"Dratted, wooly-footed, scatter-brained, little minx, I'll sing her a song she won't forget. Wondering off in these burrows without so much as a "by-your-leave". Get herself thrown in the Locks, she will, and it would serve her right. Rose! Rosie! Where are you? NEEK-BREEK!"
Two guards came creeping down the corridors. "You should be keeping your eyes open for more than insects, Hanos. Morgauth been on tenderhooks for the last week or more, and it isn't over a Neekerbreeker, I've heard."
"You hear too much," Hanos muttered. "It came from right over here. I'll get that little creeper this time, before that 'Neek-Breek' burst my ears. There!" Hamos swung a cudgel against the wall of the tunnel, which promptly broke with a thud and a crack.
His companion laughed and sneered, "That'll come out of your wages, mighty hunter. Did you get 'em?"
Hamos studied the broken pieces of the cudgel. "Not this time. I'll have one of those tunnel-rats make me another club. C'mon."
After the guards had passed, Birdie crawled out of the crack of the wall and continued her search - silently, this time.
|