Saro tugged the hare’s tail. “We’re all walkin’, ole gabby gob. We’re walkin’ t’bring back somethin’ that’ll make yore sister Martha walk. So stop moanin’ an’ keep walkin’.”
The otter glanced over his shoulder, turning his attention on Springald and Fenna. “Ahoy there, you two. Keep yore faces like that an’ it’ll rain afore long, ye mis’rable pair o’ mopes!”
Springald dragged her paws in the dust, replying sulkily. “There’s nothing at all wrong with our faces, thank you. Anyhow, you wouldn’t understand.”
Saro piped up from behind. “Why wouldn’t we unnerstand?”
Fenna pouted. “ ’Cos you just wouldn’t, that’s all!”
Horty could not resist smirking. “They’re jolly miserable because they’ve been parted from old Jigger an’ his pal, wotsisname, Cuddles! Oh lack a day an’ woe are they! I expect your little hearts are breakin’, wot?”
Kicking dust at the mocking hare, Fenna shouted, “His name isn’t Cuddles, it’s Wuddle, and he’s far nicer than you, Horty Braebuck. So there!”
Skipping ahead of the two maids, Horty made an elegant leg and bowed with a flourish. “Fie upon you, marm, there’s nobeast nicer than the charming I. Not in all the lands, or the river. Not like those two spike-headed water whompers who caterwaul songs like stricken ducks!”
This time it was Springald who kicked dust at Horty. “You vain, pompous, floppy-eared boaster!”
Horty was about to kick dust back, when Bragoon grabbed his ear and tweaked it soundly. “If’n ye value yore ear, then stop embarrassin’ those maids, right now! All three of ye are startin’ to try my patience. Come on, Spring, cheer up. You, too, Fenn. It won’t be long afore ye see those young shrews agin. Quit bein’ so mean to each other, an’ no more teasin’!”
Horty rubbed at the ear that had been tweaked. “Who, me? I barely uttered a blinkin’ word, it was those two who jolly well started it!”
It was Saro’s shout that put an end to the bickering. “Look, mates, there’s the Bell’n’Badger Rocks!”
36
Floating above the heat-shimmered distance, the tops of both stone monoliths were just about visible on the horizon.
Fenna’s keen eyes confirmed Saro’s discovery. “Hooray! You’re right, there they are, I can see them!”
Shading her eyes, Springald stood on tippaws. “They look like one of those mirages that Old Phredd told us about. I wonder how far off they are?”
Bragoon squinted over the wasteland haze. “A fair bit yet, but if’n we press on ’til they’re in plain sight, I’ll call it a day an’ we’ll make camp. I want to look at those parchments from the Abbey. How does that sound to ye, mates?”
Bragoon and Saro watched the three young ones dashing off ahead, their quarrels all forgotten as they shouted to one another.
Saro scratched her bushy tail. “Ha, lissen to ’em, they’re the best o’ pals agin!”
Fenna was shouting, “I’m going to set up camp with the cloaks an’ staffs. Where are you off to, Horty?”
The young hare had put on a spurt, racing ahead eagerly. “Gangway, m’dears, I’m your cook this evenin’. Had lots of valuable experience, y’know. Oh yes, a chap learns a thing or three from those shrew coves, wot!”
Springald kept pace with Fenna. “I want to help Brag and Saro to study those parchments.”
Bragoon and Saro followed the young ones at a steady lope. “Looks like we’ve lost command o’ the quest, mate. Can ye see those rocks clearly yet?”
The squirrel looked up. “Not quite, but it won’t be long now.”
It turned out that the three front-runners were forced to halt quicker than expected. Horty ground to a stop in a cloud of dust. “By the left, right, an’ knock me blinkin’ sideways! How in the name of onion soup do we get across that bloomin’ thing? Looks like the end o’ the flamin’ earth, wot!”
Fenna and Springald joined him, gasping in disbelief at the awesome spectacle that confronted them.
“Whew! No wonder it’s called the great gorge!”
“Good grief, it must be miles down to the bottom!”
Bragoon and Saro arrived on the scene. The otter ventured a glance down into the black chasm. “If’n ye fell down there, that’d be the last anybeast’d see of ye, eh mate?”
Saro, however, was more concerned with the width of the gorge. “Hmm, that’s a wide ole canyon! Don’t matter ’ow deep ’tis, we’ve got to think ’ow were goin’ to cross it. Any ideas?”
Food was the only idea Horty gave priority to. “Let’s get a fire goin’ an’ we can figure it all out over a jolly good scoff. How’s that for a scheme, wot?”
The otter shook his head. “This is strange country, mate. I don’t feel too easy wid the thought of a fire. Pitch the camp an’ see wot ye can make from the packs, Horty. I’ll go off t’the right along the rim. Spring, you come wid me. Saro, you take the left edge. Fenna’ll go wid ye.”
They set off, with Horty issuing dire warnings. “You chaps get back here before dusk, or I’ll whomp up somethin’ absolutely delicious an’ eat it myself!”
Saro glanced across the gorge as she and Fenna explored along the edge of the precipice. “Those two big rocks are plain t’see now, they mustn’t be more than a couple o’ slingshot distances from the other side. We’re so near, yet so far, eh Fenn?”
The squirrelmaid had noticed something down in the chasm. Suddenly her voice became shrill with excitement. “There, that’s how we’ll get across, come and see!”
Saro lay flat on the edge, staring down at the solution to their problem. “Well spotted, young ’un. I almost walked right by an’ missed that. Let’s go an’ tell the others!”
Horty had created a fruit salad from the rations, with elderflower and dandelion cordial to go with it.
They sat eating as Saro reported, “There’s a tree trunk spannin’ the gorge down that way, Fenna spotted it. About the height o’ Redwall Abbey’s battlement, down it lies. I don’t know where it came from or whatbeast put it there, but it bridges the gap alright. ’Tis the longest trunk I’ve ever seen, lodged twixt a crack on one side an’ a narrow ledge on the other. I think we should be able to get down to it on the rope that Cosbro, the old rabbit, gave us.”
Bragoon gathered up the parchments he was about to study. “Let’s go an’ take a look at it.”
The spot where the tree trunk lay was directly in line with the two rocks across the gorge. Bragoon was thinking hard as he gazed down at the long, old span of timber that bridged the chasm.
Springald watched him as he studied the whole thing—the twin rocks, and the tree trunk wedged inside the gorge. “You know something about this, don’t you?”
The otter spread the map he had brought from Redwall. “See here, this is the Bell an’ the Badger Rocks. Now this spot is where the Lord o’ Mossflower once stood. Ole Briggy said that it was a large tree, which had fallen down long ago. I reckon that tree trunk down there is the one that’s marked on the map. After it fell down, some creatures must’ve rolled it into the gorge to make a bridge. I wager it took a lot o’ beasts t’do the job, but they didn’t know they was doin’ us a favour when they took on the task. Is that rope long enough, matey?”
Saro, who had fetched Cosbro’s rope along with her, dangled its length over the side. “Aye, it falls a bit short o’ the trunk, but it’ll do.”
Satisfied, the otter issued orders. “You three young ’uns, go back an’ break camp. Fetch everythin’ back ’ere with ye. Make as little noise as possible. There’s somethin’ about this area I don’t like. It might be only a feelin’, but I’m takin’ no chances. Saro, me’n you’ll rig this rope up. Remember now, be quiet!”