Page 20 - Fables volume 3

“Thanks for nothing, Miss Pondscum!” The ferret’s eyes flashed
resentment. “I risked life and limb to get this information. Listen:
I’ve got this straight from the horse’s mouth. That wasn’t a clean
race.”
“What!” McFletcher was outraged. “You saying the fix was in?”
“No, no,” rasped Gnasher. “The hare was doped. I followed the
money. It’s those Cock brothers, Game and Poppy: they talked that
smart-ass into taking five thousand mikes of leporine peptide. He
might have gotten all of it out of his system in time, but he took a
long nap near the last lap, and his kidneys stopped flushing it. The
vet will be confirming it any minute.”
“Ha!” spat Kangaroo. “That settles the rabbit’s hash. Automatic
disqualification, not to mention suspension and disgrace. Good. Now
we can face the mob.”
But before officialdom could pronounce judgement, a squirrel
leapt from an overhanging branch onto the table.
“Nibbles!” cried Fancylegs. “I nearly jumped out of my skin—
don’t do that!”
“I’d send you a telegram if you could read, you old flycatcher.
Listen to what I found out.”
“Okay, out with it. We had hoped to be done with this mess,
already.” Owlish blinked more rapidly than necessary. He was on the
verge of taking flight, despite knowing that swifter avian raptors were
among that ugly horde of barely civilized creatures now advancing
toward the officials’ table.
“Right, Boss. I passed the reserved mud puddle and overheard
Piggy Banks boasting to his buddies that he had paid plenty to make
sure the tortoise won, and that he intended to bribe you to make it go
his way.”
“You mean—?”
“Yeah. They spiked his salad with tortesone, to make sure he
wouldn’t stop moving, no matter how tired he got. Of course they
gave him enough for a pig’s breakfast, not a turtle’s. So there was a
lot left in his bloodstream. The lab results are on the way, but I knew
you’d want me to scoop it.”
“Uh, good work, Nibbles.” Cappy was unenthusiastic. “Well, now
we can really make a final decision. Anyone who gambled on this
deserves what they’ll get. Not our fault!”

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