But he could sight nothing at all in that direction to excite any attention. The distant mountains provided a stark2, dark blue background. Up their foothills and lower slopes[27] was a thick furring of trees with foliage3 of so deep a green as to register black from this distance. And on the level country was the lighter4 blue-green of the other variety of wood edging the open country about the river. In there rested the L-B.
"I don't see anything!" he snapped, so sharply the little man stared at him in open surprise. Hume forced a quick smile.
"Just what did you sight, Gentlehomo Starns? There is no large game in the woodlands."
Sun, Hume thought, could have been reflected from some portion of the L-B. He had believed that small spacer so covered with vines and ringed in by trees that it could not have been so sighted. But a storm might have disposed of some of nature's cloaking. If so Starns' interest must be fed, he would make an ideal discoverer.
"Odd." Hume produced his distance glasses. "Just where, Gentlehomo?"
"There." Starns obligingly pointed a third time.
If there had been anything to see it was gone now. But it did lie in the right direction. For a second or two Hume was uneasy. Things seemed to be working too well; his cynical6 distrust was triggered by fitting so smoothly7.
"Might be the sun," he observed.
"Reflected from some object you mean, Hunter? But the flash was very bright. And there could be no mirror surface in there, surely there could not be?"
Yes, things were moving too fast. Hume might be overly cautious but he was determined8 that no hint of any pre-knowledge of the L-B must ever come to these civs. When they would find the Largo10 Drift's life boat and locate Brodie, there would be a legal snarl11. The castaway's identity would be challenged by a half dozen distant and unloving relatives, and there would be an intense inquiry12. These civs must be the impartial13 witnesses.
"No, I hardly believe in a mirror in an uninhabited forest, Gentlehomo," he chuckled14. "But we are on a hunting planet and not all its life forms have yet been classified."
"You are thinking of an intelligent native race, Hunter?"[28] Chambriss, the most demanding of the civ party, strode up to join them.
Hume shook his head. "No native intelligence on a hunting world, Gentlehomo. That is assured before the planet is listed for a safari15. However, a bird or flying thing, perhaps with metallic16 plumage or scales to catch the sunlight, might under the right circumstances seem a flash of light. That has happened before."
"It was very bright," Starns said doubtfully. "We might look over there later."
"Nonsense!" Chambriss spoke17 briskly as one used to overriding18 the conflicting wishes in any company. "I came here for a water-cat, and a water-cat I'm going to have. You don't find those in wooded areas."
"There will be a schedule," Hume announced. "Each of you has signed up, according to contract, for a different trophy19. You for a water-cat, Gentlehomo. And you, Gentlehomo Starns, want to make tri-dees of the pit-dragons. While Gentlehomo Yactisi wishes to try electo fishing in the deep holes. To alternate days is the fair way. And, who knows, each of you may discover your own choice near the other man's stake out."
"You are quite right, Hunter," Starns nodded. "And since my two colleagues have chosen to try for a water creature, perhaps we should start along the river."
It was two days, then, before they could work their way into the woods. One part of Hume protested, the more cautious section of his mind was appeased20. He saw, beyond the three clients now turning over and sorting space bags, Wass' man glanced at the woods and then back to Starns. And, being acutely aware of all undercurrents here, Hume wondered what the small civ had actually seen.
The camp was complete, a cluster of seven bubble tents not too far from the ship. At least this crowd did not appear to consider that the Hunter was there to do all the serious moving and storing of supplies. All three of the clients pitched in to help, and Wass' man went down to the river to return with half a dozen silver-fins21 cleaned and threaded on a reed, ready to broil22 over the cook unit.
A fire in the night was not needed except to afford the proper stage setting. But it was enjoyed. Hume leaned for[29]ward to feed the flames, and Starns pushed some lengths of driftwood closer.
"You have said, Hunter, that hunting worlds never contain intelligent native life. Unless the planet is minutely explored how can your survey teams be sure of that fact?" His voice bordered on the pedantic23, but his interest was plain.
"By using the verifier." Hume sat crosslegged, his plasta-hand resting on one knee. "Fifty years ago, we would have had to keep rather a lengthy24 watch to be sure of a free world. Now, we plant verifiers at suitable test points. Intelligence means mental activity of some sort—any of which would be recorded on the verifier."
