"David Drake - Old Nathan (2)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Drake David)

from his head than did those of the piebald giant in the vision, but Old Nathan would not have sworn that
King's weapons were really longer from base to point.

The bull calmed, though with the restive calm of a high-mettled horse prepared to race. He paced back
to the fence, raising his hooves high at each step, and demanded, "Where is he? Where is that one?"

Old Nathan stood, aiding himself with one hand on the nearest fencepost. Before answering, he stooped
to pick up the soup plate and sluice the hairs and water from it. There was no trace of blood, only one
drop spread through a pint. The cat had vanished again also, whether through whim, King's antics, or
what he had seen Old Nathan conjure in the water.

"What in damnation!" shouted John Boardman as he burst through the back doorway of the cabin. His
dog loped ahead of him and yapped, "A fight, is there a fight?"

"I don't know we want any truck with this, big feller," said the cunning man to his bull. Memory of the
beast glimpsed on the newground was blurring already, but though the details faded, they left a core of
brutal power that could not be forgotten.

"What in damn-nationare ye about?" the visitor repeated as he paused just outside the cabin. "I never in
all my born days heard a bellerin' like thet!"

"Why, old man, I'll knock this poor farm t' flinders iffen you cross me!" roared Spanish King, and suited
action to his words with a sweep of his head. Old Nathan jerked his hand away just in time. A horn
struck the stout cedar fencepost and skewed it so badly from its socket in the soil that the top rails fell to
the ground.

"God'n blazes!" cried the Boardman boy as he hopped back within the sturdy cabin.

"King, damn ye!" Old Nathan shouted as he slapped the bull hard on his flaring nostrils. "Did I say we'd
not go? D'ye thinkI care iffen yer neck's broke fer yer foolishness?"

"Hmph!" snorted the bull as he calmed again. "See thet you're straight with me, old man." He walked
away from the bedraggled fence, throwing his head back once over his powerful shoulder to repeat, "See
thet you are."

No lack of damn fools in the world,thought the cunning man as he trudged back to the house and his
visitor.Human damn fools and otherwise.

"Oh, there'll be a fight!" yelped the bitch in cheerful anticipation of carnage. She jumped up against Old
Nathan from behind, the mud on her paws icy against the bare skin above his waistband. He swatted her
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away awkwardly, because the dog was to his left and he did not want to break the plate he carried in
that hand. The bitch ran back to her master and smudged his fawn-colored waistcoat as he too tried to
thrust her off.

"Here, damn ye, here," said Old Nathan to the dog in a coaxing voice as he knelt, embarrassed to have