The Willows and Beyond (21 page)

What cared they that the Weir’s dull roar grew louder by the moment as the Island raced past? What cared they in those moments for anything, they who had touched the deepest chords of friendship two lives can find?

“Hold her fast, Portly! Let Young Rat climb aboard!”

It was the Otter’s voice, commanding and assured as he and Portly swam alongside, and steadied the boat in the River’s gathering race towards the Weir. While with a swift heave and final push Young Rat was aboard, to the oars in a moment, and had her back under control.

“Has Ratty been taken ill?” said the Otter, for that is how it had seemed to them from the bank.

“Not he, nor I,” murmured the Mole.

“Never felt better’ said the Rat.

“Then why endanger yourselves and the craft like this?”

“Well, she’s in good hands now,” said the Rat unabashed, as Young Rat brought her safely home.

“Never
ever
better, eh Ratty?” said Mole, laughing.

“Never,” said the Rat, climbing ashore. “Now Young Rat, it’s plain for all to see that you have mastered the skills of swimming, but there’s one more thing you must do before I give you your certificate as Able Seaman First Class and Distinction on the Inland Waterways, which you’ve earned many a time since you joined my ship, and never more so than today!”

“Aye aye, Cap’n,” said the youngster with astonishment and glee.

“Look lively now and fetch your father, for he and I have matters to attend to with regard to the journey we’ll be starting together tomorrow for the coast.”

“Ratty!” cried the Otter in astonishment.

“Aye aye, sir!” cried Young Rat, beginning to see the import of what the Rat said.

“And another thing,” continued the Rat, growing more like his old self by the minute, “take charge of portering this craft overland to below the Weir, and have her moored and ready there, the gear stowed and all ship-shape for eight bells in the morning.”

“Aye aye, sir!” cried Young Rat, setting off at once to break the news to his father.

As he went off, and the Otter and Portly hauled the boat ashore, the Mole laughed with pleasure and excitement, as he had not been able to do for months past.

“Now, Mole, I’ll need your help with the victualling while I get my gear ready”

“Aye aye, Cap’n Ratty, sir,” said the Mole with a grin.

Then the Rat laughed too and it seemed to the Mole there was a look in his eyes as fresh and lively, as young and contented, as up and doing, as the very first moment he had met him so many years before.

IX

A Public Hearing

That evening, the Sea Rat having immediately declared himself in hearty approval of the Water Rat’s accompanying him upon his travels to warmer climes, the news of Ratty’s impending departure soon travelled along the River Bank, and brought with it a rush of excited chatter and several visits to the Rat’s home.

First the Otter and Portly came by again and gave their glad approval, for they had seen at once the wisdom of the Mole’s advice, and the practical good sense the Rat showed in accepting it. Then the Badger arrived, somewhat distracted and hardly able to believe his ears, though he too approved the plan, which added greatly to the Rat’s confidence in the matter.

“But I trust your normal good sense will curb the Sea Rat’s wilder and more unruly ideas,” said the Badger, “and that you will travel slowly at first and build up your strength once more.

“I shall!” said the Rat, whose bag — for that was all he intended to take — was already packed, and whose staff— for that was the only protection he intended to carry —was by the door.

Then Toad arrived, whispering to Badger that, “all is arranged, as only Toad of Toad Hall
can
arrange such things!”

“You’ll say goodbye to Master Toad for me, won’t you?” said the Rat.

“No need, dear chap,” said Toad, “he has a special dispensation to come down to see you off, and in any case, he also has certain information that Badger needs.”

“Yes, gentlemen,” said Badger, “and it is information that concerns you all. My farewell to Ratty can wait till the proper time, which is tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, I am very much aware that this may be the very last opportunity we have to discuss together, in the Rat’s presence, a matter that may well benefit from his advice, and one it would be remiss of me not to raise while he is still among us.

“Speak out, Badger,” said the Rat, “and we will tell you what we think, just as we always have!”

“Very well: you will remember that some time ago I heard rumours that the Wild Wood is under threat of being cut down in the name of advancement to be replaced by houses. Well, it seems that the rumours are not without foundation!”

Suddenly the room was silent, as the Water Rat and his friends took in Badger’s shocking news. All had hoped this matter had been forgotten.

“There is to be a hearing on the matter in the Town, next month,” continued Badger. “In brief, the scheme proposes to fell the Wild Wood in two phases — the first part, further away from the River Bank but up to my own home, this year, and the second part, right down to the River Bank, next year. We will all be affected in some way — even Toad, for I understand his estate is under threat as well!”

Toad nodded unhappily.

“Two
years hence, gentlemen,” said Badger grimly, “there will be no Wild Wood left — unless we put a stop to this scheme!”

“We shall!” some cried.

“We must!” others declared.

