"John Norman - Gor 16 - Guardsman of Gor" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norman John)

 "Yes," I said.
"Seriously?" he asked.
"Yes," I said.
"It could have been done in a hundred places," said a man.
"I think so," I said.
"Then, tomorrow," said a man, hesitantly, "the chain will not hold."
"I do not think so," I said.
"Perhaps we should flee while we can," he said.
I shrugged. "Let the crews and their commanders make de. vision on the matter," I said.
"The divers," said a man, "did you kill them both?"
"Yes," I said.
"Then the Voskjard will not know that the chain is weak at that point," said a man.
"No," I said, "he will not know that it was weakened at that point."
"But there will be other points," said a man.
"Of course," I said.
"It is impossible to protect the chain," said a man.
"Sooner or later, if not this night, it will be cut," said another man.
"Me Voskjard has been delayed," said one of the men. "It is said he is not a patient man."
"We are not naval personnel," said another man. "In a free battle, on the river, we will stand
little chance against the swift ships of the Voskjard."
"We have with us the ships of Port Cos," said a man.
"There are too few of them," said another man. "Presumably, if the chain is cut, they will
withdraw to protect Port Cos."
"If the Voskjard should join with Policrates," said another man, "and the forces of Port Cos
and Ar's Station are divided, no town on the river will be safe."
"Pirates will own the Vosk," said another man.
"We must flee," said another man.
"Decision on that matter can be made in the morning by the commanders and their crews," I
said.
"But single men can flee," said another.
"I will kill the first man who deserts his post," I said.
"What manner of man are you?" asked a man.
"I do not know," I told him.
"Command us," said one.
"Put about," I said. "Return to the Tina. We shall think further on these matters in the
morning."
"Do you think that the urts of the Voskjard will discontinue their nibblings at the chain
because we choose to rest?" asked a man.
"No," I said.
"Then we must remain at the chain," he said.
"No," I said.
The longboat then put about and, slowly, made its way northward along the chain. The fate of
the river, I had learned, did not lie in the fate of the chain.
We were hailed by men in pirate vessels, as we passed near them, but we did not respond.
"We have encountered no further evidence of work at the chain," said a man, as we neared
the location of the Tina, east of the chain, a single lantern swinging on one of her stem-castle lines.
"Perhaps the Voskjard has given up," said a man.
"Perhaps no further work has been done," said another man.
"Perhaps," said another, "the work has been completed by now, to his satisfaction."
"The chain must hold," said one of our oarsmen. "It must!"