"David Lindsey - A Voyage to Arcturus" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lindsay David)

sight of Oceaxe. He was anxious to learn if she were still on the spot, but before going to ascertain he
made up his mind to bathe in the river.
It was a glorious morning. The hot white sun already began to glare, but its heat was tempered by a
strong wind, which whistled through the trees. A host of fantastic clouds filled the sky. They looked like
animals, and were always changing shape. The ground, as well as the leaves and branches of the forest
trees, still held traces of heavy dew or rain during the night. A poignantly sweet smell of nature entered his
nostrils. His pain was quiescent, and his spirits were high.
Before he bathed, he viewed the mountains of the Ifdawn Marest. In the morning sunlight they stood
out pictorially. He guessed that they were from five to six thousand feet high. The lofty, irregular,
castellated line seemed like the walls of a magic city. The cliffs fronting him were composed of gaudy
rocks - vermilion, emerald, yellow, ulfire, and black. As he gazed at them, his heart began to beat like a
slow, heavy drum, and he thrilled all over - indescribable hopes, aspirations, and emotions came over
him. It was more than the conquest of a new world which he felt - it was something different....
He bathed and drank, and as he was reclothing himself, Oceaxe strolled indolently up.
He could now perceive the colour of her skin - it was a vivid, yet delicate mixture of carmine, white,
and jale. The effect was startlingly unearthly. With these new colors she looked like a genuine
representative of a strange planet. Her frame also had something curious about it. The curves were
womanly, the bones were characteristically female - yet all seemed somehow to express a daring,
masculine underlying will. The commanding eye on her forehead set the same puzzle in plainer language.
Its bold, domineering egotism was shot with undergleams of sex and softness.
She came to the river's edge and reviewed him from top to toe. "Now you are built more like a man,"
she said, in her lovely, lingering voice.
"You see, the experiment was successful," he answered, smiling gaily.
 Oceaxe continued looking him over. "Did some woman give you that ridiculous robe?"
"A woman did give it to me" - dropping his smile - "but I saw nothing ridiculous in the gift at the time,
and I don't now."
"I think I'd look better in it."
As she drawled the words, she began stripping off the skin, which suited her form so well, and
motioned to him to exchange garments. He obeyed, rather shamefacedly, for he realised that the
proposed exchange was in fact more appropriate to his sex. He found the skin a freer dress. Oceaxe in
her drapery appeared more dangerously feminine to him.
"I don't want you to receive gifts at all from other women," she remarked slowly.
"Why not? What can I be to you?"
"I have been thinking about you during the night." Her voice was retarded, scornful, viola - like. She
sat down on the trunk of a fallen tree, and looked away.
"In what way?"
She returned no answer to his question, but began to pull off pieces of the bark.
"Last night you were so contemptuous."
"Last night is not today. Do you always walk through the world with your head over your shoulder?"
It was now Maskull's turn to be silent.
"Still, if you have male instincts, as I suppose you have, you can't go on resisting me forever."
"But this is preposterous" said Maskull, opening his eyes wide. "Granted that you are a beautiful
woman - we can't be quite so primeval."
Oceaxe sighed, and rose to her feet. "It doesn't matter. I can wait."
"From that I gather that you intend to make the journey in my society. I have no objection - in fact I
shall be glad - but only on condition that you drop this language."
"Yet you do think me beautiful?"
"Why shouldn't I think so, if it is the fact? I fail to see what that has to do with my feelings. Bring it to
an end, Oceaxe. You will find plenty of men to admire - and love you."
At that she blazed up. "Does love pick and choose, you fool? Do you imagine I am so hard put to it