“No! Go ’way, leave me alone.”

Orlando lost his temper. He took the battleaxe by its head and made a mighty sweep at Cheek with the long handle.

Darkness had practically fallen, and the young otter did not see the axe handle coming. It struck him a blow and pushed him off into the water with a loud splash. “Yah gerroff, you great stripedo—”

Splash!

Cheek could not deny his birthright; he was an otter through and through. As skillfully as any fish, he cut through the water surrounding the raft, appearing alongside Basil.

The hare looked at him suspiciously. “You’re chewing, young Master Cheek. Where are you hidin’ the food?”

Cheek smacked his lips. “Little fishes. The river’s swarmin’ with ’em, there must be millions. Taste lovely, though. I’d have got into the water sooner if I’d known I wasn’t goin’ to be afraid and all this food was here.”

With that, he disappeared beneath the surface and began filling his stomach with the finny delicacies. Cheek was biting back.

*   *   *

On shore Stonefleck rapped out orders to one of his Captains. “Light some flaming arrows. Shoot at the raft. Hurry, or they’ll paddle it out of our reach. Tell the others to get the ferry going. See if we can get closer. The rest of you, keep firing.”

The rat Captain looked questioningly at Stonefleck. “But surely they’ll be eaten by the fishes?”

Stonefleck fired off an arrow before replying, “It’s the otter. I forgot about that one. He’ll eat those fish like a pig at acorns.”

“But there’s far too many fish for him to eat, Chief. The water’s alive with ’em,” the Captain argued.

“Fool! Once those fish sense there’s an otter in the water, they’ll stay away from that area. Then those creatures will be able to paddle the raft out into the mainstream current. I want to finish it here tonight, not in the morning a night’s march down the bank. Now get about your business.”

*   *   *

Matthias heaved a sigh of relief. “Whew! At least those fish aren’t biting so much.”

Cheek popped up beside him. “Yum, yum. You’ve got me to thank for that!”

Orlando ducked him back under with a big blunt paw.

“Stop gabbing and keep scoffing. You to thank indeed! You mean you’ve got my axe handle to thank. And don’t think you won’t taste it if you don’t keep those fishes away, young otter.”

The night sky was cut by the light of a flaming arrow which shot through the dark to bury itself in the side of the raft.

Jess put it out by squirting a mouthful of water at it. “Fire arrows, Matthias,” she remarked. “Look, I can see by the light of their fire that they’re launching a raft.”

Matthias redoubled his efforts.

“Hurry, everybeast, kick out as hard as you can.”