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.When the hunting isgood, one hunts.One can return later to earlier kills, driving awayscavenging lelts.Further, I wondered at the salt shark, blind, living in total darkness.Yet ithunted at dusk, and at dawn, driven apparently by ancient biological rhythms.The long-bodied, ghostly creature, hunting in the black waters, followed still therhythms of its dark clock, set for its species a quarter of a billion yearsago in a vanished, distant, sunlit world. Make haste! cried the steersman. Make haste! file:///F|/My%20Shared%20Folder/John%20Norm.%20Gor%2010%20-%20Tribesmen%20of%20Gor.html (241 of 353) [1/21/03 7:52:04 PM]10 Tribesmen of GorThe third lamp sputtered out.There was now but a single lamp burning, on theport side, aft.Then it, too, sputtered out.We were in darkness.Somewhere near, below us, or about us, moved the Old One.We were in absolute darkness.There was no moonlight, not even starlight.Inthe world in which we stood even a Kur would be blind.We stood waiting,alone, in the world of the Old One.When it came, it came swiftly, hurling itself upwards from the water.We, inthe darkness, felt the salt water drench us, heard the great body, more thantwenty feet long, fall back in the water.Then, for a time, it was quiet again.We heard the raft bumped, felt the movement in the wood.We then felt the bodyof the Old One beneath the raft.The raft tipped, but fell back.We clung inthe darkness to the retaining vessels, the salt tubs.Twice more the rafttipped, and fell back.More than a quarter of an Ahn passed.We thought the Old One no longer withus.Then the raft, on the port side, seemed to dip into the water.A man criedout, in horror, striking with a paddle.The heavy head slipped back into thewater.TheOld One had placed his head on the raft, sensing in the darkness.We drifted for more than an Ahn in silence, in the darkness.Then, suddenly,hurling itself from the water, the great body, thrashing, fell across theraft, twisting, the mighty tail flailing and snapping.I heard splinteringwood, the retaining vessels, the salt tubs, struck and shattered, flungbounding and rolling from the frame.I heard men scream, sensed men struckyards from the raft, heard them strike the water.I threw myself on my stomach into the remains of the splintered frame,clutching at torn wood.There was screaming in the darkness.I beard more than one man taken. Icannot see! cried one man.Four more times the great body threw itself onto the raft, thrashing.Once I felt it roll over my back, my body protected by the remains of theframe.Its skin was not rough, abrasive, like that of free-water sharks, butslick, coated with a bacterial slime.It slipped over me, not tearing me fromthe frame.Though it touched me I could see nothing.Page 170 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html Where are you? I heard from the water.file:///F|/My%20Shared%20Folder/John%20Norm.%20Gor%2010%20-%20Tribesmen%20of%20Gor.html (242 of 353) [1/21/03 7:52:04 PM]10 Tribesmen of Gor Here! I cried. Here is the raft! I knelt on the raft.I did not know if Iwere alone on it or not. Here! I cried. Here! Here! Help! I heard. Help! I heard two men crawl onto the raft.One beganscreaming.Another man crawled onto the raft and then, insanely, began towander about. Stay down! I cried. Save yourselves! he cried.He leapedinto the water. Come back! I cried.It is my supposition that it was his intention to swimto the dock, more than four pasangs away.He did not turn back, even when Iwarned him that his direction was false. Poor fool, said a voice. Hassan! I cried. It isI, he said, near me. Help! I heard.I felt for one of the raft poles, found it, and, extendingit, thrust it toward the voice.I pulled the man aboard.I tried to save asecond man, similarly, but he was taken from the pole, screaming, by the OldOne.I saw lights across the water, another raft, approaching.On its bow, lanceraised, Isaw T Zshal.The two rafts gently struck one another.We boarded the other raft. There is another man in the water, somewhere, I said to T Zshal. He swamthat way. Fool, said T Zshal, fool. He looked upon us. The Old One, he said, notasking.The steersman nodded.He had lived. Let us go back, said one of the polemen on T Zshal s raft.T Zshal regarded us.I and Hassan had survived, and the steersman, and the manIhad saved.I did not know if the man who had entered the water had survived ornot.I did not think his chances were good. Let us return now, swiftly to the docks, said one of the men on T Zshal sraft.T Zshal looked out over the dark waters. The Old One has returned, he said. And he has not forgotten his tricks. Let us return swiftly to the dock, said a man, insistently. A man of mine, said T Zshal, remains in the water. He indicated with hishand the direction the men were to pole.They moaned, but did not disobey the kennel master.T Zshal himself stood at the bow of the raft, the lance in one hand, in hisother a lantern, lifted.An Ahn later he found the man. Greetings, said the fellow. Greetings, saidfile:///F|/My%20Shared%20Folder/John%20Norm.