"Alan Dean Foster - Humanx 1 - Midworld" - читать интересную книгу автора (Foster Alan Dean)

the night. Six or seven of the globular eruptions were
clustered together on the branch. The smallest was
half Bom's size, the largest more than spacious enough

to accommodate man and furcot.

He tested the biggest with his knife, found it far

too tough for the sharpened boneтАФjust as he had
hoped. If his skinning blade could not penetrate the
woody gall, the chances of some predator coming in
on them from behind were small. He untied the dead
grazerтАФit was already beginning to smellтАФfrom
Ruumahum's back, slid the hulk onto the branch.
12

Ruumahum stretched delightedly, fur rippling as the
muscles in his back popped. He yawned, revealing
multiple canines and two razor-sharp lower tusks.

Under Bom's direction, the furcot went to work on
the gall with both forepaws, ripping open nearly all of
one side. Together they wrestled the carcass into the
cavity. Working carefully and smoothly, Bom tied his


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remaining jacari thorns into the length of vine until
they formed a crude barricade across the opening. Any
scavenger who tried to sneak in now risked a fatal
pricking. The barbed thoms crisscrossed the opening
neatly. An intelligent scavenger could work around
them easily, but they would stop anything that was not
a man.

Their kill safely secured for the night, Ruumahum
went to work on the gall next in line, cutting a
smaller opening in it for them to enter. Bom knelt,
peered inside. It was long deadтАФdry and black. As
he entered, he pulled a packet of red dust from his
belt; Ruumahum was already scraping some of the
dust-dry gall lining into a pile near the opening they
had made. Bom poured a little of the red powder on
a thin scrap of wood and pressed his thumb into it
A few seconds of contact with his body heat was
enough to cause the dust pile to explode in flame
just as the hunter withdrew his thumb. The incendiary
pollen served as a especially effective form of defense