Urchin and the Heartstone Read Online Free PDF

every day, learning to be a real musician, she didn’t need to dream quite so much.
    Fingal swam in and out of the wharves, popping up now and again and playing hide-and-seek with a little she-otter called Skye, who was just learning to swim. When Captain Lugg finally marched from the ship with a troop of moles and hedgehogs behind him, the animals instantly stopped playing and rushed to press round him. Apple jumped onto the jetty, which creaked. Skye darted back to her mother.
    “Found anything, Captain Lugg?” asked Apple.
    “Spies and swords?” asked Fingal hopefully, and the little ones clamored to know if there was any exciting cargo, and what was it like in there, and could they go on board and have a go at the wheel.
    “Certainly not!” said Lugg. “It’s a king’s state vessel. No weapons. No warriors hiding. Crew unarmed, and not many. I’m reporting to the tower. But she has a ship’s boat,” he went on, winking at Needle. “A little lifeboat. Surprised they haven’t needed it. The crew has permission to lower it, just in case any littl’ uns might like to play in it.”
    There were cheers and shrieks of delight, and presently the ship’s boat was lowered jerkily over the side. As the smaller animals swarmed into it, Apple sat down heavily.
    “It’s a big disappointment,” she pronounced, and sighed. “I couldn’t help wondering if they’d brought a nice young princess along. Or a few to choose from. Mind you, she wouldn’t have to be a princess, it’s more important that she’s a nice—”
    Fingal, who had been admiring the boat, bobbed up from the water.
    “You’re not trying to marry Crispin off, are you?” he said.
    “Well, and why not, and it’s King Crispin to you,” said Apple defensively. “It’s a hard lonely business being king, he needs somebody beside him, a better squirrel than Crispin never set paw to a branch, and besides it’s a waste, a nice squirrel like him not having a wife. There must be somebody on the island, though I don’t know that he’s got his eye on anyone.” She shook her head and sighed again. “If I were younger or he were older, I’d have a go myself.”
    Fingal disappeared underwater. A giggle of bubbles rose to the surface.
    “But, Mistress Apple,” said Sepia gently, “it’s not long since Whisper died. He must still be grieving for her.”
    “Who’s Whisper?” asked a small hedgehog.
    Sepia lifted the hedgehog carefully onto her lap. “Was, not is,” she said. “When Crispin had to go away, he lived on an island with swans and squirrels. He married a squirrel called Whisper. Urchin met her and he said she was kind and lovely, and Crispin adored her. But she died, and Crispin can’t want to marry anyone else yet.”
    “All the same, there should be a family,” said Apple firmly. “And the sooner the better. A proper family in the tower, little squirrels all running and climbing about, an heir, that’s what we want.”
    Fingal surfaced and tried to answer, but he was still laughing too much. He rolled over and slapped his tail against the wharf.
    “I see what you mean,” said Sepia thoughtfully. “Otters are water creatures, and I’m sure Padra won’t want to be king.”
    “Our Padra?” said Fingal, and abruptly stopped laughing. “Hail and plague, he’d have to be, wouldn’t he?”
    “Haven’t you never worked that out?” demanded Apple. “If there’s no family, it’s the next senior captain gets kinged, or queened, or whatever. And I’m sure your Padra would be a very good king, but otters don’t like being away from water, just like moles would rather keep away underground.”
    “I can’t see Arran in a crown, either,” said Fingal. “She can’t even keep her circlet on.”
    “There you are, then, it’s like I told you,” said Apple. “We have to get the king married, and in the meantime, take good care of him and make sure he doesn’t get ill nor hurt nor nothing. Have you got any big sisters,