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

of Kailiauk, near the perimeter, had ever smelled such beasts before, and
certainly not in such numbers. Too, I supposed that there were many among such
beasts, perhaps most, in fact, who had ever smelled a man, or a kaiila,
before. Grit and dust settled about us. I blinked my eyes against it. It was
very impressive to be so close to such beasts. I scarcely dared to conjeture
what it might be like to be even closer, say, within a few hudred yards of
them. Individual kills on such animals, incidentally, are commonly made from
distances whre one can almost reach out and touch the beast. One must be that
close for the lance thrust to be made or for the arrow, from the small bow, to
strke with suffcient depth, to the feathers, either into the intestinal cavity
behind the last rib, resulting in large-scale internal hemorrhaging, or behind
the left shoulder blade, into the heart.
"Is there always this much dust?" I asked. I raised my voice somewhat,
against the sounds of the beasts, their bellowing and the thud of the hoofs.
 "No," said Cuwignaka, raising his voice. "It is moving now, not drifting
and grazing."
"Sometimes, for no clear reason," said Grunt, "it will move, and more or
less swiftly. Then, at other times, for similarly no apparent reson, it will
halt and graze, or move slowly, gently grazing along the way."
"It is early," I said.
"Yes," said Grunt. "That is interesting. It must have been moving more than
is usual."
"I will inspect the animals," said Cuwignaka.
"Be careful," said Grunt.
We watched Cuwignaka move his kaiila down the slope and toward the animals.
He would not approach them too closely. There were tribal reasons for this.
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"It is like a flood," I said, "or a movement of the earth' it is like wind,
or thunder; it is like a natrual phenomenon."
"Yes," said Grunt.
"In its way," I said, "I suppose it is a natural phenomenon."
"Yes, in its way, it is," said Grunt.
The movement of this group of animals had been reported in the camp of the
Isbu Kaiila, or the Little-Stones band of the Kaiila, for more than ten days
now, in a rough map drawn to the east of the camp, with notched sticks, the
notching indicating the first and second day, and so on, of the animals'
progress, and the placement of the sticks indicating the position of the
animals on the day in question. Scouts of the Sleen Soldiers, a warrior
society of the Isbu, had been keeping track of the animlas since they had
entered he country of the Kaiila more than two weeks ago. This was a moon in
which the Sleen Soldiers held police powers in the camp, and so it was to
their lot that numerous details, such as scouting and guarding, supervising
the camp and settling minor disputs, now fell. Among their other duties, of
course, would come the planning, organization and policing of the great
Wanasapi, the hunt or chase.
In a few Ehn Cuwignaka, sweating, elated, his braided hair behind him,
returned his lathering kaiila to our side.
"It is glorious!" he said.