last night. If he means to conquer Redwall, he must attack us down here sooner or later. It will become fairly obvious to him that we have lots of food to keep us going, so in the event of not being able to starve us out, he'll attack Cavern Hole. I think we should barricade the stairs to keep them out."

286.

There was unanimous agreement for the tunnel and the barricade, and the busy Redwallers set about their tasks with a will.

Out on the sunbaked wastelands, Matthias and his followers were slowed down from a brisk march to a shambling gait. Basil Stag Hare crossed his ears loosely over his head in an attempt to provide himself with some shade.

"Whew! CPyou know, I'll never look a hot scone in the face again, knowin' if s come out of a jolly old oven as hot as mis place."

Cheek tenderly pawed his dry nose. "Huh, quick march and follow me, lads. We should have travelled by night instead of listenin' to you, flopears."

Basil brushed at his drooping whiskers. "I'd give you a swift kick if I had the energy, young feller." .

A broad black shadow fell across Matthias, but he carried on, enjoying the shade without thinking where it had come from.

"Get down!"

The warrior mouse was thrown flat as Jess tackled him from behind. As he hit the dust, Matthias felt a rushing breeze pa.s.s over him. He turned over and looked up.

Two great buzzards circled overhead, wheeling and soaring as they waited for a chance to catch any creature off guard.

Log-a-Log fitted a stone to his sling as he sighed wearily, "Heat, thirst, desert, big birds. What next?"

The slings had little effect on the buzzards, as the great dark birds would see the stone coming and fly out of range with ease.

Oriando called a halt to the slinging. "Stop, stop! You're only wasting energy. Lef s ignore mem. Well, not exactly ignore them, if you know what I mean, but keep an eye on them. Matthias, you take the front of the column, I'll take the rear. If they get too close we might get the chance of a sword or axe strike, and thaf 11 put paid to them."

287.

As if sensing what was going on below, the two buzzards grouped and attacked the center of the band. They dived so speedily no creature had a chance to do anything. There was a scream, and the two great hunting birds rose into the air with a wriggling shrew pinioned between them. From out of the-blue they were joined by a third big bird, who soared down with wings outstretched.

"Look, there's three of them now." "Thaf s no buzzard, ifs attacking them!" b.u.t.ting into the buzzards like a battering ram, the strange bird drove them downwards, causing them to drop the shrew, who b.u.mped to earth in a cloud of dust. Clawing and biting, the other bird, who was stockier and shorter than the buzzards, battered away with wing and talon, screeching loudly until it drove them off. Circling to make sure it had driven the predators away, the bird dived and landed next to Orlando. It was Sir Harry the Muse.

"Pray accept my apologies, sir, My conscience was bothering me, So I had to take to the air. And now I am back, as you see."

Matthias ran to greet the poetic owl. "Well timed, Sir Harry. Thank you for your help!" The owl blinked at the sun.

"I'd sooner fly 'neath the moon.

I dread the hot afternoon, The heaf s infernal and owls are nocturnal.

I hope the sun sets soon."

The shrew who had been caught by the buzzards was not badly injured. He opened his pouch and offered the owl half a shrewcake which he had been saving. Sir Harry accepted it gravely, bowed politely, then devoured it in a most undignified manner.

"Mmmff, 'sgood, scrumff, 'slovely!"

288.

The poetic owl waddled along beside Matthias as the warrior mouse explained their position. ' "I'm afraid we're very low on supplies. We could only manage to feed you with the same amount as we are rationed to. Don't tell me you really suffered from conscience pangs, Sir Harry. You must have another reason for flying all this way to be with us."

"I'd call that a very smart guess. In fact, you've called my bluff. My reason, I must confess, Is not for food and stuff. I get tired of being alone, Can I come along with you? I've heard you talk of your home. Could I live at Redwall too?"

"Humph! Pesky bird would scoff us out of the blinkin' Abbey!" Basil snorted huffily.

Matthias glared reprovingly at the hare. "Basil! Courtesy and good manners cost us nothing."

