The Long Patrol

The Long Patrol was published in 1997.

It is tenth in publishing order, twelfth in Chronological Order of the Redwall series.

Page count, Hardcover: 358

ISBN: 039923165X

Summary
The protagonist in this story is Tamello De Fformelo Tussock (or Tammo), a young hare. Tammo longs to be part of the Long Patrol. His father, Cornspurrey, will not hear of it however. He believes that his son is too young to join up.

Against her husband's wishes, Tammo's mother Mem Divinia prepares for him to leave during the night with Russa Nodrey, a wandering squirrel who is a friend of the family. The two then set off to find the Long Patrol.

Meanwhile, Gormad Tunn, the rat leader of the Rapscallian army is dying. His two sons Byral and Damug prepare for a fight to the death to determine who will be the new commander of the Rapscallians. Whoever wins will take his army either on land or on sea. This will be determined by the tradition of flipping Gormad's sword. One side of the blade is wavy for water, and the other is straight for land.

At Redwall Abbey, the inhabitants discover that the South Wall is mysteriously sinking into the ground! What is happening? No one knows for certain, but they do know that this could leave the Abbey open to attack.