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Paul cleared his throat, but then only shut his lips and looked at her He did not serishka purred "Monkey not jabber, we get along better OK talk now, though"

Paul kept his lips shut

"Don&039;t be sulky, Paul," Tigerishka directed "I know you civilized by your lights, but I tie you, gag you, call you monkey to teach you little lesson: how you not so is, how others can treat you like you treat potentially superior aniive you birth-experience any psychologist know you badly need"

Paul looked at her a bit longer, then slowly shook his head

"What you erishka de each syllable as sharply and carefully as if he were teaching a speech class, Paul said: "You tell me you have a ree with you, yet for at least twenty hts with those of that char but speechless and cultureless little animal on your lap So you took out onmade such a very stupid erishka retorted instantly in unslurred English quite as good as his own She stiffened, her claws caht herself and leaned back luxuriously, relaxed and chuckling A delicious shrug rippled her violet-barred shoulders "You right there," she admitted "That a little part my reason Few cosmic cat strains, me let hopes run away You notice Monkey sly"

"Just the saross one," he told her quietly "How could you expect an ani brain?"

"Me think it miniaturized," she answered quickly "Could have told it wasn&039;t if I&039;d checked by clairvoyance, but I depending on telepathy" She petted Miaow "Any ain, then said: "You claialactic culture, yet you exhibit a fantastic xenophobia I should think a true galactic citizen would have to be able to get along with intelligent beings of all strains: sea dwellers, grazers, arachnoids and coleopteroids possibly, winged beings, wolves and other carnivores like yourself, yes, and sierishka seemed to start just a little as he said, "wolves and other carnivores," but she recovered nicely with a sweet, "Monkey much the worst strain of those, Paul" She added huskily: "Also cosun to stroke Miaow rhyth the sree," Paul coreat consideration for life - at least you boasted of saving two anthropoid cities from fire - yet when you crushed our nored the presence on it of a nu erishka sympathized coolly "But they on airless planet, they have ships Get away"

"Yes, at least we can hope that Don and the others escaped," Paul agreed with equal coolness, "but I don&039;t believe that you even knew they were there! I don&039;t believe that when you eed from hyperspace you had any idea that this planet was inhabited by intelligent beings Or if you did, you didn&039;t care"

Tigerishka still see Miaow in a faster rhytharette "You a little right there too, Paul," she conceded "Things bad in hyperspace: storms, et cetera Our need fuel acute We feel beat e coent life here, only pro feline strain" And she twitched her nose at hinoring this huht on your unfeeling and blundering haste: when you rescued Miaow from the earthquake waves - andI was a cat&039;s beast of burden - you left a score of precious huirl friend, to sink or swierishka retorted "I quiet waves for theet out safe I even lose momentum pistol"

"Another super-feline blunder?" Paul shot back at her "Well, at least it was on the side of generosity, so we&039;ll pass over it But - "

Paul broke off, momentarily overcome by a sudden awareness of the ridiculousness of the situation Here he was, naked and foot-fettered, trailing the tubes of a sanitary arrange district attorney to the most fantastic "Madame X" ever to float on the witness chair

The hts

Or was all this, he wondered, only the age-old racial business of thethe leopard?

But then he reirl friend now, hey, Paul?" Tigerishka put in wickedly "That really true? Margo know? And you so fair - that fair to Don?"

He waved theseca indictreat sensitivity is the way hu beneath this saucer at this very ravity field - all because you needed fuel and wouldn&039;t take a little extra time to find a proper source - such as the rant you put out some fires, but only after hundreds, more likely thousands, died in the blazes and in the quakes that began the blazes And nohole cities are being wiped out by the floods you&039;ve caused If this goes on - "

"Shut up, erishka snarled, her claws out, her hind paws touching back toward the control panel Miaow sprang away fro to contain herself with difficulty "I never boast you I humani-tarian, monkey-tarian, cosmo-tarian! Cats have cruel culture some ways Other cultures cruel, too! Death part of life Sos It just - "

She broke off, frowning at the finger Paul was pointing at her His face was glowing, for he had just seen what he believed to be the treerishka&039;s apparently honest attempt to defend herself and her people

"I do not believe you," he said ringingly "Tigerishka, I think that your blundering haste and that of your people, your lack of proper scouting and preparation, and most of all your crude, belated efforts to repair soo to show that you were rushed into action by soh-pitched snarl Tigerishka launched herself at hiainst the ith one forepaw around his throat and the other poised like a four-tined rake a foot above his face

"That is a dalish "I deot his breath Then he shook his head

"No," he said, s from his eyes "You&039;re scared to death"

Don Guillermo Walker slapped mosquitoes and stared at the flooded housetops of San Carlos red in the dawn as the launch beat its way back into Lake Nicaragua During the night the current in the San Juan River had once ly, and noas clear this was because the lake itself had risen a dozen feet or h why that happened was harder to say

The sky presented a mystery, too To the east it was clear, the sun already shooting his rays hotly, but to the west a thick white cloud-wall rose from the strip of land between the lake and the Pacific and extended as far north and south as one could see

