The Moon Moth and Other Stories Read Free Page B

spirit to feed them, and they starved or ran whimpering around the planet like naked little rats.”
    “Ahem,” said Magnus Ridolph. “A pity.”
    “Fred Exman was adjutant here then. On his own authority he ordered the ban removed, told them to fight till they were blue in the face. The wars began half an hour later, and the natives have been happy and healthy ever since.”
    “If what you say is true,” Magnus Ridolph remarked mildly, “I have fallen into the common fault of wishing to impose my personal tenor of living upon creatures constitutionally disposed to another.”
    Clark said emphatically, “I don’t like to see those sadistic bounders at the hotel capitalizing on the wars, but what can I do about it? And the tourists are no better: morbid unhealthy jackals, enjoying the sight of death…”
    Magnus Ridolph suggested cautiously, “Then it would be safe to say that, as a private individual, you would not be averse to a cessation of the gambling at Shadow Valley Inn?”
    “Not at all,” said Everley Clark. “As a private citizen, I’ve always thought that Julius See, Bruce Holpers and their guests represented mankind at its worst.”
    “One more detail,” said Magnus Ridolph. “I believe you speak and understand the Kokod language?”
    “After a fashion—yes.” Clark grimaced in apprehension. “You realize I can’t compromise Control officially?”
    “I understand that very well.”
    “Just what do you plan, then?”
    “I’ll know better after I witness one or two of these campaigns.”
    III
     
    Soft chimes roused Magnus Ridolph; he opened his eyes into the violet gloom of a Kokod dawn. “Yes?”
    The hotel circuit said, “Five o’clock, Mr. Ridolph. The first party for today’s battle leaves in one hour.”
    “Thank you.” Ridolph swung his bony legs over the edge of the air-cushion, sat a reflective moment. He gained his feet, gingerly performed a set of calisthenic exercises.
    In the bathroom he rinsed his mouth with tooth-cleanser, rubbed depilatory on his cheeks, splashed his face with cold water, applied tonic to his trim white beard.
    Returning to the bedroom, he selected a quiet gray and blue outfit, with a rather dashing cap.
    His room opened upon a terrace facing the mountainside; as he strolled forth, the two women whom he had encountered in the charabanc the day previously came past. Magnus Ridolph bowed, but the women passed without even a side glance.
    “Cut me dead, by thunder,” said Magnus Ridolph to himself. “Well, well.” And he adjusted his cap to an even more rakish angle.
    In the lobby a placard announced the event of the day:
    IVORY DUNE TUMBLE
vs.
EASTERN SHIELD TUMBLE
at Muscadine Meadow
    All bets must be placed with the attendant.
     
Odds against Ivory Dune:
8:13
Odds against Eastern Shield:
5:4
     
    In the last hundred battles Ivory Dune has won 41 engagements, Eastern Shield has won 59.
    Excursions leave as follows:
     
For deployment:
6 A.M.
For onslaught:
7 A.M.
For battle proper:
8 A.M.
     
    It is necessary that no interference be performed in the vicinity of the battle. Any guest infringing on this rule will be barred from further wagering. There will be no exceptions.
    At a booth nearby, two personable young women were issuing betting vouchers. Magnus Ridolph passed quietly into the restaurant, where he breakfasted lightly on fruit juice, rolls and coffee, finishing in ample time to secure a place with the first excursion.
    The observation vehicle was of that peculiar variety used in conveying a large number of people across a rough terrain. The car proper was suspended by a pair of cables from a kite-copter which flew five hundred feet overhead. The operator, seated in the nose of the car, worked pitch and attack by remote control, and so could skim quietly five feet over the ground, hover over waterfalls, ridges, ponds, other areas of scenic beauty with neither noise nor the thrash of driven air to disturb the passengers.
    Muscadine Meadow was