Kachooch beckoned along the bank with her rudder. "Bless their liddle spikey 'eads, they're in the holt, playin' with me'n Barbowla's grandbabes. Shame on ye, lettin' 'em get away from ye like that!"
Maudie intervened. "It wasn't our fault, marm, we were fightin' off the rats, y'see."
Kachooch pursed her lips angrily. "There's far too many
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o' those brown, ratty murderers for most honest beasts to fight off. They does as they pleases around Mossflower these seasons!"
Barbowla towed an upturned logboat further down the bank, to where a number of his sturdy sons and daughters turned it upright with a joint heave. "That Gruntan Kurdly's like all bullies, he'll meet his match one fine day, an' I hopes I'm around t'see it. Come to the holt an' take a bite with us, yore Guosim's all safe'n'sound. There should be plenty o' plugs'n'dips to go round."
Luglug smacked his lips noisily. "Plugs'n'dips, eh, lead on, me barrel-bellied bucko!"
Maudie accompanied Kachooch, enquiring, "Beggin' y'pardon, marm, but what in the flippin' name o' seasons is plugs'n'dips?"
The big otterwife chuckled. "You'll soon find out, missy."
The otters' holt was on an island further downstream, they took the logboats and paddled to it. Barbowla and his extended family had built the holt like a small fortress, from log and stone chinked with moss and rivermud. Inside it was a scene of comfortable chaos, homely and welcoming. Barbowla and Kachooch had a large number of sons and daughters, all of whom had partners and broods of small otters. Together with the Guosim, and their babes, there was a considerable number of creatures to feed.
Maudie found herself ensconced in a corner, with Kachooch and her eldest daughter, Belford. The haremaid was given a wooden skewer and a clay bowl, whilst Belford went to the main cooking fire in the centre of the holt. Maudie went also, just to see what was going on. There was a massive cauldron into which the cooks were adding a mixture of cheese, cornmeal and finely chopped herbs. The haremaid's curiosity as a cook overcame her. She asked Belford, "I say, it all smells jolly appetisin', what exactly are they doin'?"
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The ottermaid took up a pan. "That's the dips, they say the herbs are a secret recipe. I'll get our dips, you go over there an' get the plugs."
Maudie went to the other side of the fire, where more cooks had a couple of old iron shields, which they were using as roasting pans. She watched them pounding hazelnuts and chestnuts with chopped mushrooms. Pouring honey over the mixture, the cooks made it into lots of tiny cakes, roasting them on the shields. They sizzled as they rolled about, until they were hot and a deep brown colour.
One of the cooks filled a trench-shaped platter, passing it to Maudie. "Yore plugs, mate. Go easy, they're hot. You'll enjoy 'em, if'n you haven't tasted 'em afore!"
The haremaid curtsied politely. "Thank you, I'm sure I jolly well will, wot!"
Back with Kachooch and her daughter, Maudie skewered one of the plugs, dipping it into her bowl, which had been filled with the steaming mixture from the pan. She had to nibble at it delicately, because it was all very hot. However, Maudie voted plugs'n'dips as among the tastiest food she had ever eaten.
"Absobloominlootly scrumptious! Why've I never had this before? Top marks, you chaps, eleven out of ten I'd say!"
One of the cooks, a young fellow with a fine voice, began singing an old otter ballad, in praise of the delicacy.
"When I was a babe my ma would say, Guess what I made for dinner today, blow on your paws an' lick yore lips, 'cos I've cooked up some plugs'n'dips!
"Oh plugs'n'dips you can't go wrong, you'll grow up so big'n'strong, ain't no bones or stones or pips, just good ole fashioned plugs'n'dips!"
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Barbowla joined Maudie and the two otters, helping himself to plugs'n'dips. The haremaid marvelled at how he could swallow them down hot at a single go. The otter chieftain patted his stomach and winked at her. "I tell ye, Miz Maudie, you got to learn to git yore share an' scoff it quick, when you got a family the size o' mine. Moreso when the likes o' Luglug an' his famine-faced gang joins ye for dinner. Huh, lookin' at the size o' them shrews I alius asks meself, where do they put it all?"
