"Monica Hughes - Devil On My Back" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hughes Monica)

place. It was made of the same stuff as his coat and breeches.
He pushed it back into his pocket and determined to reach the river before dark. The way
became very steep and he had to cling to the trees to slow his pace and stop his feet from going out from
under him. Then there were no more trees. The slope flattened to a meadowland, with the bank of the
river just beyond.
He ran through the grass, glad to be rid of the great trees. From the shadows behind him came a
long drawn out howl. He shivered and ran on, leaping tussocks of grass. The sound followed him,
mournful and terrifying.
He slipped suddenly on pebbles, saved himself and saw that the river was at his feet. Which way
to go, away from the monster? Downstream, he decided, and turned to the left and began to walk as fast
as he could, his feet sliding and slipping among the stones. A pain shot up his big toe and he looked down
to see that his feet were bare. Bare and dirty and callused, with bruises on the toes where he had hit
other stones at other times before his present memory of this life.
Again the sound came, nearer, as if whatever made it was prowling along the river bank
alongside him, just on the other side of that great ridge of shadow that was the forest. He began to run
and almost at once fell forward over a log that lay, half in the water, half on the stony beach. As he
caught his balance with both hands on its rough bark, he realized that it had been hollowed out to make a
boat.
He leapt into it with a forward thrust that sent the dugout rocking into the smooth water of the
river. It wavered for a minute and then its front end found the current. Tomi knelt on the wet bottom, his
hands clutching the rough-hewn sides. He couldn't see how fast he was moving. Only the faint rocking
motion told him that he was indeed being carried downstream.
The river became a shadow along whose dark path he was being drawn. The sun had long ago
set and now above his head the sky was slowly pricked out with points of light that grew thicker and
brighter as the last twilight was sucked into the shadow of the river.
"Stars," said Tomi aloud. "I am looking at the stars," He stared up in wonder, his hands clutching
the sides of the dugout. Then he saw that one of the stars seemed to have fallen from the sky. It burned
on the river bank, a small bright spark dead ahead. The dugout moved to the left and it vanished. Then it
reappeared over to his right. Now he was closer he could see that of course it wasn't a star but a fire,
burning brightly on the river bank.
Fire meant human beings. The loneliness he had felt in the forest surged back and he longed for
the presence of another person. He must get over to the right shore before the current swept him past
and out of sight. He felt around the bottom of the dugout for something to steer with, but there was
nothing, only the damp wood.
He scrambled forward, rocking the log dangerously, and swept his hands forward through the
water, trying to slow the log down and turn it out of the current. The pressure of the water was icy
against the backs of his hands. It was almost unbearable. But the dugout was definitely slowing down
and, instead of swinging over to the left as the river turned, the front end was still pointing at the bright
spark. He paddled and pushed until his arms ached with cold.
There was a sudden wet crunch and the dugout cut into the pebbly shore. He was jerked
forward and hit his nose against wet bark. "Ow!"
He jumped out and staggered through shallow water towards the fire. It crackled welcomingly,
flames shooting upward from the red heart of great logs. He fell on his knees beside it, dripping and
shivering. A shadowy figure looked up from the far side.
"Hello," said Denn calmly. "I thought you'd never get here."
"Oh, am I glad to see you!" Tomi's teeth chattered. He held out frozen arms to the flames. Water
dripped hissing into the heart of the fire.
"Watch out. You're dripping on our dinner."
"Dinner? Really, Denn? I'm starving! What is it?"
"Fish. I caught them myself."