Operation Snake

Chapter VI

Khaleen had lain her small, warm form beside me on the bed as I rested. It was late afternoon when I finally awoke, and I felt rested and refreshed. I was also filled with the edgy anticipation that always swept over me when I felt I was getting into direct action against the main problem, in this case Ghotak. I had thrown him another direct challenge, and I knew he had to answer it. His luck had been phenomenal but I knew he couldn't count on another bear or snow leopard doing me in. He would have to bring some insurance himself, and I'd be ready and waiting for him. Khaleen helped me get my gear together and she clung to me at every opportunity. She had only the silken robe on, and I could feel the softness of her beneath the gown.

"Come back to me, Nick," she breathed as I started to leave, her slender arms around my neck. I looked deep into her eyes and saw again the things I dared not see. Her eyes were the eyes of a woman in love, and that was bad. Not for me but for her. I hoped, silently, that it was really emotional upset, fear, and gratitude, and would disappear once all this was over. I looked back at her small form in the doorway as I headed out. I saw a terrible resignation in her eyes and I knew she didn't believe I would return.

I waved and trudged on, supremely confident I'd not only return but hoping I'd have the pelt of whatever the hell strange creature had slain her father. I had the Marlin 336 slung over my shoulder. It could blast a hole in an elephant and could certainly handle leopard or bear. The blue-gray light of dusk was already beginning to gather as I reached the narrow pass that led up into the mountains. I had decided to follow the same trail the old man had taken and camp pretty close to the same spot I was not halfway there when darkness started to close in, and the wind began to howl in its eerie, bone-chilling wail. The mountains, with their fangs of ice and jaws of yawning crevasses, were as real an enemy as any other. One misstep and Ghotak would have his victory without lifting a finger. On my back was a pack made up mostly of heavy blankets, some food and water, and a small first-aid kit. I was only figuring on a one-night stand, so there was no reason for extra equipment.

I moved slowly, cautiously. The night had turned colder, and the sky was overcast and starless. I felt snow in the air. Fingers aching from cold that penetrated even the warmest gloves, my face tight and reddened, I laboriously pulled my way upwards, grateful for every few feet of rocky ledge. I'd reached the ledge where the old man had camped and decided to move higher, where I could dimly discern a wider ledge. I reached it, finally, and was glad I had. It was somewhat protected from the worst of the wind and was part of a series of small, mountain plateaus. Moreover, there were enough scrub trees to gather ample wood for my fire. I set up camp, putting the pack down against the rock wall that towered up at my back, and started a small but warming fire. In its light, I could see that the area was riddled with tall, vertical crevices, deep ribs in the rock, and towering above me, jutting out over my head, was a huge overhang of snow-covered rock. The small ledge of the plateau led upwards, curving out of sight, and I didn't bother to investigate how far it wound its way up. I wasn't going any farther than this. With the Marlin at my side, the fire in front of me, I leaned back against the rock wall and listened to the chilling wail of the wild wind as it whistled through the mountains. The hours dragged by, and I undid my small packet of food. I'd brought a tin cup and some packets of instant coffee. With water made from melted snow, it wasn't half bad. At least, up there with the icy winds mounting in fury, it tasted downright marvelous. I was just putting away die other packets I'd brought when I heard a noise, the sound of someone or something approaching along the ledge.

I grabbed the Marlin and pushed away from the fire, crouching just outside the circle of light. The visitor was coming closer and then I saw the form, a dark bulk in the night, moving carefully toward the fire.

"Hello, Yank," the figure said. "Are you there? I can't see you."

I almost dropped the Marlin and I shook my head and looked again. I wasn't seeing things. The figure was there, now beside the fire, looking about I got up and walked toward the fire.

"What in hell are you doing up here?" I demanded angrily. "Are you out of your damned head?"

"Don't get excited, old boy," she answered, flashing a somewhat frozen smile. "I'm not staying here."

"You're damn right you're not," I exploded. "You're getting the hell back to the village."

"Oh, no," she said. "I'm camped just around the bend and down a ways. You can't see my fire from here but I can see the glow from yours. I decided that if you've come up here it must be important, and therefore it's important to me. Or, I should say, to my story. Besides, I've as much right as you do to go mucking around in these mountains."