Maudie smiled at the big, friendly otter. "Serves you jolly well right givin' the Guosim such wonderful vittles, old chap. I hope Log a Log Luglug thanked you properly for rescuing his shrews, wot?"
Kachooch refilled Maudie's bowl. "Ah, away with ye, missy, we don't need lots o' fancy compliments for doin' wot any decent beast would. Dearie me, though, I'm still chucklin' at that coracle full o' Guosim babbies!"
Selecting a fat plug, Maudie skewered it. "I expect it was quite a task, finding them all in that rough water, how did you do it, marm?"
Kachooch shook with stifled laughter. "We didn't have t'do a thing, they didn't even get their liddle paws wet. The coracle came down, whirlin' like a sycamore seed, with the babes gigglin' an' chortlin' like it was all a big game. Well, there must've been about six or seven of us in the water at the time, we never even saw it comin', did we, Bel?"
Her daughter, Belford, grinned ruefully. "Certainly didn't, Ma, it landed right on our backs, an' skidded across us, straight onto the bank!"
Barbowla showed Maudie the top of his head. "Aye, an' I've got a patch o' fur missin', 'cos I was the one it landed on first!" Barbowla's face was such a picture of injured dignity that Maudie had to struggle to look sympathetic.
"Must've been pretty painful for you, sah. Sorry about that, but we were on the run from the enemy an' all that, y'know. Pity you were injured, eh wot!"
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Barbowla nodded. "Thankee, miz, but it ain't nought to weep over. I'm more worried about Kurdly an' his rat horde. If they're trailin' you an' the shrews, then 'tis for sure they'll bump into us. We wouldn't stand a chance agin the numbers Kurdly commands."
Maudie realised the position their arrival had put the otters in. She grasped Barbowla's paw firmly. "Indeed, sah, that's why I suggest you come to Redwall with us, that'll put your family out of harm's way, wot!"
Kachooch practically wriggled with delight. "Ooh, Red-wall Abbey! I alius wanted to visit there, ain't that where yore cousin Rorc is, Skipper?"
Barbowla shook the haremaid's paw. "Good idea, miz, I'd like to visit the Abbey, ain't never been there afore." He glanced warningly at his wife and daughter. "Not a word o' this to the others, y'hear. The length o' time they takes gettin' ready for a journey, Kurdly'd be here attackin' afore they're half-packed."
Belford contained her excitement. "Yore right, Pa, we'll just say the family's joinin' the Guosim to guide 'em along the stream apiece. Maudie, d'you think Luglug would object to takin' our babes along in his logboats? The rest of us are all strong swimmers, we don't need to ride in boats."
Maudie reassured the otters. "Rather, I'm sure our Log a Log would welcome your plan. Come on, Barbowla, let's have a quiet word with him."
Luglug immediately agreed with the plan, taking them to one side, and lowering his voice. "I'll go along with any-thin' you say, mates, but we'd best do it right now. Two o' my rearguard scouts have spotted the rats, they're startin' to climb down the rocks either side o' the falls. Just leave things as they are an' git yore liddle 'uns into the logboats, matey. The way I figgers, it'll be a close-run thing to shake off those Brownrats an' make it to Redwall Abbey!"
Barbowla's eyes narrowed craftily. "I knows the waterways twixt here an' Redwall better'n most, beggin' yore
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pardon, Luglug. There's lots o' streamlets an back cuts, dead ends an' marshes. Let me lead the way, mate?"
Luglug nodded briefly, explaining to Maudie, "He's right, there's quite a few places an otter can go, where a logboat crew might not see a passage."
The haremaid threw a smart salute to Luglug and Barbowla. "Right y'are, chaps, quick's the word an' sharp's the action, wot, forward the blinkin' buffs I say!"