Not wanting to continue the dispute, Grakk held up a paw. "Keep yer voice down, mate. I believe ye. So, if'n ye can't see the big rabbets anyplace around, let's grab those three young uns an' get movin' fast, while the goin's good."
Flib had been knocked out cold by a blow from the club, which had once belonged to the vermin. The small fox kicked her spitefully.
"I should kill ye right now for wot ye did to us!"
Grakk slammed his spearpoint into the ground beside the fox. "Ye can cut that kinda talk, or ye'll answer to Zwilt the Shade. You'n'yore mate, lash 'er paws t'gether an' sling 'er on the spearpole. Are those two young 'ogs ready t'go?"
Jinty and Jiddle sat terrified, with their mouths gagged. A weasel bound their forepaws, dragging them upright.
Grakk blindfolded them and tapped both their snouts with his dagger point as he hissed savagely, "One wrong move an' we'll roast ye for dinner. If'n ye want t'live, then do as yore told, got it?"
Not waiting for them to nod, he shoved the young hogs roughly. "Now, git goin'--move yerselves."
The Ravagers sped off into the night, prodding their captives forward.
Flib was still unconscious, hanging from the spearhaft as the burly weasel and the small fox hurried to keep up with the others.
The early noontide peace was shattered as Redwall's twin bells, Matthias and Methuselah, tolled out a brazen alarm.
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Casting dignity to one side, Abbess Marjoram hurried about, yelling, "Everybeast to the east wallgate. There's two Dibbuns missing. Has anyone seen Guffy and little Tassy?"
She was intercepted by Granvy. The old hedgehog scribe tried to calm her down. "Mother Abbess, we don't know if they're lost out in the woodlands. They may still be within the Abbey. Who can explain what Dibbuns get up to? Listen, now, you go inside, take Friar Soogum and whatever kitchen helpers he has to spare. Search inside the Abbey from attics to wine cellars. Guffy and Tassy may be hiding, or perhaps merely taking a nap."
Marjoram managed a smile. "Yes, you could be right, my friend. If they're in there, I'll find the scamps. But where are you going?"
The Recorder tapped the side of his snout knowingly. "I've got an idea. You know I just said, 'Who can explain what Dibbuns get up to?' Well, I think I know the answer. Other Dibbuns! When I began looking for Guffy and Tassy, I saw the Dab gang over by the gatehouse, playing near the steps. I'll ask them."
Marjoram looked puzzled. "The Dab gang?"
Granvy chuckled. "Haven't you heard of the Dab? Dibbuns Against Bedtime, that's their initials."
The Abbess nodded. "Of course. I'd just forgotten about it. Right, you go and see them, and I'll search the Abbey building. Good luck!"
By teatime that afternoon, there was still no sign of the missing Dibbuns. It was a worried gathering of Redwallers who sat upon the main Abbey steps. Friar Soogum passed around with food and drink, doling it out to everybeast.
"C'mon, now, eat somethin' for seasons' sakes. It won't do any good if'n ye make yoreselves ill with hunger. Oh, there's a thought, Skipper. I'll wager those two liddle rascals will show up once they get empty tummies!"
The Otter Chieftain sighed. "Ye could be right, Friar, but
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they already 'ad vittles at lunchtime, so they won't be 'lingered just yet. Wot luck did you 'ave, Granvy?"
The hedgehog Recorder scratched his untidy beard. "Well, I should've expected not to get much sense out of Dibbuns. One small wretch said that he actually saw Guffy and Tassy fly up in the air, when I asked him where they went--he said right up over a moon! I quote him literally. Another fanciful little miss said that the big butterfly had eaten them, and some other tiny fibber said Friar Soogum had made them into soup. Though most just spread their paws and said 'Gone!' Just as babes will, no explanation but 'Gone!' So, that's the sum total of my information."
Skipper sipped a beaker of cold mint tea. "Well, me an' some others searched outside the east wall. We had no real luck, though. Most of the ground an' foliage was well trampled by the tree trimmin'. Creatures goin' to an' fro there, haulin' branches. That's all the tracks I could make out. We'll have to range further into the woodlands if'n we're searchin' for pawtracks."
The Abbess enquired hesitantly, "Will it be very difficult to find the prints of two little ones, Skipper?"
The big otter's brow furrowed. "It always is with babes, marm, but they ain't the tracks I'd be lookin' for."
Tollum Bellringer nodded toward the woodlands. "You mean vermin tracks, Skip--is that wot yore thinkin'?"
To save upsetting everybeast further, Friar Soogum spoke. "Well, now, me'n' the Abbess an' our party, we still got plenty o' searchin' yet t'do. We scoured the cellars, Great Hall, an' Cavern Hole, too. We're up t'the dormitories so far. But there's still the attics. Though why anybeast in their right mind would want t'go wanderin' up in those dusty ole chambers is beyond me. You scouted out yore Infirmary yet, Sister?"
Fumbril replied promptly. "First thing I did, Friar. Every-thin' is as it should be, no sign o' Dibbuns!" The otter paused, tapping her rudder thoughtfully. "Er, Friar, I just thought o' somethin'. That stoat vermin we caught in yore
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kitchens--it might be worth talkin' to him about our Dibbuns. "lis worth a try, eh?"
Skipper clenched his paws. "Yore right, Sister. Don't fret, if that un's got anythin' t'say, I'll learn the truth, one way or another, trust me. Where's the wretch now, Friar?"
"When we went off t'search the cellars, I tied him to the leg o' my heavy ole worktable, good'n'tight."
The young stoat, Globby, was watching them from an upper dormitory window. He saw the Friar making paw movements, telling Skipper how he had bound his captive to the table leg.
Globby chewed on an oat farl which he had stuffed with cheese, smiling over his easy escape. Hah, that stupid old fool had only tied him by the footpaws. The Friar was in too much of a hurry to join in the search for the precious little ones.
They had left him alone--everybeast from the kitchens went along with the Friar, and the mouse they called Mother Abbess. Idiots! He had watched Soogum cut the length of cord to tie him with. Unbelievable! The old duffer had left his knife on the table and dashed off. Globby cut himself loose, tucked the knife into his belt, helped himself to a few vittles and sneaked out of the kitchens.
The moment he put his head outside the Abbey door, though, the young Ravager saw that it was not going to be so simple escaping from Redwall. The grounds were being combed by Redwallers, both singly and in small groups. Globby retreated from the door as he heard some moles passing by.
"Yurr, Gurrfa, us'n's bee's best lukkin' round unner ee windows--they'm moight 'ave leaved tracks!"
Flattening himself against one of the sandstone columns in Great Hall, the stoat saw Drull Hogwife passing, holding two Dibbuns' paws.
"You lend me some 'elp, my dears, an' don't go strayin'
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off, now. Two Dibbuns is enough loss for one day. Let's take a look round by the tapestry."
When they had gone, Globby ventured out. He avoided going downstairs, knowing the cellars were being searched. Upstairs, that was the place to hide, and he had heard one of the kitchen helpers saying that the dormitories were upstairs. Not knowing what a dormitory was, Globby hurried up the stairs. Opening the first door he came to, he was confronted by neat rows of little truckle beds.
So, dormitories were bedrooms. He was learning all the time. Hearing voices approaching, he nipped inside. Partially closing the door, he peeped through the crack.
Sister Fumbril and a squirrelmaid Infirmary helper bustled by, talking animatedly.
"We'll search that sickbay again from top to bottom!"
"I'll check all the big linen cupboards, shall I, Sister?"
"Good idea, Twissle. That's always a favourite Dibbun hidin' place."