"Mack Reynolds - North Africa 03 - The Best Ye Breed" - читать интересную книгу автора (Reynolds Mack)

pushed through their areas and trucks by the thousands start speeding
over them? What do bands of former brigands do, in the face of the new
weapons of the white man? What do clans of Tedas, who formerly herded
goats, do, when the officials of the Sahara Afforestation Project buy up
their animals and shoot them? Goats are the most destructive animals in
the desert, so far as trees are concerned. They prefer the bark of young
trees to grass. What do former Heratin serf farmers do, familiar only with
their primitive agricultural methods, when the new solar-powered water
wells go in and the oases are expanded a hundred fold, so that modern
mechanized methods can be utilized?тАЭ
тАЬSo El Hassan is succeeding?тАЭ
тАЬFantastically. He was, the other day, recognized the head of state of all
North Africa, by India. WhoтАЩll follow her example, God only knows.тАЭ
тАЬIndia? Why?тАЭ
тАЬBecause sheтАЩs smart enough to jump on the bandwagon. North Africa
is poor in textiles. United, the market would consist of tens of millions.
India is desperate to export her cotton textiles.тАЭ
Paul Kosloff took in a deep breath.
He said, тАЬSo it looks as though El Hassan might make it. Where do I
come in?тАЭ
His superior looked him straight in the eye. тАЬYouтАЩve been called the Cold
WarтАЩs Lawrence of Arabia. YouтАЩre our most dependable field man in these
cloak-and-dagger affairs. We want El Hassan stopped by fair means or
foul.тАЭ
Paul Kosloff looked at him cynically. тАЬSo who are you going to send in to
try the fair means?тАЭ



II

SEAN RYAN

Sean Eugene Ryan awoke from no deep dream of peace. His mouth
tasted as though rats had chosen it for a latrine.
He took a long moment to orientate himself, groaned a hungover groan,
and stared up at the peeling ceiling. The room he inhabited was the
smallest, the cruddiest, the most poorly furnished, in the third-rate hotel
he called home. There were other things he called it as well. Sean Ryan
had arrived at the end of the line.
He swung his legs over the side of the bed and discovered that he had
removed jacket and shoes but otherwise had slept in his clothes. He came
to his feet and managed to make his way over to the cracked mirror above
the washstand. He didnтАЩt look any better than he felt. He hadnтАЩt shaved the
day before. He looked down and realized that he had just about enough
soap for one more shave. He took up the water pitcher, went down the
hallway to the bathroom, filled it and returned to his room. He drank
about a pint of the lukewarm water and then steeled himself to take the
risk of shaving.
He tucked the collar of his shirt in, noticing, without bothering to