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

"You'd have to be a robber and travel wide to get stuff like this, eh, young un?" Dandin said cheerfully to Bowly.

Bowly nodded sagely. "Aye, that y'would, Sir Dandy."

"Robbers must have to be good cooks. What d'you say, Bowly?'' said Mariel, sipping some mint tea appreciatively.

' 'No, marm, some robbers is slavers too. They catchers a liddle slave an' makes 'im do all the work. Robbers is awful creaturesЧthey beats their slaves an' ties 'em up nights to a post wi' a big 'eavy rope, like that'n yonder."

The weasels were very nervous now. Dandin caught their attention as he slit a pancake neatly in half with the keen edge of his dagger. His voice was low and dangerous as he said, "I don't suppose honest creatures like you would know of two such slavers, would you?"

Agric developed a sudden stammer. "N ... n ... no S ... sir!" he squawked, his throat bobbing nervously.

Bowly gurgled, spraying mint tea as he tried to suppress an attack of the giggles. The weasels were robbers and bullies, but when faced with the two warriors they were cowards.

Dandin stared hard at the trembling slavers and, picking up the willow cane, he swished it under their noses. "Mariel, what d'you think, are these two telling the truth?"

The mousemaid strode across to the wooden post the weasels had driven into the ground to tether Bowly. She unfastened the short, heavy rope from it. Winking at

;; Bowly and Dandin, she began tying a solid, complicated 4 knot in the rope's end. "Oh I don't know," she said. ;:< *'They look like fairly respectable beasts to me."

From the weasels* food cache she produced half a dozen mixed beech and hazelnuts, still in their shells. * Placing them in a line on a flat rock, she turned to Spurge and Agric.

"See this knotted rope? I used to own one like itЧ called it my Gullwhacker. I could lay a big seabird flat with one blow. Now I can't see any gulls hereabouts, but there1 d be other things to whack if I thought certain creatures were lying to us."

Spinning the knotted rope in a skillful blur, Mariel dealt six lightning blows to the nuts on the rock.

Whack! Smack! Crack! Thud! Bang! Splat!

The weasels squeaked with fright. Trembling, they stared wide-eyed at the line of kernel and shell fragments, which was all that remained of the six nuts. Mariel dangled the Gullwhacker a fraction from their noses. "See what I mean?"

Bowly grinned from ear to ear as he patted the weasels none too gently on their heads. "Nay, nay, you've made a mistake. I c'n see these are two good vermints. Why, I wager given arf a chance they'd thank us for callin' in to brekkist an' give us water 'n' vittles to 'elp us pore travelers on our way, wouldn't you?"

Spurge and Agric took the hint swiftly. Leaping up, they loaded their food and drink store into the haversack. Bowly stood by, tossing the two hard oatcakes up and down.

"These be my throwin' rocks. I been knowed to fetch

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foebeasts down at fair distances with 'em, cos I be a warrior too, see."

Dandin removed sufficient supplies for a day from the pack and laid them in front of the weasels. "You haven't had breakfast yetЧhere, take this with our compliments. We're traveling south. Which way are you bound?" Spurge shrugged unhappily. "North, I think, sir." Mariel swung the Gull whacker expertly across her shoulders. ' 'Well, keep an eye out for those two thieving robbers we mentioned, and be carefulЧit's dangerous country out here."

Dandin spun his dagger in the air. Catching it by the hilt, he thrust it into his belt. "Aye, take care; never know who you might bump into.'"

And the three friends strode off calling cheerful goodbyes to the crestfallen weasels.

Thoroughly refreshed, they stepped out with a will. A mere half morning's walk brought them in sight of green, hilly scrubland and the promise of gentle, fertile countryside. Bowly trudged alongside Mariel, tossing his two oatcakes in the air.