"You and your damned story," I said. "You could have gotten yourself killed just getting up here."

"Nonsense," she retorted. "I'll wager I've done more skiing and mountain hiking than you have. But I just stopped up to see if you've any tea. I forgot to pack some when I left, and I'm a bit thirsty."

I put the Marlin down, looked at her, and shook my head in resignation.

"Go on back, Hilary," I said. "I can't be worrying about you and looking out for you. If there's trouble I'll have my hands full just staying alive myself."

"I didn't ask you to look out for me," she said. "Maybe I'll look out for you. Now, if you have any tea I'll be getting back to my camp."

"Coffee," I said, growling the word at her.

"Then it'll have to be coffee," she said. I handed her two packets of the instant coffee and she nodded politely.

"Thanks terribly, old boy," she said. "Call me if you need me."

She turned and walked down the ledge, disappearing around the corner. I went after her and halted at the corner. In the dark night she had already disappeared but I could hear her making her way down the snow-covered cliffs. I saw her fire now, from the corner vantage point. She had camped on another ledge a few hundred feet down and over from me. I stood watching and finally saw her figure appear beside the fire. I watched for a few moments as she brewed her coffee and then turned back to the warmth of my own fire. A few minutes from the fire, and I found myself walking stiffly, the icy cold seeping through my clothes, driven by the tremendous winds at the unprotected corner of the ledge. I sat down by the fire and found myself smiling as I thought of Hilary Cobb. Damn, you had to admire her dogged determination. She said she was going to sit on my tail until she got a story and she was doing just that. I was sorry that I had to see to it that her story was never filed. I smiled again. She'd have little to show for this night except a damned uncomfortable memory, unless Ghotak showed up. Somehow, I was beginning to think he was backing away from direct action. I got my blanket out, a thick, wool robe, covered my legs with it, rested the Marlin 336 across my lap and closed my eyes. The fire, with some fresh wood on it, would keep me warm till dawn, probably. I fell into a half sleep, my body more asleep than awake, my senses more awake than asleep.

The hours slipped by, and only the wind's cry broke the silence. A few times I snapped my eyes open at a sound only to listen and hear it was but the cracking of ice or the sliding of a snow ledge. The sky was dark, and snow had begun to fall, still light and not much more than flurries. I closed my eyes and continued to rest in half-awake watchfulness. Gray dawn was beginning to tint the sky and the mountain peaks stood out as dark shapes, the jagged teeth of some mythological giant. I was looking at them through nearly closed lids when I heard the screams, first Hilary and than a bone-chilling half roar and half scream. I leaped up, the Marlin in hand, bounded right through my smoldering campfire, and raced to the edge of the ledge. I could see down into her campsite plainly. She was racing across the small plateau, falling on the ice, and behind her, on two legs, was a creature out of hell, a demon from some ancient mythology, something which couldn't exist. Long gray-white hair covered its body. It had a sub-human face, clawed hands and clawed feet. It stood erect, nearly seven feet, I guessed, its nakedness covered by the ape-like grayish hair. I saw it reach a gigantically long arm down and seize the girl's jacket, lifting her from behind as one would a child.

I took aim with the Marlin but he or it was swinging the girl up in front of him. I couldn't get a clear shot but I decided that a shot, anywhere, just for the effect, would be better than nothing. Racing down the steep, icy pathway, I got off two blasts and saw the creature stop, drop the girl and look up toward me. I was on my way down to the plateau, unable to stop my sliding, slipping, falling descent. I had all I could do to hang onto the rifle and not break my neck. The creature let out another fantastic screaming roar, and as I landed at the plateau, it loped off in the other direction. I ran after it, lifting the rifle as I ran, and got off a shot. The bullet creased its shoulder and it turned in fury and pain. I stopped to get off another shot but as I did, my foot went out from under me on a stretch of snow-covered ice. I fell backwards, the rifle skittering off to one side.

