"John Norman - Gor 06 - Raiders of Gor" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norman John)

farther. I moved the small, light craft through the rushes, past the sign. I
must
make my way to Port Kar.
The cries of marsh gants followed me.
2 The Cries of Marsh Gants
I saw the girl ahead, through a break in the rushes, some fifty yards
beyond.
Almost at the same time she looked up, startled.
She was standing on a small skiff of rence, not larger than my own rush
craft, about seven feet long and two feet wide, fastened together, as mine
was,
with marsh vine; it, like mine, had a slightly curved stern and prow.
In her hand was a curved throwing stick, used for hunting birds. It is not
a boomerang, which would be largely useless among the sedges and rushes, but
it would, of course, float, and might be recovered and used indefinitely. Some
girls are quite skilled with this light weapon. It stuns the bird, which is
then
gathered from the water and tied, alive, in the craft. The birds are later, on
the
rence islands, killed and cooked.
I moved the rush craft toward her, but not swiftly. Then, letting it drift, I
put the tem-wood paddle across the craft, resting my hands on it, and watched
her.
The cries of the marsh gants were about is now. I saw that her hunting
had been successful. There were four of the birds tied in the stern of her
craft.
She looked upon me, but did not seem particularly frightened.
Her gaze was clear; she had a dark blondish hair and blue eyes; her legs
were a bit short, and her ankles somewhat thick; her shoulders were a bit wide
perhaps, but lovely. She wore a brief, sleeveless garment of yellowish-brown
rence cloth; it was worn well away from both shoulders to permit her freedom
of
movement; the brief skirt had been hitched up about her thighs that it might
in
no way bind her in her hunting. Her hair was tied behind her head with a strip
of
purple cloth, dyed re-cloth. I knew then she came of a community that had
contact to some degree, direct of indirect, with civilized Goreans. Rep is a
whitish
fibrous matter found in the seed pods of a small, reddish, woody bush,
commercially grown in several areas, but particularly below Ar and above the
equator; the cheap re-cloth is woven in mills, commonly, in various cities; it
takes dyes well and, being cheap and strong, is popular, particularly among
the
lower castes. The girl was doubtless the daughter of a rence grower, hunting
for
gants. I supposed the rence island, on which such communites lived, might be
nearby. I also supposed it might be her community wich had placed the warning
markers.
She stood well in the light, slightly shifting skiff of rence, moving almost