The wildcat sat down amid silence, which suddenly gave way to loud applause for his noble words.

Ben Stickle shook him firmly by the paw.

“Mr. Gingivere, sir, it’ll break Ferdy an’ Coggs’ liddle ’earts to know you’ve gone away. But one day I’ll tell ’em when they’re old enough to understand. Thankee for looking after my liddle ’ogs, sir.”

Bella banged upon the table.

“As you are aware,” she continued, “our friends from Loamhedge and the Foremole’s crew risked life and limb to find out about Kotir. Old Dinny, I believe you have something to tell us?”

The ancient mole tugged his snout to Bella, then spread a barkcloth scroll across the table.

“Hurr, now this yurr’s Koateer, see. We’m been a commen an’ goen all the wrong ways. See yurr, this’n’s a map of b’low cells. They’s a gurt cave an’ lake under Koateer, also a tunnel wot’ll lead ’ee out into an ’ollow stump in woods.”

There were murmurs of wonderment from the onlookers. Old Dinny rapped a digging claw on the tabletop.

“Foremole an’ oi bin a-plannen. ’Ee’ll tell about it; oi baint one furr speechen.”

Foremole threw up his paws and announced in a clear no-nonsense tone, “Fludd ’er out. Charmania woant stay in no floaten ’ouse.”

Hubbub broke out. Columbine rushed to Foremole’s side, waving the scroll aloft.

“Please, listen to what I have to say,” she shouted over the noise.

Abbess Germaine looked proudly at her ward as she began to speak.

“I was with Foremole and Old Dinny when we made the plan. Let me explain. First, it relies on the fact that Kotir lies in a land depression. Mossflower Woods itself is actually on much higher ground. The moles have studied the landfall.”

Columbine laid the scroll out, pointing at two areas of the table as if referring to a larger map.

“Over here and over here, the River Moss runs on a northeast course through the woods, then takes a sharp bend to the west. Sometime in the past there must have been a large lake where Kotir now stands, but this dried up when the river changed its course. We have since found the remains of that lake in the cave beneath Kotir.”

Lady Amber did not see the point. “But how does that help us, Columbine?”

“Let the maid tell it,” Skipper whispered in her ear. “I think I’ve guessed the plan, though.”

“If the moles were to dig from where the river is closest to Kotir,” Columbine continued, “they could make flood tunnels from the banks of the River Moss down to the lowland and straight into the cave beneath Kotir.”

Realization dawned upon Lady Amber. “Then the old lake bed would fill up again!”

Excited shouts rang out.

“They’d be flooded!”

“Kotir would sink beneath the lake!”

“Good riddance too, I say!”

Skipper bounded up onto the table. “If we can make sluicegates, me and my crew will sink them on the riverbank to hold the water back until the tunnels are complete.”