Retief-Ambassador to Space Read Free Page A

mud awhile? Is good for what ails
you—"
    "Sorry, we Terries aren't
amphibians, Haccop."
    "Oops, big excuses, chief; not
mean draw attention to racial deficiencies."
    "Will Crunderthush follow a
straight course across the swamp?"
    The heli was over the mud walls of the
next village now. Retief could see the inhabitants going about their business
as usual, appartently undisturbed by their position next on the menu.
    "No telling, boss; might get
distracted by juicy fisherman or unwary swimming party."
    "Can we hire boats down there,
and a few helpers?"
    "Retief-master, you got enough
cash to hire whole town." Haccop signed. "That pot before last; I
never figured you for eagles back to back—"
    "No post-mortems," Retief
admonished. "Land there, in the marketplace."
    Haccop dropped the flier in, grinned
at the quickly gathering crowd of curious locals.
    "I tell hicks go away, give
Retief-boss room walk around, do little shopping?" he suggested.
    "Absolutely not; we're going to
need them. Listen carefully, Haccop; here's what I have in mind ..."
9
    It was late afternoon when Retief, wet
and plastered to the hips with black mud, signaled to Haccop to land at the
northernmost point of the village, a narrow ringer of land edged by a baked-mud'
retaining wall. Half a mile away, wading ponderously across the shallows,
Crunderthush rumbled softly to himself.
    "The sound carries well, across
the water," Retief commented. "It sounds as though he's right on top
of us."
    "Arid will be, plenty chop-chop,"
Haccop pointed out. "Retief-master think rope across water make big fella
fall down?" The Rockamorran waved a hand at the taut one-inch nylon cable
stretch two feet above the surface of the water across the oncoming monster's
path.
    "He won't get that far, if
everything works out all right. How much time do we have? Another hour?"
    "Crunderthush stop now to
scratch—"
    Retief observed the dinosaur sinking
to his haunches, bringing up a massive hind leg to rake at the armored hide
with two-foot talons, amid a prodigious splashing. "Maybe have hour, hour
and half before dinnertime." Haccop concluded judiciously.
    "OK, let's get moving! Get the
hauling crew over here on the double. Have them attach a line to the center of
the cable, and winch it this way until they can hook it over the trigger."
Retief pointed to a heavy timber construction consisting of an eighteen-inch
pile projecting a yard from the ground with a toggle mounted atop it.
    "Retief-chief, humble slave
bushed from all day stringing wires to trees—"
    "We'll be through pretty soon.
How's the axe-crew doing with that pole?"
    "Top hole, sahib. Pretty near get
nice point on one end, notch on other—"
    "Get it set up here as soon as
they're finished; prop it in the two forked saplings the boys are supposed to
set in the bottom out there."
    "Too many thing do all one
time," Haccop complained. "Bwana Retief have strange hobby—"
    "I'm taking the heli into town;
I'll be back in half an hour. Have everything ready just the way I explained
it, or it won't be just Terry heads rolling around here."
10
    The great pale sun of Rockamorra, with
its tiny blue-white companion close behind, was just sinking in a glory of
purple and old rose as Retief returned to ground the heli at the village.
    "Ohio, Retief-san!" Haccop
called. "All set, accordingly to plan! Now we hit trail, plenty quick!
Crunder-thush too close for maximizing adjustment!"
    "Look at the creature!"
Whaffle quavered, descending from the heli. "As big as a Yill Joss
Palace—and coming this way!"
    "Why have you brought us here,
Retief?" Pinchbot-tle demanded, his jowls paler than usual. "I prefer
beheading to serving as hors d'oeuvre to that leviathan!"
    "It's quite simple, Mr.
Ambassador," Retief said soothingly, leading the stout diplomat across to
where Haccop stood beaming beside the completed apparatus. "You merely use
this mallet to hit the trigger; this releases the cable, which drives the
lance—"
    "R-R-R-R-Retief!