"A. E. Merritt - Dwellers In The Mirage - v1.0" - читать интересную книгу автора (Merritt A. E)

"They got me, tooЧthose drums!" I thought my
voice was steady, but he looked up at me sharply; and
now it was I who averted my eyes and stared at the
embers. "They reminded me of something I heard . . .
and thought I saw ... in Mongolia. So did the
singing. Damn it, Jim, why do you look at me like that ?"

I threw a stick on the fire. For the life of me I couldn't
help searching the shadows as the stick flamed. Then
I met his gaze squarely.

"Pretty bad place, was it, Leif ?" he asked, quietly.
I said nothing. Jim got up and walked over to the
packs. He came back with Some water and threw it over
the fire. He kicked earth on the hissing coals. If he saw
me wince as the shadows rushed in upon us, he did not
show it.

"That wind came from the north," he said. "So that's
the way the sounds came. Therefore, whatever made
the sounds is north of us. That being soЧwhich way do
we travel to-morrow ?"

"North," I said.

My throat dried as I said it.

Jim laughed. He dropped upon his blanket, and
rolled it around him. I propped myself against the bole
of one of the spruces, and sat staring toward thesnorth.

"The ancestors are vociferous, Leif. Promising a
lodge of sorrow, I gatherЧif we go north. . . . 'Bad
Medicine!' say the ancestors. . . . 'Bad Medicine for
you, Tsantawu ! You go to Usunhi'yi, the Darkening-
land, Tsantawu! . . . Into Tsusgina'i, the ghost
country ! Beware ! Turn from the north, Tsantawu !' "

"Oh, go to sleep, you hag-ridden redskin !"

"All right, I'm just telling you."

Then a little later:

" 'And heard ancestral voices prophesying war'Ч
it's worse than war these ancestors of mine are prophesying, Leif."

"Damn it, will you shut up!"