"E. C. Tubb - Dumarest 14 - Jack of Swords" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tubb E. C)

"Here!" Dumarest handed out hunks of dripping meat, "Don't
take more than you can easily carry. Leave as soon as you're
loaded. Wait for the next flash and freeze when the next one
follows."

"The liver," said a man. "Don't forget the liver."

"We'll share it on the way and eat as we go. Cran?"

Like an eel he slipped into the hollow with his companions.

"Hurry," he panted. "The guards are suspicious and they
could have spotted the torn fence. If so they'll be coming to
investigate."

Men with guns and portable searchlights who would not
hesitate to shoot.

"Keep watch," ordered Dumarest. "Let me know if they come
this way. The rest of you, get moving. Move, damn you! Move!"

Minutes later he followed, wiping his knife and thrusting it
into his boot before lifting his load. Together they vanished into
the darkness, shielded by the storm, invisible to the guards who
finally came to investigate. They found the cut fence, but rain
had washed away the blood and filled the traces with oozing
mud. It wasn't until the dawn they made count and found the
discarded bones, head, hooves, tail, and intestines of the
slaughtered beast.
 Chapter Two


Pacula had set the table, decorating it with fine glass and
delicate flowers set in vases of crystal, little touches he could
have done without but which impressed the Owners who came to
visit. Kel Accaus was openly envious and paid unmistakable
court to the woman, clumsy in his flattery.

"Pacula, my dear, your brother should be proud of you. Had I
someone like yourself to act as my hostess I should not spend as
much time as I do in the field. Tien, your health."

A toast which Tien Harada acknowledged with a bare
inclination of the head. He had no great love for Accaus but had
invited the man from necessity. Only a fool made an enemy of a
man whose lands joined one's own, and yet the way he looked at
Pacula would, in other times, have been grounds for a quarrel.

"You are kind, Kel," she said. "But surely you should reserve