Chapter 2

Redwall Abbey stood tall in the morning sunshine, and two creatures were visible from the dormitory windows; one a young hedgehog, the other an old mole, who was trying to get the hedgehog out of bed.

"Coom on, zurr. Brekkist be's ready!" said the mole.

"Do I have to, Pollur? I'm not even hungry," grumbled the hedgehog.

The resident hare popped his head in. "Did I hear not hungry? Can I have your scoff, eh wot?"

"Shoo, Furrel, you'd eat all of our food if we said yes," said Nomak the hedgehog, still trying to sleep.

The hare nipped back out and came back a few seconds later with a plate of food.

"D'you even want one bally bread crust, or can I scoff it all?" Furrel said.

"I don't care, as long as you gerrout of my room!" replied Nomak. "Shoo, did you hear me? Shoo!"

The hare rushed out, and before long Nomak and Pollur could hear sounds of Furrel stealing food from the kitchens, and he came rushing back past the room, followed by the squirrel Friar Durbee, chasing Furrel with a wooden ladle.

"Come back this instant, d'you hear me? I said come back!"

The hare was eating on the go, and as he was running down the stairs he tripped and the plate went down the stairs and broke into pieces. The fat Friar tripped over Furrel, and they both went tumbling down the stairs, landing on the broken plate, much to the surprise of the mouse at the landing.

"Agh, I've got glass shards in me bottom!" cried the hare.

Durbee had shards in all four paws, and he was having trouble walking. The mouse on the landing, Brother Ellor, took them to the infirmary, where the glass was removed, with much complaining from Furrel.

"You're tryin' to hurt me, I know it!" exclaimed the hare.

Durbee, meanwhile, was having trouble not moving, as he was worried about a strawberry pie that was in the oven. The kindly Pollur went to the kitchens and checked on it.

"Yurr, et bain't burnt, but et's nearly ruined, so oi taken get out. Et be's waitin' on yurr table in ee corner."

"Thank you, marm, I was worried I had spent two hours making it for nothing!" replied the friar.

The shards had been removed by then, and Durbee was not having trouble walking anymore. He thanked Brother Ellor for the help.

"Now I can keep Dibbuns and hares away from my kitchens!" said the squirrel Friar. "Now, where has that pie gotten to...? Furrel! Out of my kitchens immediately!" He picked up the wooden ladle again and began chasing Furrel with it. There were two mice sweeping up the glass in his path, so Furrel jumped over the broom and glass and kept running. Friar Durbee could not jump over the glass and the broom, so Furrel escaped with the pie. Durbee ran back up the stairs, around the dormitory, down another set of stairs, and into Great Hall, where the breakfast dishes were being cleaned up. By that time, Furrel was long gone. The fat Friar said to himself,

"So I really did spend those two hours for nothing. How aggravating, that Furrel. I wish I could teach him a good lesson with my ladle, but Abbess Bluebell says no violence. I guess all Abbots and Abbesses are like that. Oh well."

At lunch, Furrel and Friar Durbee sat on opposite ends of the table from each other, the squirrel glaring icily at the hare, who was ignoring Durbee and eating ravenously.

"Grmff, chmp! I say, absoflippinlutely scrumptious! More October ale, please. Also some o' that pie, would you?"

Pollur passed the October ale, but not the pie.

"Nay, zurr, you'm already eaten an entoire pie, Furrel!"

"No I haven't, I only ate seven slices, an' there were eight," replied the crafty hare.

"Oh, foine, but only wun sloice!" said Pollur.

After lunch, the Dibbuns went out to play. Nomak went back to his room and slept, with Pollur close by, as usual. Brother Ellor tended to a young squirrel that had fallen out of a tree, and Furrel searched for table scraps, while Friar Durbee chased a runaway Dibbun out of a pie shell, and then the Dibbuns were brought inside, as it had started to rain. The runaway Dibbun had escaped outside, so six mice and two moles went to look for her. They found the tiny mousebabe under an old wheelbarrow, eating raspberries which she had picked from the garden. The Dibbuns played under the table for a while, and then afternoon tea was served. As usual, Furrel was the first one sitting at the table.

Meanwhile, the two weasels Kagget and Cudder had stumbled on a small home with three moles living in it. They set the home on fire. Two moles escaped by digging, but the young one was not strong enough and the weasels caught him, blindfolded him, and tied the mole to a tree. Kagget tried to get information from him, but he could not understand the molespeech and scratched the poor mole several times because of it. Cudder interfered and also tried to get information, but also could not understand, and the mole was whipped ten times by both weasels. At noon they ate more apples and tubers and fed their captive five hard strawberries. The mole was still hungry, and tried to eat the tree and his bonds, but the weasels tied the ropes tighter and tied the mole's mouth shut. The mole whimpered in pain.

Back at Redwall, things were going well. Nobeast had to go to the infirmary, nobeast went outside in the pouring rain, and Furrel had not stolen any food from the kitchens. Had anybeast peeked into Nomak's room they would have seen Nomak and Pollur, both fast asleep, Nomak lying on the bed, Pollur sitting in the chair. The hedgehog and the mole were both peacefully resting, both unaware of the vermin in Mossflower wood nearby. Supper went well also, with Furrel surprisingly not eating much and retiring to his room early, and no Dibbuns overeating or stealing food from the other creatures sitting next to them. The Dibbuns were shepherded to the dormitory, where they fell asleep without too much trouble, except Furrel complaining of a sore stomach, but after a bit of time Furrel was marched to the infirmary to get physicked.

"Argh, you're poisoning me! Villains, bounders, wot? No more, I say!"

Furrel was forced to have extra medicine by Brother Ellor, as a result of the pie incident earlier. The hare kept complaining until Ellor said,

"Keep complaining and even more medicine goes down your throat!"

Furrel immediately fell silent.