"Andre Norton - Operation Time Search" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

here. And where was here?

Slowly he got to his feet, thrusting his twitching hands into
the pockets of his jacket. Go back. He half turned to face
that silent density of forest and knew that he could not go in
there again, not yet. His heart began to thump heavily when
he thought of it. Somehow this open land seemed the lesser
of two evils. So he trudged on, to find a little later a break
in the plain. Below was a narrow gully that housed a stream,
and around that grew tall brush and saplings.

As he sought a path down the steep side, there was a
crashing in the brush below. Out of that green thicket,
straight at the almost perpendicular slope. hurtled a dark
shape. Sharp hoofs pawed frantically at the wall, bringing
down soil and stones. Then, appearing to realize there was
no climbing it, the creature, with a toss of its antlered head,
turned to face its hunters.

Ray clutched at the grass of the verge to keep from sliding
over. The hunted animal was directly below him, head low,
breathing in labored snorts. But he could not believe it was
real. Elk, if this huge monster could be an elk, did not run
wild in southern Ohio. It had an antler spread of more than
six feet and was far
taller than Ray-as out of proportion as the forest
trees.
From the brush leaped shaggy-coated wolfish beasts.
Avoiding the reaching scoop of the elk's antlers, the
first lunged for the animal's foreleg, clearly no novice
at this wicked game. They made a running fight,
dashing in to slash and then speeding away before the
larger animal could well defend itself.
Ray was roused from his absorption in the battle by a
shout. The hail drew one of the hounds momentarily
out of the fight. It answered with a sharp bark. In a
moment two-footed hunters appeared. They carried
nothing Ray could identify as a weapon, though one of
them had a short rod of metal. This he aimed at the
throat of the cornered elk, and from its tip shot a ray of
red light. Bellowing, the elk reared, to crash forward,
nearly striking one of the hounds. The dogs rushed in
to tear at the still quivering body, but the hunters
pulled them back from the kill, sending them howling
with well-aimed kicks and cuffs.
Drawing a dagger from a belt sheath, one of the men
set about butchering the fallen animal. Another fastened
leashes to the metal-studded collars of the hounds,
while the third wrapped the fire rod in cloth and
stowed it down the front of his jerkin.