The old hare blinked grumpily and unfolded his ears. "Oh well, in for an acorn, in for an oak. I s'pose it'd be all right for him to live at our Redwall. Huh, save me gettin' all the jolly blame any time a mouthful of food goes missin', wot?"

Sir Harry did a hop and a skip.

"I knew you'd see things my way. If s settled then, it's done. And if food goes missing I'll say, 'Blame me, sir, I'm the one.'"

"Don't worry, I will, old chap," Basil muttered under his breath.

Orlando reared up, shading his eyes with a big paw.

"I see a black shadow. Maybe that is the black line on the map. We should make it sometime about sunset."

Matthias pulled the map out. "Hmm yes, a sort of broad black band. I wonder what it is."

289.

Basil was stil! muttering to himself, "Huh, soon find out, I s'pose. If if s anyttun' to eat, I'll bet that owl gets there first. Hmph, poetry indeed!"

Orlando's estimate was correct. It was just as the sun began dipping beyond the western horizon that they stood on the edge of the great gorge. They gazed awestruck at the ma.s.sive fissure splitting the land asunder. Orlando and Matthias peered over the edge. "By the fur and claw! Look at that!" "How are we going to cross a gap that wide?" Sir Harry sat back on his tail feathers.

"Tho' I'm the most poetic of birds. Right now I'm lost for words!"

Log-a-Log whirled his sling and shot a stone down into the abyss. There was neither sound nor echo came back.

Orlando quoted the lines of the poem from memory: "Shrink not from the barren land Look below from where you stand, This is where a stone may fall and make no sound at all."

Jabez shook his head in wonderment. "So this is what a broad black band on a map looks like."

290.

37.

Half-eaten fruit, some of it rotten, lay scattered between the upturned beds, torn sheets and stained walls of the once neat dormitory, and a window had been broken so that the magpies and rooks could fly in and out at will. The fighters of General Ironbeak had smashed the small wooden lockers and tables. They lay about in the wreckage, some sleeping, others eating. Ironbeak had taken the infirmary and sickbay as his headquarters. Mangjz explored the cupboards, poking his beak into Sister May's collection of herbal remedies.

"Yagga! Why do these stupid earthcrawlers keep dead leaves and gra.s.ses? They are not good to eat, so what use are they?"

Ironbeak perched on Sister May's wooden stool. "Who knows, Mangiz. That is nothing to do with our problem. I am certain that the earthcrawlers have plenty to eat and drink down in that place called Cavern Hole. The time is coming when we will have to think about an attack. We will go in there and drag them out."

Mangiz stood on the medicine cupboard, shaking his head. "That would be like using a boulder to crush an ant, my General. I am sure there must be a better answer to your problem."

"Then tell me, Mangiz. You are my seer. Are the pictures becoming clear in your mind again?"

"My vision is still clouded by the mouse that wears armour, but I am not relying on dreams and visions; soon now I will think of an idea."

"Kacha! Then think quickly, Mangiz/ or the summer will be gone. When the brown leaves blow and the wind becomes cold, I want those earthcrawlers to be only a memory as I rule in my great redstone house."

Foremole had wasted no time. He and his crew had tunnelled through from Cavern Hole to the grounds.

They emerged by the west wall, poking their snouts out into the sunlight. "Hurr hurr, you'm may's well try an' keep waiter in a sieve as stop'n uz moles agoen whurr we do please." "Aye, Jarge, whyrr to naow?" "Oi'm a-thinken us'd best tunnel to pool." "Burr, then to Miz Cornfl'er's liddle 'ouse by yon gate." "Doant ee forget a noice deep'n to orchard." Soon a veritable network of tunnels was under construction.

Rollo was not too pleased. They had taken the big table for the barricade and now he had nowhere to camp. He soon cheered up when Ambrose Spike allowed him to help with the hammering and nailing of the barrier. Chairs and benches, cupboards and shelves, together with the large banqueting table, were placed across the bottom step of Cavern Hole. Ambrose and Winifred had given it a lot of thought. There were s.p.a.ces to fire arrows through, slits for javelins and spears, plus a form that the defenders could stand upon to sling stones over the top at the enemy.

