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They satisfied themselves that the globe had had no visitors since Buck and Deklay; there was no sign that the ape-things had returned. "From here," Travis said, "the ship doesn't look too bad, almost as if it might be able to take off again." "It might lift," Jil-Lee gestured to the mountaintop behind the curve of the globe "about that far. The tubes on this side are intact."
They all saw the tiny spurt of flame, a curl of smoke from the plate on the Red's chest. Not only the man, but his control was finished now. A wolfish growl and two of the Tatars swung over, started down to the Red. Menlik shouted and they slackened pace. "We want that," he cried in English. "Perhaps so we can learn " "The learning is yours," Jil-Lee replied. "Just as this land is yours, Shaman.
Expecting to meet another pair of eyes this time, he was disconcerted to face only emptiness. Then, as his gaze traveled downward, he saw what lay on the floor there a skull, a tangle of bones, tattered material cobwebbed into dusty rags by time. Whatever had preserved five of the star men intact, had failed the sixth of their company. "They are alive!" Jil-Lee whispered.
That was Buck's voice, but it echoed so oddly across the big chamber that Travis had difficulty in deciding what part of the warehouse it was coming from. And Buck had to call several times before Travis and Jil-Lee joined him. There was the circle-dot-diamond symbol shining on the side of a case. They worked it out of the pile, setting it in the open. Travis knelt to run his hands along the top.
"Not until after we use it on our captive," Jil-Lee decided. "Then there would be some time before the Reds come " "You talk as if they will come," cut in Lupe. "How can you be sure?" "We can't," Travis agreed. "But we can count on this much, judging from the past. Once they know that there is a wrecked ship here, they will be forced to explore it.
For perhaps there are men here whose hunting territory we have invaded, though we have not yet seen them. We are a people small in number and alone. Let us walk softly on trails which are strange to our feet." Inwardly Travis sighed in relief. Buck, Jil-Lee ... for the moment their sensible words appeared to swing the opinions of the party.
Was this some attack from the other's unknown weapon? Suddenly he was not at all sure what might happen when the Apaches made that dawn rush. Jil-Lee was in station on his right. Travis must compare notes with him to be sure that this was not indeed a trap. Better to retreat now than to be taken like fish in a net.
"Now the tower weapons!" Buck answered the report with an imperative order to Travis. And the other knew he could no longer postpone the inevitable. And only by action could he blot out the haunting mental picture of Kaydessa once more drawn into the bondage she so hated. Flanked by Jil-Lee and Buck, he climbed back through the tower window and faced the glowing pillar.
How can I? But it will be another way of seeking." "Tsoay shall go. He keeps silent before older warriors as is proper for the untried, but his thoughts fly free as do yours," Buck replied. "It is in him also, this need to see new places." "There is this," Jil-Lee got to his feet, " do not go so far, brother, that you may not easily find a way to return.
But to use the nature of the country against the enemy, that was the oldest Apache trick of all and one they would have to be forced to employ. Nolan had already nodded in assent, and Tsoay and Jil-Lee started off. Even if the Red did possess a protective wall device, could it operate in full against a landslide? They all doubted that.
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