"E. C. Tubb - Dumarest 10 - Jondelle" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tubb E. C)

It was confirmation of what Dumarest had suspected. Two
dark-haired, brown-eyed people could not have a blond,
blue-eyed son, yet even so Elray was in the position of a parent. It
was his duty to teach the essentials to the boy in his charge.

Jondelle said, shrewdly, "We could be attacked again. It would
help if I knew how to defend myself. Please teach me how to use
a knife."

"You expect to be attacked again?"

"I don't know. But if it did happen, then I want to be able to
do as you did. Elray won't teach me. He doesn't like violence. He
says that civilized people don't need to use it."

"He is right," said Dumarest flatly.

"But if a civilized man met one who wasn't?"

A question too shrewd for any young boy to askтАж yet what
was age when it came to understanding? At six, Dumarest had
been hunting game with a crude sling, with hunger the penalty
should he miss. At sevenтАФ He drew a deep breath, reluctant to
remember.

"You hold a knife so." He demonstrated. "Thumb to the blade,
the point held upward. Don't try to stab. You could miss or hit a
bone or wedge it in some way and so disarm yourself. You use
the edge to cut, so." He swept the blade through the air, turning
it so that the late afternoon sun shone on the point and edge.
"And if you have to defend yourself, never hesitate. Go in fast and
do what has to be done. Don't be afraid of getting hurt, accept
the fact that you may have to take a minor wound, and try not to
be afraid. Fear will slow you down and give your opponent a
chance to get you before you can get him. Aim for the eyes and
thenтАФ"

"That will be enough!" Elray had approached unseen, his
boots silent on the soft dirt. He stood, his thickset body tense
with rage, his face mottled with anger. "Jondelle, go into the
house!"

Dumarest watched him go, looked at the watching eyes of a
cluster of workers, small men with lank hair and a subdued
manner, their women peering from the windows of the shacks
clustered around the house.

"You are our guest," said Elray tightly. "But even if you were
my brother, I would never allow what I have just seen. What kind