The creature rushed at me and now, at close quarters, its sub-human face was, I could see, elongated and snout-like. Its eyes, small and dark, were the button eyes of a bear. All I had time for was to dive for the rifle and get my hands on the barrel. I swung it with all my strength and the heavy stock caught the damned thing flush in the face. It was a blow that would have crushed in a man's skull. The creature halted, staggered back a moment, and leaped at me. Still holding the Marlin by the barrel, I swung it around, found the trigger and let go a blast into the air, hoping it might frighten him back. I had no room or time to get the barrel pointed at it. The damned thing just leaped. I flung myself flat and felt the huge form brush over me. I caught a glimpse of its feet, human in shape except for the clawed forepads. The thing kept on going after its leap, vaulting up a huge rock, leaping onto another. I aimed a shot at the leaping form but I was shooting too fast and from a bad position. The shot missed and I got up to see the thing disappearing into the deep ribbed crevices.

Hilary was sitting up, her eyes wide with shock. I went over to her and pushed the hood of her parka back. The snow was coming down heavily now.

"Are you all right?" I asked. She looked up at me and fell into my arms, her breath coming in great, heaving sobs. I looked her over. Except for the shredded back of her parka where the creature's claws had lifted her, she was all right. Terrified, but otherwise all right.

"Oh, my God," she finally whispered. 'What was it, Nick?"

"I don't know," I said. "It was something that doesn't exist, a legend, a piece of folklore. I still don't believe it. I saw it, I tangled with it, and I still don't believe it."

Hilary's head was against my arm, her hair nearly white with snow. I pulled the hood of her parka back over her head. "Oh, Nick, Nick," she said. "The abominable snowman exists. The yeti lives. You can't scoff at the legend any longer. You can't, I can't. It's true, Nick, true."

I hadn't any answers. They'd all been swallowed up by a hairy demon out of some ancient book on mythological creatures. But was it an animal? Or was it human? Hilary shuddered. "God, Nick, it's well named," she breathed. "It certainly was abominable. I'll never completely disbelieve another legend about anything anywhere, not after this."

Her eyes were wide, looking up at me, and terribly blue. Snowflakes covered her eyebrows and clung to the lids of her eyes and her lovely, round-cheeked face seemed to sparkle. I tore my eyes from her and found myself thinking of the swift juxtaposition of things, from sheer horribleness to fresh, clean loveliness in a matter of minutes.

"I'm afraid, Nick," she shivered again. "I'm afraid it will come back."

"Somehow, I don't think so," I answered. "This has some very interesting aspects to it. The yeti apparently lives, but so do I."

"This is no time for riddles," she said. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"We must admit the damned thing is real," I said. "But it didn't attack me. It attacked your camp. It doesn't kill or attack because the Spirit of Karkotek tells it to do so. It kills indiscriminately. If it's tied in with anything, I'm betting it's Ghotak."

"Nobody could control that creature, Nick," Hilary protested.

"Not control the way you mean it, not like having a trained dog," I said. "But there are all sorts of control. Somehow, I don't think it roams entirely on its own."

Hilary got up. She looked at the snow, now coming down in stinging, biting, slanted fury. The other peaks were all but invisible because of the curtain of white.

"This is a bloody blizzard, Nick," she said. "We'll never make our way back in this. It would be sure death. Why, we couldn't see a crevasse in front of us."

She turned to me and clutched my arm. "I'm afraid, Nick," she said. "I'm afraid."

"We'll have to go up," I said. "We'll have to find a spot we can hole up in till it blows out. I've enough food and coffee to keep us for two days. This might blow out by this afternoon. Come on, where's all that determination?"

"It's bloody well disappeared," she said. "I think that damned creature scared it right out of me."

I took her hand. "Get your gear together and let's start hunting," I said. "The longer we wait the less chance well have of finding anything." She nodded and in minutes we were clambering up the mountain. We paused to pick up my blanket and food and then pushed on. The snow and sub-zero temperatures combined to lash our faces with biting, stinging pain, and each step was like having a fistful of sharp pebbles thrown into your face. I chose a narrow trail along a sheer wall of ice on the chance that it might lead into a large crevasse between two glaciers. If we could find a spot there we'd be somewhat protected from the fury of the wind at least. The ledge grew narrower and the trail turned upwards alongside the cliff. Suddenly it broadened and I was standing on a small plateau. A dark shape loomed up in the wall of the cliff and I advanced through the curtain of white toward it. As I neared it I saw it was the entrance to a cave in the rock.

