[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

taken to throwing a spear with an atlatl at a target of wood and grass that he had built. Though he
practiced only half an hour a day, he was becoming very accurate. And he could already throw a spear
about twenty yards beyond the best cast of Angrogrim, the champion of the Wota'shaimg.
This accomplishment did not lessen his attractions for Rachel.
I always thought that the Cro-Magnons, having much sturdier bones for muscle attachments, would
be stronger than modern men,' she said.
'These aren't the very early Cro-Magnons,' von Billmann said. 'But even so, they are large, and their
constant use of their muscles in hunting and labor should make them very strong. In fact, they are stronger
than Drummond or me. Even their smallest, Dubhab, is stronger. But the duke seems to be an exception.
Indeed, if I thought such a thing possible, I'd say he is an atavism, a throwback. But he just happens to
be exceptionally powerful.'
Von Billmann sometimes referred to the Englishman as the duke, or His Grace. The reference was
not altogether sarcastic. Von Billmann had a high regard for Gribardsun which was not, however,
unmixed with envy.
The four were by the riverbank at the bottom of the valley below the village site. The German was
sitting in a folding chair and transcribing notes from the playback of his recorder. Drummond was
breaking open some geodes with his hammer. Rachel had been collecting pollen samples, but she had
stopped to watch the spear-atlatl practice.
'John said he meant to take part in the first big hunt,' she said. 'He wants to carry only native
weapons.'
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
'Admirable, this desire to get into the subjects' skin,' Drummond said, looking up from an egg-shaped
rock. 'But I think he's carrying it too far. What if he gets killed? What benefit will that be to science?'
'I would think you'd like -' Rachel said and then closed her mouth.
'Like him to be killed?' Drummond said in a low but fierce voice. 'Do you really believe I'm jealous of
him? Should I be? Have you given me any reason?'
'Don't be a fool!' Rachel said. Her face was red. She turned and walked away a few feet but
stopped by von Billmann's chair.
'I don't know what's the matter with him!' she said, half to herself, half to von Billmann. 'He was
acting a little peculiar a few weeks before we launched. But since then he's gotten terrible. Do you think
that there's something about this world, or about being cut off from his own time, that...?'
'Has Drummond checked the excess or lack of certain ions in the atmosphere?'
'He has, but I don't remember the results,' she said. 'It should have been the first thing I thought of.
But I haven't noticed any change in my behavior. Or yours. Or John's.'
'I don't know about John,' von Billmann said. 'I've always detected a certain je-ne-sais-quoi about
John, a certain repressed - uh - what the nineteenth-century writers called animal magnetism. Do you
know what I mean?'
'Yes,' she said, looking at Gribardsun as he straightened up after a throw. The hand that held the long
notched atlatl turned, and the muscles leaped out along his arm.
'There's something strange about him,' von Billmann said. 'I've known him, off and on, for twenty
years. There's something of the wild beast about him. I don't mean that he's bestial, or degraded. He's
one of nature's gentlemen, to use another archaic phrase. But there's definitely something scary deep
down under that handsome hide.'
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
'The spear went dead center in the bull's eye,' she said. 'I don't see how anybody using that stick can
get any accuracy.'
That evening the four sat around a hearth with Dubhab's family and watched pieces of deer sizzle on
the ends of sticks they held. They were visiting Dubhab today; tomorrow, Waz-wim's family would be
their hosts. To avoid any show of favoritism, the four visited each family by turn. This rotation also
enabled them to become more familiar with each family. And, since each had his own pet interests, the
visitors could get a broader view of Magdalenian society. Dubhab, for instance, a short, very hairy man
with bright blue eyes and thin lips, was a born trader. Rather, he was a born confidence man, since he
was always trying to get something for nothing or, at least, for very little. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]