"London, Jack - A Relic of the Pliocene" - читать интересную книгу автора (London Jack)

murderer, and a blasphemer.
"But toward the end he quit all this, and fell to whimpering and crying like a
baby. His spirit broke and he became a quivering jelly mountain of misery. He'd
get attacks of palpitation of the heart, and stagger around like a drunken man,
and fall down and bark his shins. And then he'd cry, but always on the run. O
man, the gods themselves would have wept with him, and you yourself or any other
man. It was pitiful, and there was so much of it, but I only hardened my heart
and hit up the pace. At last I wore him clean out, and he lay down,
broken-winded, brokenhearted, hungry and thirsty. When I found he wouldn't
budge, I hamstrung him, and spent the better part of the day wading into him
with the hand axe, he a-sniffing and sobbing till I worked in far enough to shut
him off. 30 feet long he was, and 20 high, and a man could sling a hammock
between his tusks and sleep comfortably. Barring the fact that I had run most of
the juices out of him, he was fair eating, and his four feet, alone, roasted
whole, would have lasted a man a twelvemonth. I spent the winter there myself."
"And where is this valley?" I asked.
He waved his hand in the direction of the northeast, and said: "Your tobacco is
very good. I carry a fair share of it in my pouch, but I shall carry the
recollection of it until I die. In token of my appreciation, and in return for
the moccasins on your own feet, I will present to you these mukluks. They
commemorate Klooch and the seven blind little beggars. They are also souvenirs
of the oldest breed of animal on earth, and the youngest, and their chief virtue
lies in that they will never wear out."
Having effected the exchange, he knocked the ashes from his pipe, gripped my
hand good night and wandered off through the snow. Concerning his tale, for
which I have already disclaimed responsibility, I recommend those of little
faith to visit the Smithsonian Institute. If they bring the requisite
credentials and do not come during vacation time, they will undoubtedly gain an
audience with Professor Dolvidson. The mukluks are in his possession, and he
will verify, not the manner in which they were obtained, but the material of
which they are composed. When he states that they are made from the skin of the
mammoth, the scientific world accepts his verdict. What more would you have?


Return
to the Free Sci-Fi Classics table of contents

Return
to The World of The Wondersmith

Free Sci-Fi Classics
Copyright й 1998-2000 Blake Wilfong
All rights reserved.