"Over here, Hilary," I called excitedly. "Come on." I went into the cave, bending low to fit through the small entranceway. It was dry, clean and had obviously been used by other travelers at some time because there was firewood piled against one wall. I couldn't stand erect inside it but it was about fifteen feet deep and ten feet wide. We built a fire in the mouth of the cave, just back of the snowline quickly piling up outside. The wind kept the warmth blowing back into the cave and within the hour, the cave was as warm as a cottage living room. We took off our outer garments and spread them on the ground to let them dry. Hilary had calmed down, and under her outerwear she had on an orange sweater, and deep blue slacks. She chatted on gaily about her background, her home life in England, and we exchanged anecdotes and stories. It was a different Hilary Cobb, a warm, vivacious girl without the hostile aggressiveness, and I commented on it.

"It's you blighters that make a girl aggressive," she said. "You never think a girl can do anything right."

"But there are a lot of girls who accept that and don't get all full of desire to compete and prove things," I countered.

"I guess I'm just not one of them," she said crisply, and I smiled as I saw her temper flaring instantly.

"I know," I said. "That's why you followed me up here."

"Well, yes, but only partly so," she answered.

"What do you mean by that?"

She turned and fixed her lovely blue eyes full on me, wide and round. Her pert nose and lovely skin glowed in the reflected light of the fire.

"Will you believe me?" she asked unsmiling. I nodded.

"Frankly, I was worried about you up here alone," she said. "I guess it was a mixture of the two. I'm after my story and you'd better not forget that. But after watching you with that bloody snake, I knew that you were someone extraordinary and whatever brought you here was important. And I felt that you were going it all alone and that, somehow, wasn't right."

"I'm touched, Hilary," I said seriously. "I am. But I haven't been going it alone. The old man was a help and a guide. And Khaleen has been very helpful in many ways."

"I'll bet," she snapped, and I grinned. Jealousy was, I'd learned a long time ago, a built-in female commodity, and it was there even when it had no damned right to be there.

"The girl is in love with you, you know," she added, and I was reminded of another female quality, that unique ability to sense certain things without question or doubt and be completely right about them. She caught the slight tightness of my lips.

"Well, it's true and I'm sorry for her," she said.

"Sorry for her?" I frowned "Why?"

"You know the answer to that as well as I do " she snapped. "Because you're not a man to fall in love with, not the way she has, anyway." I knew she was completely right, of course, and my slow smile revealed it.

"And you'll hurt her because you can't help but hurt her," Hilary added. "That's why I feel sorry for her."

"You're very protective today," I grinned. "First my going it alone up here and now Khaleen's being hurt."

"I'm just a Girl Scout trying for an extra merit badge," she snapped. "I told you you wouldn't understand."

"Better watch out for your own emotions," I said. "Or are you as good at self-protection?" She caught the taunting edge to my voice and her eyes narrowed.

"Better," she said. "I don't get involved in anything, and I don't do anything unless I'm calling the shots."

I grinned and brought out the food. The dried beef looked decidedly unappetizing though I was getting hungry. I slipped on my parka and picked up the Marlin.

"Well go into the last remark in greater detail later," I said. "Meanwhile, I think maybe I can do better in the food department. You stay here, woman, and tend cave."

"Yes, master," she said, flashing a smile of mock servility. I'd let the fire burn low and I stepped over it and went into the storm. I remembered how, on my first trip through the mountains I'd seen pheasants even higher in the cliffs than we were now. Knowing that the habits of birds are not changed, even by storms, I tried to peer through the white curtain. I moved along the plateau, listening every few steps. The wind, blowing in gusts, lifted the snow in between gusts and allowed me to glimpse ahead a little. I crouched low and grew colder by the second. I was just about to give it up as a bad job when I heard the flutter of wings and I saw two pheasants making their way across the plateau to where it rose slightly to meet a clump of brush. I raised the gun and aimed carefully. The Marlin could blow a hole so big there wouldn't be any bird left to eat. I got the nearest one in the head, blowing it off and leaving the rest of the body untouched. Returning to the cave with my trophy, I built up the fire again and used Hugo to do neat surgery on the pheasant.

"A dinner fit for a queen," I proclaimed, later. "Barbecued pheasant What more could anyone ask?"

"No wine?" Hilary commented acidly.

