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his head. His rifle was gone.
Gribardson pointed at tracks leading away from the hollow down over the other side of the
ridge. 'Drummond was watching us,' he said. 'But he claims that he did not shoot us, and I believe
him. Someone came up behind him while he was spying on us, hit him over the head, shot at us with
his rifle, and then left with it before I could get close to him.'
'It couldn't be Robert!' she said.
'I doubt it very much,' John Gribardsun said. 'But if it was an aborigine, he'd have to be
one of our tribesmen, since nobody else would have the faintest notion how to operate a rifle. The
only one who's had any practice at all is Dubhab, and he's not had enough to be as good a shot as
the man who was shooting at us.'
'Maybe -' Rachel looked up, and she stopped.
Drummond looked up from between his mittens at her. His eyes were large, bloodshot, and
miserable.
'Maybe Drummond was shooting at us, and then the intruder knocked him over the head and
took his rifle away,' Gribardsun finished for her.
'That's a lie!' Drummond said.
'It's only a speculation,' Gribardsun said. 'And don't imply I'm a liar any more. You're
in no position to be calling names or accusing anybody of anything.'
'Are you all right, Drummond?' Rachel said. She sounded sympathetic, but she did not make
any move toward him.
'My head feels as if I have a fracture.'
Gribardsun examined his scalp and then applied the sonic photo camera to the wound. Six
seconds later, the film slid out of the tiny box. He looked at it through a magnifying glass and
said, 'There's no fracture of the skull. But you do have a slight concussion.'
'Slight!' Drummond said.
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'You're lucky to be alive,' Gribardsun said. 'You escaped killing twice.'
'Why don't you put me out of my misery?' Drummond said.
'Don't be an ass,' the Englishman said, and he lifted Drummond to his feet. 'You saw us
kissing, no doubt. That was entirely unpremeditated; it was brought about because of a peculiar
concatenation of circumstances. Not that it might not happen again, if you continue to be such an
utter nincompoop.'
'A what?' Drummond said.
'An archaic word,' Gribardsun said. 'Another nail in the coffin of your absurd suspicions.
You forget that I'm more than a doctor and physical anthropologist. I'm also a linguist.'
He turned Drummond over to Rachel, and she half supported him while Gribardsun led the way
down the other side of the mountain. He followed the deep tracks of the intruder. Occasionally he
halted and warned the others to get down in the snow while he reconnoitered. When the possibility
of an ambush was cleared away, he motioned them to continue.
The tracks suddenly disappeared when they were within a quarter of a mile of the campsite.
The man had taken to a pile of boulders and smaller rocks, the tops of which had been swept clean
of snow by the wind. He had leaped from one bare spot to another. Since the rocks were widespread,
and since there were many tracks from the tribespeople around the rocks, the man had effectively
eluded them.
He would, however, have had to conceal the rifle and the box of ammunition he had stolen.
This he could easily do by taking the rifle apart and concealing it under the heavy fur garments.
But if he thought to hide it in his tent, he would soon be found out. There was very little
privacy inside the camp and few places to hide anything inside a tent. He would have to conceal
the rifle inside furs, and the first time one of his family bumped into the bundle, the contents
would be detected. It was probable that the rifle and ammunition had been hidden somewhere in the
several acres of rock detritus near the camp.
Gribardsun put Drummond inside his plastic hut and made another examination. Then he went
straight to the tent of Dubhab. Laminak greeted him with her usual joy and unconcealed worship.
Gribardsun gave no evidence that he was looking for her father. He chatted with her for a few
minutes, then said that he mustn't be holding up her work, which was sewing a parka. Where was her
father?
Laminak said that he was out hunting of course. She hoped he would bring home at least as
much as Gribardsun had, she said, looking at the hares still slung over his shoulder.
Gribardsun saw nothing in her demeanor to indicate she was lying. Besides, he did not
think that she would make the slightest effort to deceive him. She loved him more than anybody,
even her father.
Gribardsun gave her a hare and left, though she was trying desperately to keep him by
asking a string of questions. He said he would speak to her later, then stooped and went out
through the exit. At that moment Dubhab left the woods nearby and approached the camp under the
overhang of rock. He saw Gribardsun waiting for him but did not check his pace. He smiled when he
got closer and loudly greeted him.
Gribardsun had decided by then that Dubhab had hidden the rifle - if he was the thief -
and that it would be better not to let him know he was a suspect. He talked with him for a few
minutes, inquired about his hunting, and was told that Dubhab had been very unlucky. Gribardsun
mentioned that he had left a hare for his family, and walked away.
That evening, after everybody had eaten, he announced at the council fire that they would
be moving on the next day. And their journey for many days would be hard. He wanted to get as far
south as possible. Once they had reached a warmer land, they would stop. The next day, he watched
Dubhab as closely as possible. But the man went about his normal business in a normal manner.
Five
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Drummond came out of his white cone several hours after dawn. He moved slowly as if he had
aged considerably overnight or was in great pain. He reported only a slight headache, however.
Again, he asserted that he was innocent.
'Rachel and I have had our trouble, no denying that,' he said. 'And she is very much
attracted to you. I don't know whether it's because she is on the bounce from me or if she would
have fallen for you in any event. Even I can see what she means by your animal magnetism. And
you've become doubly attractive in this world; you could well have been born in it, you fit in
with it so well.
'And I don't deny I've been jealous. But, damn it, I'm not a murderer! I'm a scientist! I
didn't get my doctorate by lacking severe self-discipline. I have a tremendous amount of self-
control. Too much, in fact. It's not my nature to kill, and even if it were, I have the strength
to repress such an urge.'
Gribardsun waited until he was through. He said, 'All this talk means nothing. When I
catch the man who took your rifle, I'll get his story from him, one way or another. Until then,
let's drop the subject.'
'But I don't want you suspecting me!' Drummond said. 'You'll never trust me behind you
again!'
'I don't trust anyone behind me,' Gribardsun said. 'Everyone is automatically suspect.'
He walked away. An hour later the tribe was ready, and it started down the mountains
toward the great plains of Spain. These were not the semideserts that Gribardsun had known. They
were well watered and covered with grass and there were many trees. They also had an abundance of
animal life: great herds of bison, horses; the giant aurochs, and the infrequent mammoths and [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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