So empty the cupboard out what d’you see,

A fruitcake for you an’ trifle for me,

There’s bread’n’cheese an’ what d’you think,

A jugful o’ raspberry cordial to drink.

A rowtle tee towtle an’ toora lie ay,

What do you think our old mother will say,

Riddle dum diddle dum derrydown dare,

When she comes home to find her cupboard all bare?”

Dann caught up with Florian, who leaned against the cart wheezing after the performance.

“My word! Not as young as I was last season, wot!”

“Sir, have you seen baby Dwopple lately?”

Florian mopped his brow with a red spotted kerchief. “That scutterbug! Can’t say I have, young laddo, but with a bit o’ luck an eagle may’ve flown off with the blighter!”

Deesum was immediately in the midst of things. “Eagle, what eagle, where? Oh, my poor little treasure, he’s been carried off in the talons of a huge eagle!”

The hare rolled his eyes skyward and sighed. “Dwopple was not borne off by an eagle, marm, ’twas merely wishful thinkin’ on my part. Huh, pity the poor eagle that had the nerve to try an’ make off with that miniature rotter, wot!”

Song reassured her. “I’m sure Dwopple is safe, miz Deesum, somewhere within Redwall, but we can’t find him. Blinny and Wugger, the molebabes, were the last to see him, on the north walltop. We’ve looked, but he’s not there.”

Deesum snatched the kerchief from Florian and wrung it distractedly. “Then we must search until we find the sweet little mite. Everybeast, stop what you are doing and search the entire place. Look high and low, drag the pond and scour the cellars!”

Florian could not resist a dig at the mouse’s dramatics. “Right y’are. I’ll turn out m’pockets an’ comb my fur!”

He wilted as the tough-looking Rusvul caught him tight by the paw. “A babe is missin’. ’Tis no jokin’ matter, an’ you’d do well to quit playactin’ an’ join the search!”

Janglur and Tragglo searched the cellars, Brother Melilot and Foremole Gubbio checked the kitchens. Song and her friends accompanied Sister Sloey through the Infirmary and dormitories. The three otters, Borrakul, Elachim and Skipper, waited until the coast was clear before diving in the Abbey pond and covering every fraction of it carefully. Skipper thwacked his wet rudder on the bank, sending droplets cascading wide. “Thank the seasons the liddle feller ain’t in there!”

Runktipp and the two moles, Roop and Muggle, had patrolled the orchard twice. They tried to comfort Deesum, who wept pitifully.

“There there now, miz Deesum, don’t go gittin’ yoreself all of a tizzy, that mousebabe’s bound to be somewheres in the Abbey or the grounds. Stands to reason, don’t it?”