"E. C. Tubb - Dumarest 12 - Eloise" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tubb E. C)

"All right, Earl." Branchard accepted defeat. "You'll do as you
think best, but I still think you're crazy to ride with Eglantine.
What else do you want me to do?"

"Nothing." Dumarest looked towards the stage. The dancers
had gone, replaced by three women who sang like angels; the
thin, high notes of their song rising like the sigh of wind, the
thrum of harps. "Just be honest. Make a point of telling people
what you're carrying and where you are going. Someone will ask
for passageтАФgive it to him. If anyone asks about me, tell them
the truth. I've shipped out, but you don't know where. Tell them
about Eglantine if they press. Remember that you've got nothing
to hide, nothing to answer for."

And, if he was lucky, nothing would happen to him or his
vessel. He would be watched, followed perhaps; checked for a
while and then forgotten as no longer being of importance.
ForgottenтАФand safe.

Branchard finished his wine.

"So this is it, Earl. Goodbye. I guessed it would have to end.
Do I have to tell you that, anytime we meet, you've always got a
friend?"

"No." said Dumarest. "You don't have to tell me that."

"We'd best not leave together, in go out the front door and you
take the one next to the stage. It leads to a back alley. Turn left
and climb the wall. Go right and you're heading towards the
field. Eglantine is expecting you." Branchard blew out his cheeks.
"Look after yourself, Earl."

***

Eglantine was small, fat: his face creased like a prune, his eyes
twin chips of agate, his teeth startlingly white. His ship was like
his clothes; patched, worn, soiled with stains.

"Earl Dumarest." He gestured to a chair in the dingy room
used as a salon. "Branchard told me about you. You want to
charter the Styast, right?"

"You know it."

"But the terms of charter were a little vague. And, as yet, I've
seen no money."

"The terms are what I say." Dumarest was curt. "Ten