Hard-Luck Diggings: The Early Jack Vance, Volume One Read Free Page B

same proposition?” asked Magnus Ridolph. “It looks about the same formation from here.”
    “Yes, it’s about the same. They’re old volcanic necks, both of them. At B, we’re pushing the fill into a low canyon in back. When we’re done at B—if we ever get done—the canyon will be level full a mile back, and we’ll use it for a town-site.”
    They climbed up from the beach on a sloping shoulder of rock. Rogge guided them toward the edge of the forest, fifty feet distant.
    “I’ll show you something,” Rogge said. “Fruit like you’ve never seen before in your life.” He stopped at a shiny black trunk, plucked one of the red globes that hung within easy reach. “Try one of these.” And Rogge bit into one of the soft skins himself.
    Magnus Ridolph and the captain gravely followed suit.
    “They are indeed very good,” said the old man.
    “They don’t grow at B,” said Rogge bitterly. “Just along this stretch here. Diggings B is the hard-luck spot of the entire project. The leopards and apes killed men at B until we put up a charged steel fence. Here at A there’s some underbrush that keeps them out. Full of thorns.”
    A sound in the foliage attracted his attention. He craned his neck. “Look! There’s one right now—an ape!” And Magnus Ridolph and the captain, looking where he pointed, glimpsed a monstrous black barrel, a hideous face with red eyes and a fanged mouth. The brute observed them, hissed softly, took a challenging step forward. Magnus Ridolph and the captain jerked back. Rogge laughed.
    “You’re safe. Watch him.”
    The ape lunged nearer, then suddenly halted, with a roar. He struck out a great arm at the air, roared again. He charged forward, stopped short, howling, retreated.
    Rogge threw the core of the fruit at him. “If this were at B, he’d have killed the three of us.” He peered through the foliage. “Gah! Get away from here, you ugly devil!” And Rogge ducked in alarm as a length of stick hurtled past his head.
    “The creature apparently has a comparatively high order of intelligence,” suggested Magnus Ridolph.
    “Mmph,” snapped Rogge. “Well—perhaps so. We killed one at Diggings B, and two others dug a grave for him under a tree, buried him while we were watching.”
    Magnus Ridolph looked soberly into the forest. “I can tell you how to stop these murders.”
    Rogge jerked his head around. “How?”
    “Survey off an area of land, in such a way that both diggings, A and B, are a mile inside the perimeter. Around the boundary erect a charged steel fence, and clear the land inside of all vegetation.”
    Rogge stared. “But how—” His belt radio buzzed. He flipped the switch.
    “Superintendent Rogge!” came a voice.
    “Yes!” barked Rogge.
    “Foundry-foreman Jelson’s got it!”
    Rogge turned to Captain Julic and Magnus Ridolph. “Come along. I’ll show you.”
    Ten minutes later they stood staring down at the naked body of Foreman Jelson. He had been taking a shower and his body still glistened with the wet. A red and blue bruise ringed his neck, his eyes popped, and his tongue lolled from the side of his mouth.
    “We was right here, sittin’ in the dressin’ room,” babbled a red-headed mechanic. “We didn’t see a thing. Jelson went in to shower. The next thing, we heard him flop—and there he was!”
    Rogge turned to Magnus Ridolph. “You see? That’s what’s been going on. Do you still think that building a fence will stop the murders?”
    Ridolphmused, a hand at his white beard. “Tonight,if I am not mistaken, there will be a murder attempted at Diggings A.”
    Rogge’s mouth opened slackly, then snapped shut. From behind came the sobbing breath of the red-headed mechanic.
    “Diggings A? How? Why do you say that?”
    “No one will be killed, I hope,” said Magnus Ridolph. “Indeed, if I’m wrong my theory has been founded on a non-comprehensive survey of the possibilities, and there may be no attempt upon my life.”He