%20Gor%2010%20-%20Tribesmen%20of%20Gor.html (243 of 353) [1/21/03 7:52:04 PM]10 Tribesmen of GorT Zshal, drawing him from the water. I have been swimming, said the man. Yes, said T Zshal.T Zshal put him on the planks of the raft.The man seemedto have no recollection of the Old One, nor of what he was doing in the water.He fell asleep. Return to the dock, said T Zshal.The heavy raft turned, and began to move toward the docks.Hassan and I looked at one another.We had decided that we would not killT Zshal [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.When the hunting isgood, one hunts.One can return later to earlier kills, driving awayscavenging lelts.Further, I wondered at the salt shark, blind, living in total darkness.Yet ithunted at dusk, and at dawn, driven apparently by ancient biological rhythms.The long-bodied, ghostly creature, hunting in the black waters, followed still therhythms of its dark clock, set for its species a quarter of a billion yearsago in a vanished, distant, sunlit world. Make haste! cried the steersman. Make haste! file:///F|/My%20Shared%20Folder/John%20Norm.%20Gor%2010%20-%20Tribesmen%20of%20Gor.html (241 of 353) [1/21/03 7:52:04 PM]10 Tribesmen of GorThe third lamp sputtered out.There was now but a single lamp burning, on theport side, aft.Then it, too, sputtered out.We were in darkness.Somewhere near, below us, or about us, moved the Old One.We were in absolute darkness.There was no moonlight, not even starlight.Inthe world in which we stood even a Kur would be blind.We stood waiting,alone, in the world of the Old One.When it came, it came swiftly, hurling itself upwards from the water.We, inthe darkness, felt the salt water drench us, heard the great body, more thantwenty feet long, fall back in the water.Then, for a time, it was quiet again.We heard the raft bumped, felt the movement in the wood.We then felt the bodyof the Old One beneath the raft.The raft tipped, but fell back.We clung inthe darkness to the retaining vessels, the salt tubs.Twice more the rafttipped, and fell back.More than a quarter of an Ahn passed.We thought the Old One no longer withus.Then the raft, on the port side, seemed to dip into the water.A man criedout, in horror, striking with a paddle.The heavy head slipped back into thewater.TheOld One had placed his head on the raft, sensing in the darkness.We drifted for more than an Ahn in silence, in the darkness.Then, suddenly,hurling itself from the water, the great body, thrashing, fell across theraft, twisting, the mighty tail flailing and snapping.I heard splinteringwood, the retaining vessels, the salt tubs, struck and shattered, flungbounding and rolling from the frame.I heard men scream, sensed men struckyards from the raft, heard them strike the water.I threw myself on my stomach into the remains of the splintered frame,clutching at torn wood.There was screaming in the darkness.I beard more than one man taken. Icannot see! cried one man.Four more times the great body threw itself onto the raft, thrashing.Once I felt it roll over my back, my body protected by the remains of theframe.Its skin was not rough, abrasive, like that of free-water sharks, butslick, coated with a bacterial slime.It slipped over me, not tearing me fromthe frame.Though it touched me I could see nothing.Page 170 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html Where are you? I heard from the water.file:///F|/My%20Shared%20Folder/John%20Norm.%20Gor%2010%20-%20Tribesmen%20of%20Gor.html (242 of 353) [1/21/03 7:52:04 PM]10 Tribesmen of Gor Here! I cried. Here is the raft! I knelt on the raft.I did not know if Iwere alone on it or not. Here! I cried. Here! Here! Help! I heard. Help! I heard two men crawl onto the raft.One beganscreaming.Another man crawled onto the raft and then, insanely, began towander about. Stay down! I cried. Save yourselves! he cried.He leapedinto the water. Come back! I cried.It is my supposition that it was his intention to swimto the dock, more than four pasangs away.He did not turn back, even when Iwarned him that his direction was false. Poor fool, said a voice. Hassan! I cried. It isI, he said, near me. Help! I heard.I felt for one of the raft poles, found it, and, extendingit, thrust it toward the voice.I pulled the man aboard.I tried to save asecond man, similarly, but he was taken from the pole, screaming, by the OldOne.I saw lights across the water, another raft, approaching.On its bow, lanceraised, Isaw T Zshal.The two rafts gently struck one another.We boarded the other raft. There is another man in the water, somewhere, I said to T Zshal. He swamthat way. Fool, said T Zshal, fool. He looked upon us. The Old One, he said, notasking.The steersman nodded.He had lived. Let us go back, said one of the polemen on T Zshal s raft.T Zshal regarded us.I and Hassan had survived, and the steersman, and the manIhad saved.I did not know if the man who had entered the water had survived ornot.I did not think his chances were good. Let us return now, swiftly to the docks, said one of the men on T Zshal sraft.T Zshal looked out over the dark waters. The Old One has returned, he said. And he has not forgotten his tricks. Let us return swiftly to the dock, said a man, insistently. A man of mine, said T Zshal, remains in the water. He indicated with hishand the direction the men were to pole.They moaned, but did not disobey the kennel master.T Zshal himself stood at the bow of the raft, the lance in one hand, in hisother a lantern, lifted.An Ahn later he found the man. Greetings, said the fellow. Greetings, saidfile:///F|/My%20Shared%20Folder/John%20Norm.%20Gor%2010%20-%20Tribesmen%20of%20Gor.html (243 of 353) [1/21/03 7:52:04 PM]10 Tribesmen of GorT Zshal, drawing him from the water. I have been swimming, said the man. Yes, said T Zshal.T Zshal put him on the planks of the raft.The man seemedto have no recollection of the Old One, nor of what he was doing in the water.He fell asleep. Return to the dock, said T Zshal.The heavy raft turned, and began to move toward the docks.Hassan and I looked at one another.We had decided that we would not killT Zshal [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]