"Johnston, Jim - Hot Ice" - читать интересную книгу автора (Johnston Jim)

1933, Alaska
It was the bloodied hands that sent my mind spinning back. Back to Alaska, back another two years, to the time when Monro knew me only as Abbot. Monro has the hands of a pianist. They are long and gentle, almost feminine for such a big guy. For such a big, ruthless bastard.
His hands stroked the muzzle and ruff of the husky. Then one hand slipped away, deep into the pocket of his parka and pulled out the gun.
Monro grinned up at me, snow speckled on his hair and black moustache. 'See that, Abbot? He trusts me. He'll never know what hit him.'
To the dog, Monro crooned softly, 'Good doggie, good boy.'
The sound of the shot was muffled: muffled by fur and parka and snow. It made no more noise than a man's foot sinking into a four-foot snowdrift.
I backed away as the dog flopped for a second and then went limp. I backed into what felt to be a rock, but when I turned and saw the flat features of Angekok, I knew I'd backed into something infinitely harder, infinitely less human.
I glanced around at our small camp. Hunched figures fought against the wind to erect the tents. They had barely heard the gunshot.
Monro cradled the dog in his arms, as if he was trying it out for a grisly tango. 'Now, we get to eat.' 'We can't keep this up, Monro,' I said. 'We've got six weeks travel behind us. We'll need the dogs for the return journey.'
Monro ignored me, rising with the dead dog in his arms, its head lolling loosely. I shouted after him: 'It's pure logistics. There are thirty people in the expedition. We can't keep killing dogs like this. You should have let me determine the stocks. We're in a wilderness that's gonna kill us!'
I was shouting into the blizzard and Monro had every reason to ignore me. I glanced at the Eskimo. His face was unreadable as he stared down at the snow where the dog had died. The blood had formed a shape in the snow, like a match stick figure of a man with wings, sharp teeth and long claws. I recalled the figures on Clarke's map.
I felt an urge to draw my revolver and plug the bastard right between the eyes. I had a compulsion to do it, a compulsion so strong, I could feel my hand reaching toward my gun belt. Then Angekok looked at me and his eyes were like holes cut in a mask of rawhide. He didn't even look at my face. He looked at my hand. He brought his iron-headed seal-harpoon down and pointed at my hand.
'Do it,' he whispered. 'It is good to slay your natural enemies.'
I ignored him and stamped after Monro. 'At this rate, none of us are going to get back.' Monro was on one knee, his skinning knife mottled with blood on its glinting steel. 'We'll be at the claim-site tomorrow, Abbot.'
'How can you be so certain?'
'Angekok tells me.'
I looked back at the Eskimo, who was paying us no attention. Instead he was drawing in the snow with the butt of his harpoon.
'But - Angekok -' I began. I couldn't bring myself to finish. '-should be dead by now,' I thought. 'He was an old man when Captain Clarke used him as a guide.'
Of course I knew the Eskimo tradition that forbade an Eskimo telling a stranger his name. That Angekok was a title, something like witchdoctor or medicine-man, but it brought me no comfort. No comfort, at all.
Even as I watched the Eskimo, the remaining huskies lifted their muzzles and began to howl. It was a lonesome wailing, hurled away by the wind.
Monro stopped in his grim task and grunted: 'Dogs are skittish tonight -'
Angekok stirred and rose from his crouch. He glanced in the direction of the dogs and then stamped out the blood and the marks he'd made in the snow. 'They know that the Eye of Malsum is near -'
'The Eye of Malsum,' I said. 'What's that?'
Angekok pointed with his harpoon. 'Long ago, there were two brothers. One was named Gluskap which means "The Liar" and the other was called Malsum. When they were born, Malsum was so wilful he insisted on being born from his mother's armpit. This act killed her, but from her body, Gluskap made all the world. When Malsum saw this, he was filled with envy and he made all the things that do harm to mankind.'
