"Arkady & Boris Strugatsky - The Ugly Swans" - читать интересную книгу автора (Strugatski Arkady)

rain. Diana slipped, and Vic-tor barely had time to grab her shoulders. She freed herself impatiently and
went on. Every minute she repeated, "Watch your feet. Follow me." Victor obediently watched Diana's
feet, flickering in the dancing pool of light. At first he kept on waiting for a blow on the back of his head,
right on his lump, then he decided it was unlikely. It didn't fit together. Probably it was just some nut who
snuck off, or Rosheper had had a
The Ugly Swans 41

tantrum and they'd have to march him back, frightening him with an empty pistol.
Diana stopped short and said something, but her words didn't reach Victor's consciousness. Within a
second, at the side of the trail, he saw someone's shining eyesтАФimmobile, huge, and staring intently from
under a wet, protruding fore-head. Only eyes and a forehead, nothing more: no mouth, no nose, no body,
nothing. Just the heavy, damp darkness and in a pool of light, shining eyes and an unnaturally white
forehead.
"Bastards," said Diana. There was a catch in her voice. "I knew it. The bastards."
She fell to her knees. The beam of the flashlight skimmed along the black body, and Victor caught sight
of a glistening metallic arc and a chain in the grass. "Quick," commanded Diana, and Victor crouched down
next to her. Only then did he see that it was a trap, and that there was a man's leg caught in it. He put both
hands into the iron jaws and tried to force them apart. They gave way just a little bit and then snapped back
into place.
"Idiot!" shrieked Diana. "Use the pistol."
He clenched his teeth, got a better grip, and strained his muscles until his shoulders cracked. The jaws
came apart.
"Pull," he said hoarsely. The leg disappeared. The iron arcs snapped together, catching his fingers.
"Hold the flashlight," said Diana.
"I can't," said Victor guiltily. "I'm caught. Get the pistol out of my pocket."
Diana, swearing, felt for his pocket. He wrenched the trap apart another time, she put the handle of the
pistol between the jaws, and Victor freed himself.
"Hold the light," she repeated. "Let me look at the leg."
"The bone is shattered," said a strained voice in the dark-ness. "Carry me to the resort and call for a car."
"Right," said Diana. "Victor, give me the flashlight, and you take him."
She shone the flashlight down. The man was sitting in the
42 The Ugly Swans

same place as before, leaning against a tree. The lower half of his face was hidden behind a black
bandage. "An owl," thought Victor. "A slimy. How did he get here?"
"Hurry up, take him," said Diana. "On your back."
"Right away," he answered. He remembered the yellow cir-cles around the eyes. A lump rose in his
throat. "Right away." He crouched down next to the slimy and turned his back toward him. "Grab me
around the neck," he said.
The slimy turned out to be thin and light. He didn't move and it seemed as though he wasn't even
breathing. He didn't moan when Victor stumbled, but every time it happened a shudder went through his
body. The trail was much steeper than Victor had thought, and when they reached the fence he was
completely out of breath. Getting the slimy through the gap in the fence proved difficult, but in the end they
managed.
"Where to?" asked Victor when they had reached the en-trance.
"Into the lobby for now," answered Diana.
"Don't," said the slimy in the same strained tone. "Leave me here."
"It's raining," objected Victor.
"Stop jabbering," siad the slimy. "I'm staying here."
Victor didn't say anything and started walking up the steps.