"Gordon R. Dickson - The Right to Arm Bears" - читать интересную книгу автора (Dickson Gordon R)

then." He shook his head a little. "You sure got the knack for coming up on the right side of the
argument with a man. Still, now I look back on it, it's hard to see how that little girl of mine
could do better." He peered suddenly at Joshua. "You sure you ain't got something hidden between
your claws on this?"
Joshua spread his hands expressively.
"Would I risk one of my own people?" he said. "Maybe two, counting John, here? All for nothing but
the fun of making the Terror mad at me?"
"Don't make sense, does it?" rumbled Shaking Knees. "But you Shorties are tricky little
characters." His words rang with an honest admiration.
"Now, you people are pretty sly yourselves," said Joshua. They both turned and spat over their
left shoulders. "Well, now," went on Joshua, "compliments aside, anybody know where the Terror
is?"


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"He headed west through the Cold Mountains," put in Two Answers. "He was spotted yesterday a half
day's hike north, pointed toward Sour Ford and the Hollows. He probably nighted at Brittle Rock
Inn, there."
"Good," said Joshua. "We'll have to find a guide to there for my friend here."
"Guide? Ho!" chortled Shaking Knees. "Wait'll you see what we got for your friend." He shouldered
past Two Answers, opened the door and bellowed. "Bluffer! In here!" There was a moment's wait. And
then a Dilbian even leaner and taller than Shaking Knees shouldered his way through the outer
doorway into the office, which with this new addition, and in spite of its original size, began to
take on the air of being decidedly crowded.
"Here you are, Shorties!" said Shaking Knees, waving an expansive furry hand at the newcomer.
"What more could you ask for? Walk all day, climb all night, and start out fresh next morning
after breakfast. Right, Hill Bluffer?"
"Right as rooftops in raintime!" sonorously proclaimed the newcomer, rattling the windows about
the walls. "Hill Bluffer, that's my name and trade! Anything on two feet walk away from me? Not
over solid ground or living rock! When I look at a hill, it knows it's beat; and it lays out flat
for my trampling feet!"
"Well, how do you like that, Little Bite? Eh? How?" boomed Shaking Knees.
"Mighty impressive, Knees," replied Joshua. "But I don't know about my friend keeping up if the
Hill Bluffer here moves like that."
"Keep up? Hah!" guffawed Shaking Knees. "No, no, Little Bite, don't you recognize the Hill
Bluffer? He's the government postman from Humrog to Wildwood Peak. We're going to mail your Shorty
friend here to the Terror. Guaranteed delivery. Postage: five pounds of nails."
"Nobody stops the mail." The Hill Bluffer swept the room with a glare that had a professional
quality about it. "Nobody monkeys with the mail in transit!"
"Well . . ." said Joshua, thoughtfully. "Five pounds, of course, is out of the question."
"Out of the question?" roared Shaking Knees. "A guaranteed, absolutely safe government mailmanтАФ!"
"I can hire five strong porters off the street for that."
"Sure you can. Sure!" jeered Shaking Knees. "But can any of them catch up with the Terror?"
"Can the Bluffer catch up?"
The Hill Bluffer bellowed like a struck bull.
"Well," said Joshua, "a pound and a half. That's fair."
The bargaining continued. John began to get a headache. He wondered how Joshua had kept from going
deaf all these months in the embassy, or however long he had been billeted here. Then he noticed