We were midway through dinner, chomping on the pheasant which was a little gamey but tender, when Hilary asked two very direct questions. I decided to answer both of them honestly. It's not hard to be honest when you hold all the cards.

"What is this all about, Nick?" she questioned. "Why are you here? Why was Harry Angsley sent here?" I looked at her, blue eyes gazing soberly up at me, her blonde hair sending brass glints off in the flickering glow of the fire, large breasts so invitingly thrusting out the bright orange sweater. She'd managed to plunge herself into things so deeply this time that I decided to play straight with her, especially since I knew she wouldn't be sending her story anywhere.

"The Chinese Reds are trying to pull a sneak takeover in Nepal," I said flatly. I filled her in on the details as I knew them, on Ghotak's role as an inside column leader, on the already sizable influx of trained revolutionists under the guise of peaceful immigrants. When I'd finished, she was unsmiling and serious faced.

"Thank you for being honest, at last," she said. "I felt it was something on that order but I didn't realize how close to success they were."

She lapsed into silence, and I watched her in the firelight. She was really a very attractive girl, I had long ago decided. Here, in the warmth of the fire, with the snowfall raging outside, she was desirable as well as very attractive. Her second question came as though she had been reading my thoughts.

"This snow isn't stopping soon," she said. "We may be spending the night here. Are you going to try to make love to me, Nick?"

"I'm not going to try," I said. "I'm going to do it." I saw the hostility instantly leap into her eyes.

"I told you I don't do anything unless I'm calling the shots," she said.

"I heard you," I grinned. "That's okay with me. You can call. In fact, I'm sure you will."

Her lips tightened, and I let it lay there. I got up and went outside, skirting the fire. Darkness was coming down fast and it was still a raging snowstorm. I was angry and frustrated, afraid of what Ghotak might be doing. The storm would probably hamper his movements too, but I knew that when it ended, we had to get back down to Katmandu, and fast. I went back inside and saw Hilary watching me, a mixture of defiance and uncertainty in her eyes. Her breasts rose up like small versions of the mountains outside as she leaned back on her elbows. I knelt down beside her, with her eyes fixed on mine and suddenly realized that the defiance I saw there was her kind of mask. She used it to cloak her own desires, to mask them from herself as well as from others. I leaned down and put my lips on hers. She remained motionless for a moment and then started to tear away. I grabbed her shoulder and yanked her around, crushing my mouth over hers. I opened her lips with my tongue and felt her writhe, her hands pushing upon my shoulders. I held her in a tight grip and let my tongue penetrate her mouth, sending it darting back and forth. I felt her lips suddenly soften and quiver, felt them relax and answer mine. Her tongue curled over mine and she was gasping, working her full lips over my mouth, devouring, burning, thirsting.

My hand found her breast and she cried out as I roamed across the soft, tender flesh. "Oh, my God, Nick… Oh, God," she breathed. I yanked the sweater up and off her and the bra came undone. Her beautifully large breasts lay against my chest and she was moving against me, her legs twitching and rubbing against each other. I found her breasts with my lips, drawing softly upon them, and her cries filled the little cave with the sounds of pure rapture. I stopped, raised my lips from them, and she feverishly rose to thrust them into my mouth. "Oh, don't stop, damn… don't stop," she said. I pulled away again and looked at her face, her eyes closed in pleasure, lips parted, quivering.

"Are you calling, Hilary?" I asked softly. She whimpered and pressed her breast into my hand. "Louse," she whimpered. "You louse. Yes, I'm calling… I'm calling, oh, God am I calling." I bent down to the sweetness of her breast again and felt the virginal nipples rise under the soft circle of my tongue. Hilary's slacks were suddenly off her legs and I was exploring the youthful, firm convexity of her belly, the warm moistness of her thighs, as she continued to make little whimpering sounds of ecstasy. I lowered my body over hers. Her arms clasped my neck like a vise, and her lips played an insistent tattoo across my face. As I came to her she began to cry out, a long, low, passion-filled cry that grew in intensity as I increased my movements. Suddenly, I pulled away and waited for a long moment. She lay in suspended animation, back arched, not drawing a breath, and then she cried out in ecstatic anguish, a scream of pleading hunger. "No-o-o-o…. you can't stop. Oh, my God, no. Please… oh, oh, please." I came to her again and moved with stronger, bolder rhythms, and now Hilary was beating her fists against my chest in a wild, uncontrolled passion. "Oh, I can't… I can't handle it," she cried out. "I can't handle it."