“However, I am not confident of the outcome, and a significant portion of those affected, namely the weasels and many of the stoats, support the scheme —“Shame! Down with the rascals!”

“Gentlemen, please!” cried the Badger. “The weasels have represented to me their very strong belief that new accommodation for their brothers in the Town, where they now live in crowded slums, should be provided here — though I believe the stoats are divided on the issue.

“I can only remind you how important it is that those who have views on the matter, whatever they may be, should express them forcibly in writing — nothing less will do — to the personage whose address I shall give you in a moment, and you should also be willing to attend the Public Hearing in Town upon the twelfth day of May.”

“We shall!”

“We must!”

“Surely,” cried the Otter, “if enough of us are against it they won’t proceed, will they?”

“I fear that they will, Otter. This is not a matter of democracy but of money and influence, and while my Grandson here has been diligent locally trying to gather information about who is behind this scheme, Master Toad — ah, I think I hear him coming at last, so he can tell you for himself!”

There was a loud roaring outside, which came to a sudden stop. The door opened and in came Master Toad, in all the protective gear of a motor-cyclist, for such pursuit he had recently taken up.

After a good deal of further chatter and talk, and a quick display of his new motor-cycling skills, which were still so raw that he very nearly landed up in the River, Master Toad accepted a cooling drink and, prompted by the Badger, told them all that he knew.

Master Toad seemed to have grown up a good deal in recent months, and though he had not yet acquired that comfortable, plumpish build which was so much part of Mr Toad’s persona, he was well on the way to it.

“Mes amis,”
he began, his initial nervousness betrayed by this lapse into his mother tongue, for he was not yet as used as Toad to public speaking, “I shall not waste words but what I ‘ave to say is confirmed by what Grandson has learnt from the workmen who ‘ave been marking out where the trees will be guillotined down and ‘ouses built.

“Three people ‘ave formed what you call a consortium, a group, and have bought the Wild Wood and the canal and a lot more. They do not ‘ave the River, that’s the Monarch’s, nor the land on the other side, because the Village owns that —“

“Who are the three rogues who want to cut down the Wild Wood?” asked Nephew.

Master Toad paused for effect and said quietly, “They are friends of my pater.”

“But, Toad, surely you can make them see sense,” said the Mole. “Wherever did you meet these vagabonds?”

“In court,” said Toad in a subdued voice, “which is just it, don’t you see? The three scoundrels Master Toad refers to are the Most Senior Bishop (whom he and I once insulted) and the Commissioner of Police (from whom he and I once went on the run) and the Very High Judge (before whom he and I have appeared in a variety of ways, though very few of them to our advantage).”

“And these are our enemies?” said the Mole.

“The three most powerful personages in the land after the Monarch,” said Master Toad.

“So our cause is hopeless?” said Nephew.

The Badger hesitated, and glanced at Toad as if the two knew a little more than they were letting on.

“We may not be able to stop this destruction to the River Bank,” he said finally, “but that is not the same as saying there is no way out. There is hope of a kind, but not much. We must attend the Hearing and decide what to do when we learn the outcome. But I would not have been comfortable in this enterprise if Ratty here had not heard this news, bad though it is, and given us the benefit of any thoughts he has on the subject.”

“My thoughts are plain and simple,” said the Rat without demur. “However hopeless the case may seem we must protest and if necessary fight! We must never give up. I shall not be here to fight at your side, much though I would wish it, but Mole will speak for me, should the need arise, and if it helps, let him join my name to those of every other protester! We must not give in till the last, and then —“And then, Ratty?” said the Otter. “What then?”

“Then, my friend, be practical. Do not waste time on a lost cause. Turn your minds to other ways of going forward, however hard they may be, however impossible they seem. That’s something Mole here taught me long ago — and I shall carry it with me on my journey, as I hope you will bear it in mind in the months ahead. More I cannot say.

But it was enough, quite enough, to give a harder edge to the purpose the Badger had shown them, and the sense that though the Rat himself might not be with them, his spirit would always be at their side.

Thus did the Rat’s last evening among them end, and they all dispersed, promising to be up and ready the following morning to see their friend off upon his travels.

Dawn came bright and early, and full of the hustle and bustle of new life, of new arrivals — and new departures.

“It was on a day such as this that we first met,” declared the Rat as he and the Mole, accompanied by the Sea Rat and the others, with the exception of the party from Toad Hall who had yet to arrive, set off for the far side of the Weir, “and it is fitting we have another such morning on which to make our farewells.”

“How I shall miss you!” cried the Mole, who felt excitement for the Rat and sadness for himself in equal measure.

“I shall be back, Mole, in good time; and you did say, did you not, that you would wait for me?”

“I
did,
Ratty, and I shall, always! But write to me occasionally and let me know you’re well and have seen at last those places whose names you know only from the atlas and the Sea Rat’s tales.”