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

When he finally calmed down, I left Chajinka behind to see if he could learn
anything more about the Snark while the rest of us began marching back to the
water hole, where the vehicle was waiting for us.

****

_"We have sailed many months, we have sailed many weeks,_

_(Four weeks to the month you may mark),_

_But never as yet ('tis your Captain who speaks)_

_Have we caught the least glimpse of a Snark!"_

****

Mbele had himself a good laugh when we got back to camp, hot and tired and
hungry.

"You keep talking about the Snark as if it exists!" he said in amusement. "It's
an imaginary beast in a children's poem."

"Snark is just a convenient name for it," I said. "We can call it anything you
like."

"Call it absent," he said. "No one's seen it."

"Right," I said. "And I suppose when you close your eyes, the whole galaxy
vanishes."

"I never thought about it," admitted Mbele. "But it probably does." He paused
thoughtfully. "At least, I certainly hope so. It makes me feel necessary."

"Look!" I exploded. "There's a dead 300-pound killer cat out there, and a
missing antelope that was even bigger!" I glared at him. "_I_ didn't kill one
and steal the other. Did _you_?"
He swallowed his next rejoinder and gave me a wide berth for the rest of the
day.

****

Chajinka trotted into camp the next morning and signaled to me. I walked over
and joined him.

"Did you learn anything?" I asked.

"It is an interesting animal," he said.

I grimaced, for as everyone knows, the Dabihs are masters of understatement.