"Very nice. But have you tried blackberry muffins soaked in warm honey with a
few beakers of iced strawberry cordial to wash 'em down?' *
"Gaw! Stoppit, Splittie. You're reminding me of that time when old Lord
Greeneyes had a plunder feast at Kotir. Those were the days! I had iced
strawberry cordial in a big drinking bowl, with mint leaves floating on it and
crushed raspberries too. I remember I sucked it all through a cornstraw. Whew,
I must have supped enough of it to have a good bath in."
"Yurghh!" Scratch called out in disgust. "I was enjoying that until I had a
vision of you, all covered in mud and muck, sitting in a bath of iced
strawberry cordial with two mint leaves stuck up your snout and a pile of
crushed raspberries shoved into your ears. Doesn't bear thinking about.
Anyhow, why don't you two shut your traps and keep your eyes on those three
ahead?"
Dinny was first to gain the low hills. He ran up one side and rolled down the
other. Martin and Gonff joined in until all three were dizzy. They ran onward
as the shadows began to lengthen. Gonff gradually dropped back. He was
breathing heavily. When they turned to look he waved his paws.
"Keep going, mateys. Phew, this is much harder work than thieving."
Without hurting Gooff's feelings, they slacked their pace to match his. Martin
noticed that the blob on the horizon they had seen earlier that day was not
merely a low cloud bank.
"Look, Gonff. It's a range of mountains. Big ones, too. What d'you think,
Din?"
The young mole squinted hard to bring the view into perspective. "Ho boi urr,
that they be, Oi reckons that be whurr the teeth o'land reaches up to ate
woolen sheeps, wi' they gurt 'eads in clouds."
"Clever, Dinny mate," Gonff nodded admiringly. "Ex-146
«ctly as the poem says: 'Afar the teeth of land rise up to bite the wool of
sheep.' They look quite close, but don't let that fool you. We've got a fair
bit of traveling to do before we reach them."
Dinny risked a backward glance through a fold in the hills. , ,**Hurr, they
vurminbags be none closer either. 'Spect us'ns be moightier runners."
Scratch had taken the lead again. He knew the others were hungry and sure to
follow. Trying to keep their quarry in sight was difficult, as they were often
hidden by the hills. Descending the first low hill, he stopped to extract a
burr from his pad. The other two ran slap bang into him from behind.
"Clodhoppers!" he shouted. "How is it that you have all this open country to
run in, yet you both manage to crash into me? What d'you think this is, a game
of leapfrog?"
More bickering and backbiting ensued. Scratch ended the dispute by banging
their heads together. "Look, it's nearly dark now and I've gone and lost 'em,
thanks to you two Oafs!" He gritted his teeth in frustration.
Martin and Gonff prepared the evening meal while Dinny enlarged a small hole
on the far side of the final hill. In a short while they were happily
installed in a superb little cave, pinny had even dug a ledge halfway round
for them to rest on. The three friends lay on the ledge, eating their supper
! and watching the crimson underbellies of purple cloud rolls
; as night took over from the long, hot day.
$cratch and his minions sat out in the open on top of the highest hill, hoping
that they might catch sight of the others at next daybreak. • Night on the
open lands was both cold and windy.
Chibb paced the mantelpiece at Brockhall, relating all he had
beard at Kotir.
The Corim were worried by this new theat to Ferdy and ; Coggs. "Hmm, this is
an unwelcome development." Lady %Amber waved her bushy tail anxiously. ':.:
The robin ruffled his crimson breast feathers importantly. I**Ahem, harrumph.
On the surface it would appear to be so.
147
However, our wildcat ally in the prison said to tell you that he may be able
to forestall Tsarmina's plans awhile."
Bella looked up to the mantelpiece. "How will he manage that, Chibb?"
The robin folded his wings behind as he explained. "Well, ahem, 'scuse me.
Gingivere has taken a stone from the walls on each cell, as you know. He
proposes to hide both Ferdy and Coggs in his own cell, after sealing the
wallholes up. That way, if the enemy do not think of searching his cell too
closely, they will naturally suppose that the two prisoners have escaped."
There was wholesale approval for the clever plan.
Skipper had an additional idea. "Hark, now. What if we was to pretend that
Ferdy and Coggs were saie with us? That'd take suspicion off Gingivere."
"How will we manage that, Skip?" Bella was curious to know.
"Easy, marm. We'll find two other little hedgehogs and disguise 'em, then let
'em be seen by someone from Kotir."
"Good thinking, Skipper," Bella said with approval. "But now we'll ready have
to think of how we can rescue Ferdy and Coggs. Gingivere's plan is brave and
daring; however, it puts all three at great risk."
Lady Amber shook her head. "Where do we get two little ones that look like
Ferdy and Coggs?" "You may lend my liddle Spike an' Posy," Goody said from the
doorway. "Long as they don't come to no 'arm. Though I must say, they don't
look a smidgeon like my Ferdy an' Coggs. I can tell my liddle ones apart like
apples from nuts."
Abbess Germaine tapped a paw to her nose. "Two blanket cloaks, two saucepan
helmets, a piece of stick each, like swords of make-believe warriors. I think
that would fool anyone from a distance, Goody. But what about a rescue
attempt? Have we any kind of firm plan?"
"You leave that to old Skip, marm." Skipper laughed drily. "Bula, you take
charge of the crew while I'm away. I think I'll pay the Mask a visit."
"What's the Mask?" Several woodlanders voiced the question.
"You'll soon see!" Bula winked.
148
22
Consternation reigned at Kotir.
A luckless stoat had been "volunteered" from the cell guards by Fortunata and
Cludd, and he was pushed unwillingly into Tsarmina's chamber.
"Er, your Maj of the green Queenest, er upper of all ruler and lower Moss. Er,
er . . . The prisoners have gone!"
"Gone! What do you mean, gone?" The wildcat Queen left her seat in a single
bound and picked the stoat up by his throat.
"Yuuurrkkgghhaaaarrr . . . 'Scaped." Tsarmina threw the gurgling heap to the
floor. Her voice .L-echoed in the stairway as she dashed down to the cells.
;,* "Escaped? Impossible! Guards, get down to the cells quickly."
The cells were searched. The corridors were scoured. The outer walls were
surrounded. The parade ground was gone over inch by inch. The barracks were
turned inside out. Not a room, passage, cupboard, chamber, kitchen,
guard-fcouse, or scullery remained unprobed.
Gingivere, however, was officially nonexistent. His cell was .',j6ot searched.
Nobody thought of looking in a prison cell that ~%«s already bolted and
barred. J Except maybe Tsarmina.
149
Columbine sat up, rubbing steep from her eyes.
Was it night or day? she wondered. How long had she slept in this warm dry
cavern? Everything seemed so quiet and peaceful after the noise and panic of
the battle she had witnessed. There was an old patchwork quilt covering her.
She pushed it to one side as a little molemaid entered.
"Mawnen to 'ee. Wellcum t'Moledeep. Brekkist be ready."
She followed the mole into a larger cave, where Ben Stickle and the
woodlanders who had been injured sat with the Loamhedge mice and the mole
community.