"John Norman - Gor 18 - Blood Brothers of Gor" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norman John)

"Has it been early before?" asked Grunt of Cuwignaka.
page 5
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Not in my lifetime," said Cuwignaka. "In the old stories it has sometimes
been late, but never, as far as I know, has it been early."
"Think," I said. "Can you recall nothing of such a sort?"
 Cuwignaka shrugged. "I can think of nothing of that sort," he said.
"Can there be no mistake?" I asked Grunt.
"No," said Grunt. "It is here,"
"It looks like it is raining there," I said.
"That is dust, in the wind," said Cuwignaka. "It is raised by the hoofs."
"It is here," said Grunt. "There is no doubt about it."
I looked into the distance. It was like a Vosk of horn and hide.
"How long is it?" I asked. I could not even see the end of it.
"It is probably about fifteen pasangs in length," said Grunt, "it is some
four or five pasangs in width."
"It can take the better part of a day to ride around it," said Cuwignaka.
"How many beasts are numbered in such a group?" I asked.
"Who has counted the stars, who has numbered the blades of grass," said
Cuwignaka.
"It is estimated," said Grunt, "that there are between some two and three
million beasts there."
"Surely it is the largest such group in the Barrens," I said.
"No," said Grunt, "there are larger, Boswell claims to have seen one such
group which took five days to swim a river."
"How long would it take a group like this to swim a river?" I asked.
"Two or three days," said Grunt.
"I see," I said. The Boswell he had referred to, incidentally, was the same
fellow for whom the Boswell Pass through the Thentis Mountains had been named.
He was an early explorer in the Barrens. Others were such men, as Diaz,
Hogarthe and Bento.
"It is an awsome and splendid sight," I said. "Let us ride closer."
"But let us be careful," said Cuwignaka. Then, with a cry of pleasure,
kicking his heels back into the flanks of his kaiila, he urged his beast down
the slope.
Grunt and I looked at one another, and grinned. "He is still a boy," said
Grunt.
page 6
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

We then followed Cuwignaka. It was toward neen when we reined up beside him
on another rise. The animals were now some three to four pasangs away, below
us.
"It is the Pte!" called out Cuwignaka happily to us, turning to look at us.
"Yes," said Grunt.
We could now smell the animals clearly. My mount, a lofty black kaiila,
silken and swift, shifted nervously beneath me. Its nostrils were flared. Its
strom lids were drawn, giving its large round eyes a distinctive yellowish
cast. I did not think that it, a kaiila purchased some months ago in the town