[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

Hill Bluffer, striding beneath him. The lanky Dilbian postman said nothing
except to chuckle once or twice to himself. Since Bill was too tired to
inquire what the joke was, neither one of them said anything further, until
they were once more treading the main street of Muddy Nose Village and the
Residency loomed before them in the moonlight.
"All right, light down here," said the Bluffer, stopping abruptly before the
Residency's front door. Bill complied.
"Are you staying here " Bill began, but the Bluffer was ahead of him.
"I'm off down to the Village Inn, myself," the Dilbian replied. "If you want
me, that's where you'll find me from now until dawn, that is," grumbled the
Hill Bluffer.
"Well ah I'll probably have lots of things to keep me busy early in the
morning here "
"You can say that, all right!" interrupted the Bluffer. "They say this
blacksmith called Flat Fingers, here in the village, is a pretty good workman,
but it's my guess you're going to have to stand over him all the time he's at
it. Well, I'll stand there right beside you. We'll mosey up to his forge
tomorrow morning and see what kind of promises we can get out of him."
"Flat Fingers?" echoed Bill, puzzled. "Blacksmith? What would I be wanting a
blacksmith for?"
The Bluffer chuckled slyly.
"Why, to make you one of those sissy Lowlander fighting tools they call a
sword and a shield, of course! You didn't think they had things like that just
lying around so you could go pick one up when you needed it? You Shorties take
too much for granted."
"Sword?" echoed Bill, by this time thoroughly confused. "Shield?"
"I don't blame you," said the Hill Bluffer, but chuckling again. "It'd gall
me to the very bone, too, to have to fight with gadgets like that. But there's
no choice." He paused, peering down at Bill in a way that was almost sly.
Page 112
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"After all, you were the one who challenged Bone Breaker, so he's got choice
of place and style and you can bet he isn't going to tangle without his blade
and buckler. Trust a Lowlander for that."
Bill stood, frozen, staring upward at the big furry shape of the Dilbian,
looming over him.
"Ichallenged the Bone Breaker to a fight with swords?" he managed to get out,
finally.
The Hill Bluffer released his inner glee in a sudden roar of laughter that
shattered the sleeping silence of the darkened village.
"Thought you'd missed out on the chance, didn't you?" he sputtered, finally
calming down. "I could have told you different as soon as we left the valley,
but I thought I'd let you chew on your hard luck for a while first. Didn't I
tell you you were lucky to have me? The minute I heard Bone Breaker say Dirty
Teeth was staying there because she wanted to, I saw what was up. She'd got
some female notion about not wanting you to tangle with Bone Breaker. That was
it, right? So later on after you'd gone out to talk to her, I got Bone Breaker
alone in a corner and put in a few good words."
"Good words . . . ?" echoed Bill, an uneasy suspicion beginning to form in
his mind.
"You can bet I did," said the Bluffer. "I said it was a real shame you and he
weren't going to be able to tangle after all especially as you'd said you'd
find it interesting, and I was sure he felt the same way. I pointed out that
after all we didn't have to have a real spelled-out challenge, just as long as
folks thought there'd been one. I said he could tell his folks you'd said to
me that it was a lucky thing Dirty Teeth didn't need rescuing, because you
could have taken him with one paw tied behind your back."
Bill gulped.
"And he could say," went on the Bluffer gleefully, "that the minute he'd
heard this from me he told me that he'd never believed the story about the
Half-Pint-Posted and the Streamside Terror that he didn't believe any Shorty
could last two seconds with a man like him and he didn't mind if I passed the
word along to you. And I did, and you challenged him, naturally, right away,
swords or anything he wanted."
"Swords . . ." said Bill dazedly.
"I know how you feel," said the Bluffer with sudden sympathy. "Kind of
sickening, isn't it, when a man's still got the teeth and nails he was born
with? Anyway, we can get you one made, and the duel's on. Everybody knows
about it by now. That's why Bone Breaker and I arranged for him to holler
after you through the gate to come back in the daylight, and I nudged you to
holler back you would, meaning you'd be around to tangle as soon as it was
convenient, in daylight and in front of witnesses. But I agree with you about
those swords. It's sure a measly way to fight."
The Hill Bluffer sighed heavily.
"Of course, maybe I shouldn't worry about it," he said brightening. "Maybe
you Shortieslike fighting with tools. You seem to use them for just about
everything else. Well, grab yourself a good night's sleep and I'll see you at
dawn!"
Page 113
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Chapter 8
Bill awoke from a confused dream of rolling thunder, as in a heavy
thunderstorm, in which Kodiak bears had risen up on their hind legs, put on
armor, and begun a sort of medieval tournament which he was being compelled to
join. Then he became more fully awake and realized that the thunder was the
roaring of a Dilbian voice, shouting Bill's own Dilbian name of
Pick-and-Shovel, and that the nightmare was no dream but merely the
dream-twisted facts of his previous day on Dilbia.
He opened his eyes to the sight of one of the Residency's spare bedrooms.
Scrambling out of bed, he pulled on his pants and stumbled down the hall in
his bare feet to open a door and step into the reception room at the front of
the Residency. Standing in the middle of the room and still shouting for him
was a Dilbian. But it was not the Hill Bluffer, as Bill had automatically [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]