Columbine's eyes went wide with amazement. "Would he really?"
Gonff winked at Martin. Cartwheeling suddenly, he shot across Columbine's path
so close that he brushed by her face. With a squeak of shock she put up her
paws. Martin shook his head seriously.
"You see, they don't call Gonff the Prince of Mouse-thieves for nothing. Have
you counted your whiskers?"
Columbine put her paws up then dropped them smiling. "Oh really, you two!"
Gonff bowed and produced two thin strands. "What do you think these are, O
wise beauty?"
Columbine's mouth fell open. "But, I didn't feel a thing."
Billum had caught up. He chuckled and scratched his snout. "Nor oi wagers you
didden, missie. They whiskers is offen Gonff. Tha's 'ow you'm never feeled
owt."
Lady Amber pointed at a long-dead elm covered in ivy. She held up her paw for
silence. "Hush now. This is Chibb's
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*s home. We don't want to frighten him off. Gonff, you do the
* talking."
Gonff rapped upon the trunk of the elm and shouted up toward a hole left by a
broken branch, "Hey, Chibb! Come out, you old redbreast. It's me, Gonff."
There was no response, Gonff tried again. "Come on, matey. We know you're in
there. What's up? Don't you want to earn some candied chestnuts?"
Billum opened one of the bags and selected a large nut.
**Harr, may'aps you'm roight, Gonffen. Us'ns could ate chesknutters an' do 'ee
jobs ourselfs."
The mole popped the dark sugar-glazed nut into his mouth, licked the sweetness
from his digging claws and chomped away with an expression of rapture on his
homely face.
**Umff, gurr, oo arr, mmmmm!"
Much to Columbine's amusement, Gonff did likewise, imitating perfectly the
mole speech and gesture.
*'Hurr, oo air, Billum, these yurr be fiirst-clarss chesknutters. Hoo arr,
that they be."
They had eaten a nut apiece when a bout of nervous coughing erupted from the
branches of a nearby rowan. "Err, harrumph, ahem hem!"
Chibb puffed out his chest importantly, ruffling his feathers to increase his
stature. He paced a branch with wings folded behind him in a businesslike
attitude. Politely he cleared his . throat once more before speaking.
"Harrumph, ahem, 'scuse me. Let me warn you before we proceed any
further, if anyone eats another nut I will judge it an insult, then of course
you will have to take your business elsewhere, ahem."
"Please consider what I say before answering." Martin
responded in an equally formal tone. ' 'I have been authorized
to make you an offer. Here are our terms: you, Chibb, will
'Spy on Kotir and find out what plans are being made by Tsar-
mina against the woodlanders of Mossflower. The Corim wish
to know all details of any reprisals or attacks directed at our
Creatures. For this you will be paid two bags of candied chest-
nuts now and a further two bags upon bringing back your
Information. Is that agreed?"
Chibb cocked his head on one side. His bright eye watched
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Gonff as he picked crumbs of chestnut from his whiskers with his tongue. The
robin coughed nervously.
Columbine had assessed the situation correctly. She interrupted in a more
friendly tone. "Of course the nuts will be carefully counted, Mr. Chibb. The
bags will be completely filled. I will see that four more nuts be added as an
interest for the two that have just been eaten, and another four added as
evidence of our good faith in your well-known skills."
Chibb shifted his claws and fixed Columbine with a quizzical stare. "Ahem,
hem, you are the one from Loamhedge they call Columbine. I shall do business
with you, harrumph, 'scuse me. These others are not required for our
dealings."
Lady Amber breathed a sign of relief. Chibb could be incredibly pompous and
stubborn; thank the fur for the good sense and initiative shown by Columbine.
The robin flew down and bowed courteously to the Loam-hedge mouse. "Aherrahem!
There is, however, one small matter that may cost an extra nut or two ..."
Billum nudged Gonff. "Oi 'spected thurr moight be, hurr hurr."
Chibb ignored the mole. "Harrumph, yes, there's the question of the eagle,
Argulor. Ahem, as you know, he is back in the area of Kotir. This puts an,
ahem, element of risk upon my espionage activities."
Columbine nodded in agreement. "Indeed it does, Mr. Chibb. I appreciate this.
Should you be attacked or injured in any way by large birds, we propose in
doubling your fee. Do we have a bargain, sir?"
Chibb was almost dumbfounded by this generous offer. He held out a claw to
Columbine. "Er ahem, a bargain, Miss Columbine. A bargain indeed!"
Paw shook claw. Lady Amber interrupted to give details of the spying mission
to the robin, Gonff tossed the two bags expertly up into Chibb's home hi the
elm, and goodbyes were made all around as the friends departed. A few paces
into the undergrowth Lady Amber held up a paw.
"Hush! Listen!"
Silently they tried to stifle their laughter as the sounds of Chibb reached
them. The robin was stuffing himself with his fee, coughing with excitement as
he crammed candied chestnuts into an already overflowing beak.
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'' Ahemcawscrunffmmmharrumphcrunch!'' Martin held his sides as tears from
stifled laughter ran down his cheeks. "Hahaha, oh dear, listen to that. Oh,
the little glutton! Columbine, whatever possessed you to offer him a double
fee like that?"
Columbine leaned up against a tree, helpless with mirth. "Well I, oh,
heeheehee, I could have offered him ten times the fee, if I'd have thought,
ohahaha. Imagine a robin coming back to claim a fee after being attacked by a
golden eagle, - hahaheeheee. There wouldn't be enough of him left to make a
smear on Argulor's beak. That eagle could scoff Chibb in a half-mouthful,
hahahaha!"
Tsarmina stood at a barred window in full view of Argulor's perch.
"I'm here, you great feathered blindworm," she called.
Argulor took the bait; the fierce instinct of his ancestors would not allow
him to do otherwise. The eagle launched from his perch with a blood-chilling
screech, diving like a great winged missile at his insolent tormentor.
Tsarmina danced triumphantly and laughed aloud at the sight of the half-blind
eagle smashing against the barred window. "Haha, you blundering old feather
mattress. Dozy farmyard fowl."
Argulor struggled awkwardly on the narrow window ledge, trying to marshal his
wings into a proper flying position to regain what was left of his dignity.
The great eagle slipped from the sill, landing on the ground. He had to resort
to an 'ungainly lopsided shuffling run to attain flight.
Tsarmina purred aloud and dug her claws into a rug, open-Ing and closing them,
reveling in the pretense of pinioning lietpless woodlanders in her needlelike
grip, puncturing imaginary hides. Suddenly she whirled over, tossing the rug
Tiigh in the air. Leaping upon it, she rent it fiercely with her savage
strength. Fragments of the flayed rug flew about the toom as she ripped and
slashed. Hairs and fibers floated in fine sunlit shafts from the bars, dancing
with golden dust
•^inotes on their way to the floor.
* Filled with exuberance, the big cat paced restlessly. Soon ;% bunch of
woodlanders would be marched in, sniveling and bound, to await her pleasure.
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And what pleasure! Some she would deal with personally; otters, yes, she would
take them down to the Gloomer's lake and see how well they would swim bound up