Mossflower Redwall 2 Brian Jacques

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The impetus was not sufficient to carry him across; he wavered in the air and began dropping back. Martin
made a mad dash. Catching the pole low down, he thrust against it and whipped back with all his force.
Dinny was catapulted away from the pole across the ditch. He hit the far bank near the top and was
grabbed by Gonff, who helped him to scrabble out. Dinny lay kissing the grass, thankful to be back on firm
ground.
Martin s strength and fearlessness helped him to make the crossing with ease. He quite enjoyed the
sensation of flying through the air. When Dinny was fully recovered, they commenced their journey into
the flatlands.
They were not long gone when Blacktooth yawned and stretched himself in the ditch. The trackers had
camped a short distance south of the vaulting area.
Splitnose rolled over in his sleep and slid from the narrow strip of dry bottom into the slimy shallow
water.
Yaauugghhh! You lousy vermin! Who did that? Come on, own up!
Heeheehee! You did it yourself, puddenhead. It s a wonder you never carried on snoring.
What, me, snoring? Have you ever heard yourself? Sounds like a goose gargling.
Rubbish. I never slept a wink. Oh, I dropped off for a moment or two a while back. Funny, though. I
dreamed I saw a mouse, just up that way apiece. Guess what? He flew across the ditch.
Heeheehee oh ahaharr! He wasn t followed by Cludd pretending to be a swallow, was he?
Ha, you can laugh, fatty. But it was almost as if I was awake. The mouse flew, I tell you.
Fatty yourself! That s what you get for hogging all those rations last night. It was a nightmare brought
on by pure greed.
It was not. It was more like a daymare brought on by the hunger. I m starving.
Scratch ignored their arguing. Pulling himself from the ditch, he took a chunk of bread from his pack
and began munching it.
Splitnose and Blacktooth stopped fighting to complain.
Oi, that s not fair. You re supposed to be the leader. It s up to you to see we re properly fed.
That s right. I ve only got a stingy little bit of crust and it s sopping wet from that stinking ditch
water.
Contemptuously Scratch threw a crust on the bank edge. There you are. First out gets it.
The ferret and the stoat fought tooth and claw. They kicked each other down in an effort to be first out
of the ditch. Blacktooth won. He grabbed the crust as Splitnose wailed piteously, Give me some, Blackie.
Go on. I d give you half if I had bread.
No you wouldn t, stoatface.
Yes I would.
Wouldn t.
Would.
Blacktooth relented with bad grace. Oh, here, scringetail. Don t pig it all down in one gobful.
Aaahh, that s not fair. You ve got the biggest half.
Scratch had wandered farther up the bank. He chewed on a young dandelion, pulled a face, spat it out
and shouted, Hoi, you two, stop bellyaching and look at this.
They ambled up, chewing the last of the crust. What is it?
Scratch shook his head in despair. What do you think it is, loafbrains? Look, it s the track of those two
mice and the mole. See, here and here, the pawprints are as clear as day. They re traveling west.
Splitnose found the pole and held it up triumphantly. Aha, another clue. They must have used this to
climb out of the ditch on.
Oh chuck it away, bouldernose, Scratch sneered. Huh, you ll be telling me next that they used it to
fly through the air on. Come on, you two. At least we re on their trail.
From the topmost branches of a beech on the south side of Kotir, Chibb checked the straps on his pack
before flying off to the cells. Brush and Birch watched him flying into the thin dawn light, then Brush
readied the next pack.
Shouldn t take too long, then we can nip back and see how the battle s going.
Birch looked to his quiver. I m nearly out of arrows. Bet the others are, too. Tell you what you stay
here and see to the robin while I swing back to base. I ll gather all the arrows I can lay my paws on from
the stores and take them to our archers.
Good idea. See you later, mate.
Around the back of the elm, it was only a short distance from the heavy loam of the woodlands. Foremole [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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