"Amazing!" Starns extended his plump hands to the flames in the immemorial gesture of a human attracted not only to the warmth of the burning wood, but to its promise of security against the forces of the dark. "No matter how few, or how scattered25 your native thinkers may be, you record them without missing any?"
Hume shrugged26. "Maybe one or two," he grinned, "might get through such a screening. But we have yet to discover a planet with such a sparse27 native life as that at the level of intelligence."
Yactisi juggled28 a cup in and out of the firelight. "I agree, this is most interesting." He was a thin man, with scanty29 drab gray hair and dark skin, perhaps the result of the mingling30 of several human races. His eyes were slightly sunken, so that it was difficult in this light to read their expression. He was, Hume had already decided31, a class one brain and observant to a degree, which could either be a help or a menace. "There have been no cases of failure?"
"None reported," Hume returned. All his life he had relied on machines operating, of course, under the competent domination of men trained to use them properly. He understood the process of the verifier, had seen it at work. At the Guild32 Headquarters there were no records of its failure; he was willing to believe it was infallible.
"A race residing in the sea now—could you be sure your machine would discover its presence?" Starns continued to question.
Hume laughed. "Not to be found on Jumala, you may be sure of that—the seas here are small and shallow. Such, not to be picked up by the verifier, would have to exist at great[30] depths and never venture on land. So we need not fear any surprises here. The Guild takes no chances."
"As it always continues to assure one," Yactisi replied. "The hour grows late. I wish you rewarding dreams." He arose to go to his own bubble tent.
"Yes, indeed!" Starns blinked at the fire and then scrambled33 up in turn. "We hunt along the river, then, tomorrow?"
"For water-cat," Hume agreed. Of the three, he believed Chambriss the most impatient. Might as well let him pot his trophy as soon as possible. The ex-pilot deduced there would be little cooperation in exploration from that client until he was satisfied in his own quest.
Rovald, Wass' man, lingered by the fire until the three civs were safe in their bubbles.
"River range tomorrow?" he asked.
"Yes. We can't rush the deal."
"Agreed." Rovald spoke with a curtness34 he did not use when the civs were present. "Only don't delay too long. Remember, our boy's roaming around out there. He might just be picked off by something before these stumble-footed civs catch up with him."
"That's the chance we knew we'd have to take. We don't dare raise any suspicion. Yactisi, for one, is no fool, neither is Starns. Chambriss just wants to get his water-cat, but he could become nasty if anyone tried to steer35 him."
"Too long a wait might run us into trouble. Wass doesn't like trouble."
Hume spun36 around. In the half light of the fire his features were set, his mouth grim. "Neither do I, Rovald, neither do I!" he said softly, but with an icy promise beneath the words.
Rovald was not to be intimidated37. He grinned. "Set your fins down, fly-boy. You need Wass—and I'm here to hold his stakes for him. This is a big deal, we won't want any misses!"
"There won't be any—not from my side." Hume stepped away from the fire, approached a post which gleamed with a dull, red line of fire down either side. He pressed a control button. That red line flared38 into a streak39 of brilliance40. Now encircling the bubble tents and the space ship was a force field: routine protection of a safari camp on a strange world and one Hume had set as a matter of course.
He stood for a long moment staring through that invisible[31] barrier toward the direction of the wood. It was a dark night, there were scudding41 clouds to hide the stars, which meant rain probably before morning. This was no time to be plagued by uncertain weather.
Somewhere out there Brodie was holed up. He hoped the boy had long ago reached the "camp" so carefully erected42 and left for his occupancy. The L-B, that stone covered "grave" showing signs of several years' occupancy, was all assembled and constructed to the last small detail. Far less might have deceived the civs in this safari. But as soon as the story of their find leaked, there would be others on the scene, men trained to assess the signs of a castaway's fight for survival. His own Guild training and the ability of Wass' renegade techs should bring them through that test.
What had Starns seen? The glint of sun on the tail of the L-B, tilted43 now to the sky? Hume walked slowly back to the fire, when he saw Rovald going up the ramp44 into the spacer. He smiled. Did Wass think he was stupid enough not to guess that the Veep's man would be in com touch with his employer? Rovald was about to report along some channel of the shadow world that they had landed and that the play was about to begin. Hume wondered idly how far and through how many relays that message would pass before it reached its destination.
