"L. Sprague De Camp - The Hostage of Zir" - читать интересную книгу автора (De Camp L Sprague)

Bostonian twang. After they had gone over maps, written accounts of the lands
the party was to see, and the expedition's financial accounts, Angioletti said:

"I can't tell you too often to be careful. Between us, I opposed letting a mob of
tourists loose on Krishna yet."

Too risky, you think?"

"Just so. We have enough trouble when the people we've been gettingтАФ
missionaries, scientists, and adventurersтАФgo off and disappear. The I.C. insists
we avoid anything smacking of imperialism, while the terran governments give
us a hard time when we can't find out what happened to their citizens, let alone
rescue them. The French even put pressure on us when that fellow Borel
vanished in Dur, although everyone knew he was just a con man."

"What did happen to him? After all, we're going to Dur."

Angioletti shrugged. "If I knew, there wouldn't be any mystery. But God knows
what'll happen when you set out with a dozen Ertsuma, some of them obvious
damned fools. If nobody gets murdered or seized for ransom, I'll eat my codfish
with chocolate sauce."

Reith sighed. "I can only do my best. What did Castanhoso mean, warning me
against the Regent Tashian? Could he have had anything to do with Borel's
disappearance?"

"I don't know. Tashian's a shrewd operator with no more scruples than you
expect of a Renaissance prince. But it's to his advantage to build up tourist traffic

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to Dur, so he'll probably stand by his promises.

I don't think he did Borel in. Felix Borel disappeared in one of the wilder parts,
not under the government's control. The kind of man he was, he had it coming to
him sooner or later. He tried one of his con games on that Russian big shot,
Trofimov. But he picked the wrong sucker. Trofimov caught on and might have
had Borel jailed, or perhaps quietly murdered, if Borel hadn't skedaddled.

"Mr. Reith, just imagine you're Thomas Cook, but living in, say, the eighteenth
century. You're taking a party of Europeans on a tour of North America, visiting
the most warlike tribes, like the Iroquois and the Blackfeet. That gives you an
idea."

"You sure fill me with confidence," said Reith.

"Oh, don't let it worry you. If you get into trouble in Majbur, go see Gorbovast,
the Gozashtando commissioner. He does some chores for us, and he can fix