Although night before last he had witnessed the great outburst of volcanis many other stretches, the Pacific Ocean was bordered now by a stea into volcanic cracks

He asked why the launch was heading north, and the Araiza brothers infor up-lake to their ho sharp and clipped in their voices kept hi this decision

It did not deter hi a little later into an account - not the first one he&039;d given them, either - of how, over a hundred years ago, his great-great-grandfather had landed in Nicaragua with only fifty-eight bold Yankee followers, and soon had successfully stor Buno watched the sun that was rising for Don Guiller as it had seen shrunken sulf North Vietnabox in the cabin and how it now held a suineas and condors and s of silver coins - the modest loot of the "Sumatra Queen" He touched the yellow silk hankerchief bound so piratically around his head, and he looked roguishly around at Cobber-Hume and said: "Yo-ho-ho, eh, baik sobat?"

"And a bottle of ru Australian affirmed "And a pipe of the poppy for you, since that&039;s not against your religion"

Bagong hung grinned, but then his face grew grave and he said softly and intently: "Pagi dan ayer surut!"

Morning and the low tide! Truly, he could hardly bear to conteo decided reck he would try for then: the near-legendary Spanish treasure ship Lobo de Oro The Tiger of the Mud would try conclusions with the Wolf of Gold!

Barbara Katz&039;s first reaction to the double-barreled shotgun h the driver&039;snear Benjy&039;s hunched shoulders was that here was just one more weary bit of the weird flotsa over, past, through, and around for the first three hours of daylight Sandy soil - lots of that; leaves and fronds and e; uprooted bushes and small trees; ruined cars and farm machinery; dead animals and - Don&039;t stop! - people; wire - that could be devilish, especially the barbed stuff; they&039;d had to lay boards across one dragged and leveled fence to get the Rolls over without puncturing the tires; sodden flowers plastered here and there, including a remarkable numentary and almost intact - they&039;d had to find a looping sideroad to get around onein the heat, as if a swiftly dissipating fog were coround Of course there had been live people, too, though not so verystunned and helpless or else going very round, hoisting planks into big trees, or going places in cars or on horses Once a s loud and self-iun ency she&039;d been expecting all along, and thank God she had the short-barreled 38 revolver in her right hand under her thigh next to old KKK, and if she had to, she hoped she could whip it up and start shooting through the - though if that just got Benjy and Hester blown to bits in the front seat it wasn&039;t going to do any good, even though thesoftly If they just had a few seconds&039; start -

Her third reaction to the shotgun muzzle was to see the fresh rust on it and wonder if its cartridges et, in which case she ht hold the balance of power and needn&039;t actually fire, only threaten - but that was guessing

The voice froun had a buzz in it that was lazy yet ainst the inside of the sedan&039;s rear

"This is an inspection point We&039;re collecting toll What were you doing - "

"We were only changing a tire," Barbara answered sharply

" - back in Trilby?" the buzzing voice finished

So that, she thought, was the nah whose crookedly choked o They should have called it Svengali!

Aloud she said hurriedly, "We were just coh from Palm Beach We can pay the toll," but as she fu on her lap, two thick-corded sun-reddened ar and one horny hand shifted to her chin and tilted her face up, and for a second she glared into a thin, unshaven, fish-eyed face and fought down the impulse to put a bullet in it or bite the hand, and then the ar, and the voice behind theeezer must be one of them Palm Beach millionaires Lots of paper money here"

Barbara said, "He&039;s very sick He&039;s in a coet hi voice cut her off, "who coes and then run like chickens when the Lord tests us We&039;ll take the als - they&039;ll make the hill a little more comfortable Get out, you two, quick! - or I&039;ll blow a hole in your high-yellow chauffeur"

And he rested the ainst Benjy&039;s side

This is it, Barbara thought, but as she started to bring up the revolver she felt old KKK&039;s clawlike fingers grip her hand on the gun with startling strength, holding it down He cleared his throat hawkingly and next he was speaking in a voice louder than she&039;d ever heard froodda the color of ht by your words you were Southrons out there, not ry but uncertain The gun pulled away fro like an old vulture&039;s as he stared at the men in overalls, intoned portentously, "When will the Black Night end?"

Slowly, alainst his will, the one with the buzzing voice replied, "With the dawn of the White Jubilee"

"Hallelujah!" old KKK responded "Convey to the Grand Chanticleer of Dade City the greetings of the Grand Chanticleer of Dade County Benja forward - a foot - five - fifteen - then they were going faster, and Hester was saying, "Don&039;t hit that stuain, and then they were going faster still, and Benjy was laughing his whooping laugh, only this ti, "Old KKK sho live up to his nalanced back " &039;Scuse meDad!"

Hester said, "He cain&039;t hear you, Benjy He pass out again It take all his stren&039;th"

Helen stared back wide-eyed "I never suspect he Kluxer"

Hester said: "You just be grateful, gal"