He stretched and yawned, moving to his sleeping pad. Tomorrow they must find Chambriss a water-cat. Hume shoved Brodie into the back of his mind to center his thoughts on the various ways of delivering, to the waiting sportsman, a fair-sized alien feline45.
The lights in the bubbles went out one by one. Within the circle barrier of the force field men slept. And by midnight the rain began to fall, streaming down the sides of the bubbles, soaking the ashes of the fire.
Out of the dark crept that which was not thought, not substance, but alien to the off-world men. But the barrier, meant to deter9 multi-footed creatures, with wings or no visible limbs at all, proved to be a better protection than its creators had hoped. There was no penetration—only a baffled butting46 of one force against another. And then the probe withdrew as undetected as it had come.
Only, the thing which had no intelligence, as humankind rated intelligence, did possess the ability to fathom47 the na[32]ture of that artificial barrier. The force field was examined, its nature digested. First approach had failed. The second was now ready—ready as it had not been months before when the first coming of these creatures had alerted the very ancient watchdog on Jumala.
Deep in the darker woods on the mountain sides there was a stirring. Things whimpered in their sleep, protested subconsciously48 commands they could never understand, only obey. With the coming of dawn there would be a marshaling of hosts, a new assault—not on the camp, but on any leaving its protection. And also on the boy now sleeping in a shallow cave formed by the swept roots of a tree—a tree which had crashed when the L-B landed.
Again, fortune favored Hume. With the dawn the rain was over. There was a cloudy sky overhead, but he believed the day would clear. The roily, rushing water of the river would aid Chambriss' quest. Water-cats holed up in the banks, but rising water often forced them out of such dens49. A course parallel to the stream bed could well show them the tracks of one of the felines50.
They started off in a group, Hume leading, with Chambriss treading briskly behind him, Rovald bringing up the rear in the approved trail technique. Chambriss carried a needler, Starns was unarmed except for a small protection stunner, his tri-dee box slung51 on his chest by well-worn carrying straps52. Yactisi shouldered an electric pole, wore its control belt buckled53 about his middle, though Hume had warned him that the storm would prevent any deep hole fishing.
Only a short distance from the campsite they came upon the unmistakable marks of a water-cat's broad paws, pressed in so heavy and distinct a pattern that Hume knew the animal could not be far ahead. The indentations were deep, and he measured the distance between them with the length of his hand.
"Big one!" Chambriss exclaimed in satisfaction. "Going away from the river, too."
That point puzzled Hume slightly. The red coated felines might be washed out of their burrows54, but they did not willingly head so sharply away from the water. He squatted55 on his heels and surveyed the stretch of countryside between them and the distant wood with care.[33]
The grass was this season's, still growing, not tall enough to afford cover for an animal with paws as large as these prints. There were two clumps56 of brush. It could have holed up in either, waiting to attack any trailer—but why? It had not been wounded, nor frightened by their party, there was no reason for it to set an ambush57 on its back trail.
Starns and Yactisi dropped back, though Starns was fussing with his tri-dee. Rovald caught up. He had drawn58 his ray tube in answer to Hume's hand wave. Any action foreign to the regular habits of an animal was to be mistrusted.
Getting to his feet Hume paced along the line of marks. They were fresh—hot fresh. And they still led in a straight line for the woods. With another wave of his hand he stopped Chambriss. The civ was trained in spite of his eagerness and obeyed. Hume left the tracks, made a detour59 which brought him to a point from which he could study those clumps of brush. No sign except that line of prints pointed to the woods. And if the party kept on, they might well come upon the L-B!
He decided to risk it. But when they were less than a couple of yards from the tree fringe his hand shot up to direct Chambriss to fire towards the quivering bush.
Only, that formless half seen thing, hardly to be distinguished60 in color from the vegetation, was no water-cat. There was a thin, ragged61 cry. Then the creature plunged62 backward, was gone.
"What in the name of nine Gods was that?" Chambriss demanded.
"I don't know." Hume went forward, jerked the needler dart63 from a tree trunk. "But don't shoot again—not unless you are sure of what you are aiming at!"