The Abbot and Sister May had done a thorough stocktaking of all food in the larders and drink in the wine cellar, and there was little danger of provision shortage.

Constance checked the weaponry. Besides the stand- 292.

ard arms, there were lots of kitchen utensils that could double as fearsome implements of war. The badger brandished a copper-bottomed saucepan thoughtfully.

"What d'you think. Cornflower?"

"It would make quite a fetching war helmet for you, Constance."

Brother Sedge s.n.a.t.c.hed it from the badger. "D'you want Mossflower vegetable stew with dumplings or not?" he asked crossly.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't know you were planning to use that saucepan."

"Here, take this rolling pin. If 11 make a useful club. And put that frying pan down, please. I'm cooking redcurrant pancakes with apple slices," Brother Sedge told the badger indignantly.

"Oh, er, right! Is this pan all right to borrow?"

"Perfectly. Then I won't have to make any hazelnut cream sauce to pour over my pancakes."

Constance put the pan down quickly. "No hazelnut cream sauce, unthinkable! Brother Sedge, I've just had a splendid idea. Why don't you invite the birds down to lunch and feed them to death. Hahaha!"

Brother Sedge picked up a ladle aggressively. "Are you insulting my cooking, badger?"

Cornflower shook with mirth. "Oh dear, no. I'm sure she meant the remark as a compliment. Come on. Constance, lef s see if any of the gardening tools can be of use to us."

They retreated chuckling as Brother Sedge sliced apples savagely.

Foremole reappeared through the tunnel entrance into Cavern Hole, He waved to the Abbot. "Looldt yurr, 'dalfus zurr, fresh watter aplenty!" Motes climbed out, bearing buckets of water on poles between them - proof that the tunnel to the pond had been completed. The Abbot was well pleased. "Thank you, Foremole.

293.

Now we have all we need. Look, Mrs. Churchmouse, fresh water, as much as we need."

Mrs. Churchmouse rolled her sleeves up busily. "Wonderful! I think if s high time for somebeast to get a bath."

Rollo gave a yelp of dismay and tried to crawl into the tunnel, but he met Gaffer, who was climbing out.

"Urr you'm be, marm. You scrub that liddle feller noice an' clean naow."

Baby Rollo was carried off protesting loudly, "I wanna be a mole. Moles don't get baffed!"

Mangiz had been thinking very hard. "My General, last time I was in the galleries of Great Hall I saw the mouse in armour. He was not a real live mouse, but a picture on a great doth that is fastened to the wall. The earthcrawlers must value him highly."

"What if they do, Mangiz? A piece of cloth is a piece of cloth. How can this help us?"

"Maybe they value him highly enough to defend him."

"What is going on in your head, my Mangiz? Tell me."

"I am thinking that we will not have to attack the earthcrawlers. If they saw us trying to take the big doth with the picture of the mouse on, they would come out and attack us to save it."

Ironbeak clacked his beak together sharply. "Chakka! We would catch them out in the open. This is a good plan. Mangiz, you are my strong right wing."

The sun slanted through the windows of Redwall Abbey. It shone on the large tapestry in the peace and quiet of Great Hall.

BOOK THREE.

Malkariss

294.

The arrival of a cool summer morning did not make the gorge look any less wide.

Jabez Spike shook his head despairingly. " 'Twould be simpler to float a stone across a river than to get all these creatures across that great dark pit."

Breakfast was frugal and the water ration had run low. They ate and drank in silence. Basil Stag Hare looked longingly at the bushes and vegetation on the opposite side.

"I'll wager there's tender young plants and lots of water over there, wot?" he said wistfully.

Cheek gulped his water ration in a single swig. "Wish you'd stop goin' on about food'n'water, Basil. Otters need water more than some old dried up twig of a hare, /know,"

Orlando strolled moodily round the blackened stakes that had held the bridge. "That fox! He really thought of everything, didn't he?"

Jess had a faraway look in her eyes. She stroked her tail thoughtfully before peering over the edge of the gorge.