Snuff

of the Rainbow. Felicity says she’s very smart.”
    â€œWell, I don’t think she’ll get anywhere with Nobby,” said Vimes. “He’s carrying a torch for Verity Pushpram. You know, the fishmonger?”
    Sybil whispered, “She got engaged last month, Sam. To a lad who’s building up his own fishing fleet.” They stared through the leaves and tiptoed away.
    â€œBut she’s a goblin!” said Vimes, out of his depth.
    â€œAnd he is Nobby Nobbs, Sam. And she is quite attractive in a goblin sort of way, don’t you think? And to be honest, I’m not sure that even Nobby’s old mother knows what species her son is. Frankly, Sam, it’s not our business.”
    â€œBut what if Young Sam eats snails?”
    â€œSam, given what he’s already eaten in his short life I wouldn’t worry, if I was you. I expect the girl knows what she’s doing, they generally do, Sam, believe me. Besides, this is limestone country and there’s nothing poisonous for the snails to eat. Don’t worry, Sam!”
    â€œYes, but how will—”
    â€œDon’t worry, Sam!”
    â€œYes, but I mean—”
    â€œDon’t worry, Sam! There’s a troll and a dwarf in Lobbin Clout that have set up home together, so I’ve heard. Good for them, I say, it’s their business and definitely not ours.”
    â€œYes, but—”
    â€œSam!”

D uring the afternoon Sam Vimes worried. He wrote dispatches and walked up to the new tower to send them. Goblins were sitting around the tower now, staring at it. He tapped one of them on the shoulder, handed it the messages and watched it climb the tower as if it were horizontal. A couple of minutes later it came down with a smudged confirmation-of-sending slip, which it handed to him along with several other messages before sitting down to stare at the tower again.
    He thought: you have lived your life in and around a cave in a hill and now here is this magical thing that sends words, right on your doorstep. That’s got to command respect! Then he opened the two messages that had arrived for him, carefully folded up the paper and walked back down the hill, breathing carefully and taking care not to punch the air and whoop.
    When Vimes reached the cottage of the woman who, to Young Sam, would forever be the poo lady, he stopped to hear the music. It came and went, there were false starts, and then the world revolved as liquid sound called out of the window. Only then did he dare to knock at the door.
    Half an hour later, walking with the measured gait of the career copper, he proceeded to the lockup. Jethro Jefferson was sitting on a stool outside. He was wearing a badge. Feeney was learning fast. The constabulary of the Waterside owned precisely one badge, made of pot metal, and so, pinned to the shirt of the blacksmith was a carefully cut-out cardboard circle with, inscribed in painstaking handwriting, the words “Constable Jefferson works for me. Be told! Signed: Chief Constable Upshot.”
    There was a second, empty stool by the blacksmith, reflecting the doubling of the staff. Vimes sat down with a grunt. “How do you like being a copper, Mr. Jefferson?”
    â€œIf you’re looking for Feeney, commander, he’s on his lunch break. And since you ask, I can’t say coppering sits very well with me, but maybe it’s the kind of thing that grows on you. Besides, the smithy is a bit quiet right now, and so’s the crime.” The blacksmith grinned. “No one wants me chasing them. I hear things are happening, right?”
    Vimes nodded. “When you see Feeney, tell him that the Quirm constabulary has picked up two men who apparently volunteered the information that they had shanghaied you, amongst other misdemeanors, and it seems they have a whole lot of other information that they are desperate to tell us in exchange for a certain amount of clemency.”
    Jefferson growled. “Give me five minutes with ’em and I’ll show ’em what clemency is.”
    â€œYou’re a copper now, Jethro, so you don’t have to think like that,” said Vimes cheerfully. “Besides, the balls are all lining up.”
    Jefferson gave a hollow laugh, laden with malice, “I’d line their balls up for them…and just you see how far apart. I was a kid when the first lot were taken and that bloody Rust kid was there all right, yes indeed,