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1
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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stark
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| adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地 | |
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foliage
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| n.叶子，树叶，簇叶 | |
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4
lighter
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| n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级 | |
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5
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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6
cynical
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| adj.(对人性或动机)怀疑的，不信世道向善的 | |
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smoothly
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| adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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deter
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| vt.阻止，使不敢，吓住 | |
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largo
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| n.广板乐章；adj.缓慢的，宽广的；adv.缓慢地，宽广地 | |
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11
snarl
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| v.吼叫，怒骂，纠缠，混乱；n.混乱，缠结，咆哮 | |
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12
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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impartial
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| adj.(in,to)公正的，无偏见的 | |
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14
chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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safari
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| n.远征旅行(探险、考察)；探险队，狩猎队 | |
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16
metallic
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| adj.金属的；金属制的；含金属的；产金属的；像金属的 | |
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17
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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18
overriding
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| a.最主要的 | |
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trophy
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| n.优胜旗，奖品，奖杯，战胜品，纪念品 | |
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20
appeased
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| 安抚，抚慰( appease的过去式和过去分词 )； 绥靖（满足另一国的要求以避免战争） | |
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21
fins
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| [医]散热片；鱼鳍；飞边；鸭掌 | |
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22
broil
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| v.烤，烧，争吵，怒骂；n.烤，烧，争吵，怒骂 | |
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23
pedantic
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| adj.卖弄学问的；迂腐的 | |
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24
lengthy
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| adj.漫长的，冗长的 | |
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25
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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26
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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sparse
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| adj.稀疏的，稀稀落落的，薄的 | |
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28
juggled
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| v.歪曲( juggle的过去式和过去分词 )；耍弄；有效地组织；尽力同时应付（两个或两个以上的重要工作或活动） | |
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29
scanty
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| adj.缺乏的，仅有的，节省的，狭小的，不够的 | |
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30
mingling
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| adj.混合的 | |
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31
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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guild
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| n.行会，同业公会，协会 | |
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33
scrambled
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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34
curtness
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| n.简短；草率；简略 | |
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35
steer
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| vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶 | |
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spun
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| v.纺，杜撰，急转身 | |
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intimidated
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| v.恐吓；威胁adj.害怕的；受到威胁的 | |
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38
Flared
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| adj. 端部张开的, 爆发的, 加宽的, 漏斗式的 动词flare的过去式和过去分词 | |
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39
streak
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| n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动 | |
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40
brilliance
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| n.光辉，辉煌，壮丽，（卓越的）才华，才智 | |
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41
scudding
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| n.刮面v.（尤指船、舰或云彩）笔直、高速而平稳地移动( scud的现在分词 ) | |
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42
ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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43
tilted
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| v. 倾斜的 | |
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44
ramp
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| n.暴怒，斜坡，坡道；vi.作恐吓姿势，暴怒，加速；vt.加速 | |
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45
feline
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| adj.猫科的 | |
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46
butting
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| 用头撞人（犯规动作） | |
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47
fathom
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| v.领悟，彻底了解 | |
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48
subconsciously
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| ad.下意识地，潜意识地 | |
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49
dens
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| n.牙齿，齿状部分；兽窝( den的名词复数 )；窝点；休息室；书斋 | |
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50
felines
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| n.猫科动物( feline的名词复数 ) | |
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51
slung
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| 抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 )； 吊挂； 遣送； 押往 | |
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52
straps
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| n.带子( strap的名词复数 )；挎带；肩带；背带v.用皮带捆扎( strap的第三人称单数 )；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带 | |
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53
buckled
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| a. 有带扣的 | |
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54
burrows
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| n.地洞( burrow的名词复数 )v.挖掘（洞穴），挖洞( burrow的第三人称单数 )；翻寻 | |
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55
squatted
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| v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的过去式和过去分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。 | |
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56
clumps
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| n.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的名词复数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声v.（树、灌木、植物等的）丛、簇( clump的第三人称单数 )；（土、泥等）团；块；笨重的脚步声 | |
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57
ambush
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| n.埋伏(地点)；伏兵；v.埋伏；伏击 | |
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58
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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59
detour
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| n.绕行的路，迂回路；v.迂回，绕道 | |
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60
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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61
ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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62
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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63
dart
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| v.猛冲，投掷；n.飞镖，猛冲 | |
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