My mind summoned visions from Captain Clarke's journal as Angekok continued: the hot springs and the volcanic region. 'The two brothers fought, and eventually Malsum was slain. He fell to earth and made a huge lake of fire appear. To cover him over, Gluskap used a mountain and the fire burns under the mountain even to this day.'
Angekok's mittened hands formed a hole and poked the harpoon through like the horn of a mythical beast breaking through the ice.
'With Malsum defeated, he pleaded with his brother to be allowed to look out from his prison. So Gluskap poked a hole in the mountain with one finger, the way a man pokes a hole in a handful of snow. And that is the Eye of Malsum.'
I sank to my hunkers and patted one of the huskies. 'Is that where we're heading for?'
Angekok brought his eyes from the horizon. 'It is. We can winter-over there and continue on when Spring comes -' I was afraid he'd say that - I'd already noted Angekok's drums and their drumsticks of human femur bones - exactly the way it was in Captain Clarke's diaries.
'What does this Malsum guy happen to look like?'
Angekok stared at me. 'He has the head of a wolf and the body of a man. There is a gem at the heart of the mountain that is said to hold his soul.'
* * * * *
That night, the blizzard got worse. The main company of the expedition wanted to sit tight with the tents and weather it out, but Angekok insisted that we would be better off tramping blindly through the snow. And thus, the next day, about four o'clock in the afternoon, we came to the mountain, and saw the blaze of volcanic fire.
It took me by surprise because I'd read in Clarke's diaries that he had seen the volcano for up to three marches beforehand. Angekok had taken us along another route. He told Monro that there was a cave less than an hour's march away.
We found the cave easily, and the tents were erected. One or two of the company were worried by the behaviour of the huskies because the dogs wouldn't go near the entrance. Monro told his tame geologists to take samples and get analyzing.
Angekok had told Monro that the cave was only a crevice that ran no further into the mountain than a few dozen yards. I slipped away to find out if this was the same cavern described by Captain Clarke.
I took an electric torch and had my gun handy. I walked along the boulder-littered floor in darkness, not wanting to turn on my torch until I would shed no light from the end of the tunnel. Then I heard a noise up ahead.
It was a little noise, but in the darkness it was too much to ignore. I switched on the torch and found Angekok there before me, his arms folded across his chest.
'Go no further, white man' he said. 'The spirits of this place will suck the marrow from your bones.'
'I thought there might be bears or something here. There's something spooking the dogs.'
'It is the Spirit of Malsum,' replied Angekok. 'They can sense his kinship and his presence.'
I turned off the torch. There would be no way I was going to explore this place without Angekok breathing down my neck. Over the next two days, I tried to slip away at various times, but I was always aware of Angekok's presence like a shadow behind me.
Then the place erupted. One of the geologists wouldn't take no for an answer from Monro.
Monro rose up from his seat beside the fire. 'Whaddaya mean there's no gold-bearing ore in this rock - ?'
The geologist, a skinny kid with a broken pair of wire-rimmed glasses, kept his courage. 'Just that. This isn't gold country. I don't know who sold you on this idea, but you're not going to get gold out of this rock.'
Monro looked as if he was about to pull his gun on the youngster and shoot him on the spot, but then the dogs started barking urgently. One of the roustabouts came running, clutching a torn and bloodied arm.
'Bears!' he cried hoarsely. 'Bears are killing all the dogs!'
Everybody scattered at that, diving for rifles and side-arms. Only three of us stood still: Monro, Angekok and myself.
Monro was still shaken I think from the possibility of spending all this dough on a wild-goose chase. Angekok was stock-still because he knew the bears were part of his plan. I was rooted to the spot. It was like a bad dream. Captain Clarke's journey all over again. Deja-vu - I didn't realize it could be such a killer.
Then I saw one of the bears looming whitely out of the blizzard. It was chasing the skinny kid with glasses. I saw his mouth open as he screamed when the bear ran him down. It caught up with him and swatted him to one side like a kitten batting a ball of wool.