"Andre Norton - Cat Fantastic" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

I blinked and shook my head, taken completely aback by his remark.
"You do not know it yourself? Think about what it is you do. You guard the wholeness of this thing, this
big dam we build. You use your white man's magic to seek out weakness or bad influences and you tell
others how to cure these things."
I didn't know whether to burst out laughing or take him seriously. It was a strange way to characterize my
profession, but in a way, he was right.
"And so," he said, picking up Tonochpa and stroking her, "is this dam whole and strong?"
He did not look directly into my eyes, but I felt as if he could read the story of the wandering traces, the
subtle shifts in balance within the structure that might be early warnings of trouble.
I don't know why, but I spilled it all to him. The strange readings, the uncertainties, the attempts to
convince my boss and the construction engineers that something just might be wrong.
"The thing is, I don't have any real indications. Just these strange little shifts in my equipment and my bad
feelings." I concluded.
"Feelings," said Mike. "That is what's important and what you must trust. The others are not wise to
ignore their own medicine man. I also have bad feelings about the dam. I will show you why."
He asked me if I'd brought my field glasses and took me to a spot where we'd be isolated from the other
scalers on the tower site and yet could have a clear view down to the construction atop the dam.
I looked where he directed me, although I had no idea what I was searching for. I watched the crew on
the section almost directly below me.
Though I'd never worked the cement gangs, I knew what was involved in mixing and pouring concrete
for a structure such as this. I'd gained a sense for the rhythms of the work. Things happened in a certain
order; the forms went up, the twelve-ton bucket was filled on the canyon rim and dropped on the
cableway, the concrete was dumped and spread-all this the men did quickly, smoothly, and with few
unnecessary movements. Thus I was good at detecting even small disruptions, such as the one that
occurred when a worker, stopping to glance over his shoulder, slipped his hand into his overall pocket
and poked something into the gray cement sludge alongside a coolant pipe.
I noticed something else. As the man shaded his eyes against the sun, I caught a glimpse of leathery skin
and a hawklike Indian profile. I felt Mike touch my elbow.
"Put the glasses down and turn away," he said softly. I did. We both walked away from the edge, leaned
against a rock. Mike asked me what I'd seen. I told him.
"'That guy was an Indian, wasn't he?" I asked. "One of your people?"
"No. I'm the only Hopituh on this site. Others Pima, Ilualapai, Navajo."
"Well, he looked to be doing something crooked," I said. "Look, I think we ought to go down there and
tell the gang boss."
"No good," Mike said. "I tell you what he find. Something that looks like a pebble."
Now I was completely lost. "Why would someone take all the trouble to plant one rock in a pour that
has a million of 'em?"
"Not rock," the Hopi said. "Bead carved from bone. Used to cause people to get sick or bad things to
happen."
"He thinks he's putting some kind of hex on the dam?"
"Not just him," Mike answered. "Others. From here, I see. I have sharp eyes. And in town, I hear." I
considered his implication of an Indian conspiracy against Black Canyon. If certain workers were
planting hidden charges or doing other things that might weaken the dam, that was one thing. But an
attack using magic?
"Come on," I said. "Hasn't this gone far enough? I believed you about the bobcat, but I can't accept that
anyone can knock down tons of steel and concrete with fetishes and incantations."
For a minute I thought he was going to go all sullen on me, but he only cradled Tonochpa in the crook of
his arm and ruffled the place on her neck where the nakwatch lay. Mildly he asked, "Then what does
your own magic tell you, white medicine man?"
Those readings. Those damned readings that could mean anything. But I wasn't ready to take Mike's