"S. M. Stirling - Draka 05 - Drakas!" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stirling S. M)

Kaffir cattle irresistible targets.

"This time," the Commandant said grimly, "things got out of hand. The rancher happened to show up as
they were cutting up the kill. He shot one of them. The others scattered into the bushтАФbut when the
damned fool dismounted, one of them put a poisoned arrow into his back."

"Good God," Custer said involuntarily. "They killed a white man?" That was unheard-of; Bushmen were
a nuisance but seldom actively dangerous.

Heimbach was nodding. "And so they have to be taught a lesson. Orders from the top, on this morning's
wire."

He pointed the pipe stem at Custer, like a pistol. "Which is why I'm not altogether unhappy to let you
take this one, Centurion. Some important people want this done right."

Cohortarch Heimbach got up from his desk and went over and stood looking out the glassless front
window. Out on the parade ground, an eight-man lochus stood in a single uneven rank, while a big
red-faced NCO inspected their rifles. He didn't look happy. Of course sergeantsтАФdecurions, Custer
corrected himself, damn these people with their classical pretensionsтАФrarely did. Beyond, past the high
barbed-wire fence that ringed the little post, the Kalahari shimmered in the midday sun.

"So I'm giving you your wish," the Commandant said, not looking around. "Take the Second Lochus
from Leblanc's tetrarchyтАФthat's Decurion Shaw's lot, he's a good manтАФand of course Boss and his
trackers. Ride up to the ranch, pick up the trail, and go after the culprits. You know what to do when
you find them."

"Yes, sir." Custer went wooden-faced again. He did know.
"And, of course," Heimbach added, "the same for any other renegade Bushmen you find."

"Yes, sir." Since no Bushman had any legal status whateverтАФoutside of a few bondservants, mostly
raised from captured infants and kept as household novelties by aristocratic Drakia familiesтАФthey were
all in effect "renegades" and subject to out-of-hand disposal on sight. Custer, however, did not point this
out.

"After all," Heimbach said, "you do, I believe, have some experience of pursuing and punishing savages."

Custer managed not to wince. "Yes, sir," he said once more, face blank, looking at Queen Victoria, who
looked back at him without joy.

***

His face is blank now, under its coating of dust; his long bony features register nothing of the voices
within:

"Colonel Custer, was it not your mission to pursue and punish the savages?"

"I learned that their forces were overwhelmingly superior to mine. I saw no reason, sir, to lead my men
to certain defeat."

"And on what basis did you make this evaluation?"