"Brian Jacques - Redwall 10 - The Long Patrol" - читать интересную книгу автора (Jacques Brian)

Saithe gave Tammo's ear an extra tweak as she admonished him: "Colonel wants a
word with you, wretch, about his battle-ax!"

Tammo finally struggled free and reluctantly marched off between the two
hulking hares, muttering rebelliously to himself, "Huh! I can tell you what
he's goin' t'say, same thing as usual."

The young hare imitated his father perfectly, bowing his legs, sticking out
his stomach, puffing both cheeks up, and pulling his lips down at the corners
as he spoke: "Wot wot, stap me whiskers, if it ain't the bold Tammo. Now then,
laddie buck, what've y'got to say for y'self, eh? Speak up, sah!"

Lynum cuffed Tammo lightly to silence him. "Enough of that. Colonel'd have
your tail if he saw you makin' mock of him. Step lively now!"

The Long Patrol 5

Entering the largest of the conifer groves, they headed for a telltale spiral
of smoke that denoted Camp Tussock. It was a rambling stockade, the outer
walls fashioned from tree trunks with a big dwelling house built of rock,
timber, moss, and mud chinking. This was known as the Barracks. Motes,
squirrels, hedgehogs, and a few wood mice wandered in and out of the homely
place, living there by kind permission of the Colonel and his wife, Mem
Divinia. Some of them shook their heads and tuttutted at the sight of Tammo
being led in to answer for his latest escapade.

Seated close to the fire in his armchair, Colonel Cornspurrey De Fformelo
Tussock was a formidable sight. He was immaculately attired in a buff-colored
campaign jacket covered with rows of jangling medals, his heavy-jowled face
shadowed by the peak of a brown-bark forage helmet. The Colonel had one eye
permanently closed, while the other glared through a monocle of polished
crystal with a silken cord dangling from it. His wattled throat wobbled
pendulously as he jabbed his pace stick pointedly at the miscreant standing
before him.

"Wot wot, stap me whiskers, if it ain't the bold Tammo. Now then, laddie buck,
what've y'got to say for y'self, eh? Speak up, sah!"

Tammo remained silent, staring at the floor as if to find inspiration there.
Grunting laboriously, the Colonel leaned forward, lifting Tammo's chin with
the pace stick until they were eye to eye.

*' 'S matter, sah, frogs got y'tongue? C'mon now, speak y'piece, somethin'
about me battle-ax, wot wot?"

Tammo did what was expected of him and came smartly to attention. Chin up,
chest out, he gazed fixedly at a point above his father's head and barked out
in true military fashion: "Colonel, sah! 'Pologies about y'baltle-ax, only
used it to play with. Promise upon me honor, won't do it again. Sah!"