"Mike Resnick - Hunting The Snark" - читать интересную книгу автора (Resnick Mike)

"Thanks," he replied with a look that said: _of course_ I'm a crack shot. I
told you so, didn't I?

Desmond was next. He raised his rifle to his shoulder, took careful aim, and
missed, then missed three more times.

I took the rifle, lined up the sights, and fired. The bullet went high and to
the right, burying itself in a tree trunk. I adjusted the sights and took
another shot. This time I hit a target dead center.

"Okay, try it now," I said, handing the rifle back to Desmond.
He missed four more times. He missed sitting. He missed prone. He missed
using a rest for the barrel. Then he tried the shotgun, and missed twice more
before he finally nailed a target. Then, for good measure, he totally misused
his laser rifle, trying to pinpoint the beam rather than sweep the area, and
missed yet again. We were both relieved when his session ended.

His wife was a little better; she hit the target on her third try with the rifle
and her second with the shotgun. She swept the area with her laser rifle,
wiping out all the remaining targets.

Pollard should have been next, but he didn't show up, and I went back to camp to
get him. He was sitting down with the others, sipping a cup of coffee.

"You're next, Mr. Pollard," I said.

"I'm just going to take holos," he replied, holding up his camera.

"You're sure, Jaxon?" asked Desmond.

"I don't think I'd enjoy killing things," he replied.

"Then what the hell are you doing here?" demanded Marx.

Pollard smiled. "I'm here because you nagged incessantly, Willard. Besides,
I've never been on a safari before, and I enjoy taking holographs."

"All right," I said. "But I don't want you wandering more than twenty yards
from me at any time."

"No problem," said Pollard. "I don't want _them_ killing me any more than I
want to kill _them_."

I told his gunbearer to stay behind and help with the camp and the cooking.
You'd have thought I'd slapped him in the face, but he agreed to do as he was
ordered.

We clambered into the vehicle and got to the water hole in about half an hour.
Within five minutes Marx had cooly and efficiently brought down a pair of