Snuff
Decent workers, you might be surprised to know. A bit weird in their ways, not the fastest, but once theyâve got the hang of what you want them to do you can just leave them to it until you tell them to stop. I pay them half what I pay humans and I reckon they do twice as much work, and do it better. Be happy to hire another hundred if they turned up.â
âBut you pay them far less than humans?â said Angua.
Harry gave her a pitying look. âAnd who else would pay them anything at all, love? Well, business is business. Itâs not like I chain them down. Okay, not many people would want to employ goblins on account of the stink, but I know by the wrinkling of your pretty nose, captain, that I stink too. It goes with the job. Besides, I let them stay on my land and they make those weird little pots in their spare time, and I see to it they donât have much of that, and when they have enough money for whatever they want, they bugger off back to where they came from. Young Slick and his granny are the only ones thatâs ever stayed. Gonna make a name for himself, that one.â
âWeâd like to talk to some of the goblins about the pots you mentioned, if thatâs okay by you, Harry?â said Carrot.
Harry King smiled and waggled a finger at him. âNow, Iâll take that from you two, because weâve all seen a bit of the world and know whatâs what, but outside this office itâs Sir Harry, okay? Personally, I ainât all that bothered, but her ladyship is a stickler, oh my word, yes! Nose so high in the air it brings down sparrows, Iâm telling you! Still, I canât say it does any harm.â Harry King, or possibly Sir Harold King, thought for a moment. âOut of interest, why do you want to talk about goblin pots?â
Angua hesitated, but Carrot said, âWe are both very interested in goblin folklore, Sir Harry.â
Harry King chuckled. âYou know, I never could read your face, Captain Carrot. Iâd hate to play poker with you! Okay, itâs not my business, Iâll take you at your word. Just you go down the steps and make your way to the sorting belts and find Billy Slick, and tell him that Harry King would deem it a favor if he would be so good as to take you to see his old granny, okay? No need to thank me, I suspect old Vimes put in a good word about me to Vetinari when the medals was being given out, if you know what I mean. They say one hand washes the other, but I bet that when it came to old Harry King it had to scrub.â
T hey found Billy Slick stacking old copies of the Ankh-Morpork Times onto a truck. You could always recognize a goblin, although this one, in his grubby overall, looked like any other working man in the place. The only difference was that he was a goblin working man.
Carrot tapped him gently on the shoulder and Billy looked round. âOh, coppers.â
âWeâve come from Harry King, Billy,â said Carrot, adding quickly, âYouâve done nothing wrong. We just want to learn about unggue pots.â
â You want to learn about unggue?â Billy stared at Carrot. âI know I ainât done nothing wrong, guv, and I donât need you to do the telling of me and I wouldnât touch any of those bloody pots to save my life. Iâm working my way up, I am. Canât be bothered with fairy stories.â
Angua stepped forward and said, âMr. Slick, this is quite important. We need to find someone who can tell us about unggue pots. Do you know anyone who can help?â
Billy looked her up and down superciliously. âYouâre a werewolf, ainât ya? Can smell you a mile off. And what would you do if I said I didnât know anybody?â
âThen,â said Carrot, âwe would regrettably have to go about our business.â
Billy looked sideways at him. âWould that be the business of giving me a good kicking?â
The morning sun shone on Carrotâs enthusiastically polished breastplate. âNo, Mr. Slick, it would not.â
Billy looked him up and down. âWell, thereâs my granny. Maybe sheâll talk to you, maybe she wonât. Iâm only telling you that much because of Mr. King. Sheâs right careful about who she talks to, you may bet your helmet on that. What do you want to talk about pots for, anyway? She hardly gets out of bed these days. Canât see her doing a robbery!â
âNor do we,
Weitere Kostenlose Bücher