"07 - The Bellmaker UC" - читать интересную книгу автора (Jacques Brian)

There followed a deep chuckle from outside as Joseph replied, "Saxtus, have you dozed off in there? Come on, dinnertime!"

Hitching up his robe, the Abbot hastened to open the door. ' 'Good afternoon, Bellmaker, or is it early evening? No matter. I cast aside the pen in favor of the spoon."

Joseph was a strongly built mouse, with a neat gray beard and a cheerful manner. He patted the Abbot's stomach playfully. "Aye, I think the spoon is your favorite weapon these days, great Father Abbot."

Saxtus strode out ahead of the Bellmaker, to show him that a bit of extra weight had not slowed him down. "Hah! 'Great Father Abbot,' indeed! I'm only slightly older than your daughter. As for you, graybeard, you're old enough to be my father!"

Joseph matched his stride, eyes twinkling mischievously. Walking across flower-bordered lawns, they headed toward the main Abbey building. It loomed massive against an early-evening sky, ancient red sandstone tinged dusky rose, framing a harlequinade of stained-glass windows by the glow of a lowering sun. The Bellmaker stepped up his pace, leaving Saxtus panting in his wake.

"I may be old enough to be your daddy, but I'm still spry enough to be your son. Come on, Father, keep up!"

"Enough, enough. Slow down, ageless one!" said Sax-

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tus, catching hold of his friend's sleeve. "Why is it that everybeast seems to be in a hurry today? Look, there's Foremole, going as if his tail were afire. Hallo, sir!"

The Redwall mole leader halted and, tugging his snout respectfully, he addressed them both in quaint mole dialect: ' 'Gudd eve to ee, zurrs. Whurr be you uns a-rushen to?"

He fell in step with them as Joseph replied, "We weren't really rushing, just stepping out a bit on our way across to dinner."

"We'm gotten guestbeasts furr dinner," said Foremole, wrinkling his button nose sagely. "Oak Tom an' Treerose cummed in from ee woodlands."

Saxtus raised his eyebrows. "Well, that is a pleasant surprise. We don't see enough of Tom and his wife at Redwall. Those squirrels spend most of their time in Mossflower Wood together. Never know where they are from one season to the next. Any other guests?"

"Hurrhurrurr!" Foremole's dumpy frame shook with a deep chuckle. "Oi'd say ee best step out fast agin, zurrs. Missus Rosie an' Tarquin, they'm bringed all thurr h'infants to ee Abbey furr to stay awhoil."

Saxtus threw up his paws in mock despair. ' 'Great seasons of famine! Tarquin and Rosie Woodsorrel with their twelve young hares, that's fourteen walking stomachs altogether. They'll eat us out of house and home, then pick their teeth with the doornails!"

"I don't mind not eating," said Joseph, clapping the Abbot on his back happily. "My dream is beginning to work out."

Saxtus halted beneath a drooping lilac. "What do you mean by that, friend?"

The BeUmaker 41

"I can tell you this much," the Bellmaker said, stroking his beard thoughtfully. "Martin said some things to me in my dream last night of which I can only speak later on. But the first words he spoke I will repeat now. They went like this:

With sixteen more faces at table, Bellmaker recalls his quest. At daylight's last gleam you'll remember My words whilst you were at rest."

Foremole scratched his velvety head saying, "Wot do et all mean, zurr?"

Joseph shrugged, but Saxtus nodded wisely. "It means that Martin will reveal all when the time is right."

Joseph continued walking to the Abbey. "I'm glad you said that, Saxtus," he said, "because beyond those few words the whole thing is very hazy. I can't remember anything else Martin said."

The Father Abbot deliberately steered the conversation away from his friend's dream, knowing that, if Martin had spoken, all would be revealed in good time. He held up a paw. "Listen, Joseph. I love to hear the sound of your bell!"