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

"But -- "

"You say you've been on safari before," I said. "That means you know the
rules."

He muttered and he cursed, but he _did_ know the rules, and he rejoined the rest
of the party while Chajinka and I vanished into the bush in search of our
wounded prey.

The swamp smelled of rotting vegetation. We followed the blood spoor on leaves
and bushes through two hundred yards of mud that sucked at the Dabih's feet and
my boots, and then, suddenly, it vanished. I saw a little hillock a few yards
off to the right, where the grass was crushed flat, small branches were broken,
and flowers were broken off their stems. Chajinka studied the signs for a full
minute, then looked up.

"The Snark," he said.

"What are you talking about?"

"He was hiding, watching us," answered Chajinka. He pointed to the ground.
"The wounded animal lay down here. You see the blood? The Snark was over
there. Those are his tracks. When the animal lay down, the Snark saw it was
too weak to get up again, but still dangerous. He circled behind it. See --
here is where he went. Then he leaped upon it and killed it."

"How?"

Chajinka shrugged. "I cannot tell. But he lifted it and carried it off."

"Could he lift an animal that big?"
"He did."

"He can't be more that a few hundred yards ahead of us," I said. "What do you
think? Can we catch up with him?"

"You and I? Yes."

Every now and then, when my blood was up, Chajinka had to remind me that I
wasn't hunting for my own pleasure. Yes, was the implication, he and I could
catch up with the Snark. Marx might not be a hindrance. But there was no way
we could take Pollard and the Desmonds through the swamp, keep an eye out for
predators, and hope to make up any ground on the Snark -- and of course I
couldn't leave them alone while we went after the Snark with Marx.

"All right," I said with a sigh. "Let's get back and tell them what happened."

Marx went ballistic. He ranted and cursed for a good three minutes, and by the
end of it I felt he was ready to declare a blood feud against this trophy thief.