"You'll handle it," I said, and I knew she was experiencing that sweet anguish of uncontrollable ecstasy, a moment only some women ever knew when their passions are literally beyond themselves. That same aggressiveness, that same determination now channeled into the ecstasy of rapture, was carrying her to heights she never knew existed, the Himalayas of passion, and I had the fleeting, passing thought that our setting was appropriate for her. Suddenly, as I thrust deeply into her, she seized me and her youthful, firm body quivered convulsively and her breath came in long gasps. Finally, like a light bulb being snapped off, she fell back, utterly spent and exhausted. I lay beside her, drinking in the magnificent contours of her body. Hilary was a big girl but with the statuesque beauty given only to some big girls. It was a while before she opened her eyes and looked at me. She turned over and lay against me, her lips against my ear.

"You knew all the time, didn't you?" she asked. "You knew what I really wanted all the time."

"Not at first," I said. "At least not consciously. But I'm glad I found out."

I turned her over to peer into her eyes. "Are you?" I asked.

She nodded and squeezed me tight in her arms. "I'm glad," she said. "I hope it never stops snowing."

We lay quietly in the warm little world we had found, and before the night ended, I taught Hilary more about the heights of passion and ecstasy. She was vigorous and unsubtle but she made up for her lack of experience by the unalloyed pleasure of discovery. The snow stopped at dawn and we finally dressed and started from the cave. She stopped me on the way out and her lips pressed against mine.

"I'll never forget this night," she said. "And I'm even more sorry for Khaleen now. You'll leave a big hole in her world when you up and leave, as you will."

"Stop trying to make me feel like a heel," I said. "She'll get over it. She came to me all tied up in rituals and customs and ancient codes. I tried to turn her aside."

"I'll bet you tried for thirty or forty seconds," she sneered.

"The old Hilary is back," I said. "Miss sweetness and light."

"Maybe the old Hilary never left," she said. "Maybe last night was just a passing interlude." Her arm suddenly tightened on mine and her head came to rest against my chest. "Maybe the old Hilary is back because she's so bloody sorry the old world has to come back," she said in a small voice. "Maybe because she wishes last night could go on forever."

I held her tight another moment and then led the way from the cave. Outside, the dawn held another surprise for us. The snow had stopped and lay over everything, a heavy, white blanket, but now I could see where we were for the first time. From the ledge, we looked down onto a wide pass and in the pass were ten tents and a brigade of soldiers, just emerging from their shelters.

"They're Chinese!" Hilary breathed.

"They sure as hell are," I said. "Chinese regulars."

"But what are they doing here, Nick?" she asked.

"I don't know but I could make a pretty good guess," I answered. "I'll bet they're on their way to meet Ghotak. He probably called for a brigade of troops as insurance."

"Insurance against what?"

"Against something going wrong at the last minute. Against my presence on the scene. Against unexpected developments. If, for instance, the King decided to balk at honoring the petition at the last minute, he could move in with a coup and have himself installed as ruler."

We crouched on the ledge and watched the troops as they stretched and used the snow to wash. They weren't knocking down their tents which meant they were waiting for someone, no doubt a guide to take them in the rest of the way. Maybe they waited for someone with word from Ghotak as to what their next move should be. I saw an officer step from a tent and dispatch two sentries, one to either end of the pass. The one at our end took up a position almost directly beneath where we crouched.

"They've no doubt come in by way of Tibet," I said. "But I want to check this out for myself. I can get the answers I want from that sentry he sent out here all by himself."

I handed Hilary the Marlin. "You hang onto this and stay here until I get back," I told her. "Understand? No decisions on your own, or I'll break you in half when I catch up to you."

She nodded. "I promise," she said. "I'll stay right here."

I circled carefully back around the other end of the narrow ledge, found a place to drop and let myself fall into a drift of deep snow. I ducked as a small avalanche of snow fell from the ledge onto me, disturbed by my movements. As I watched the snow slide settle, a smile stole over my face. With a little luck, this could be a very rewarding day. I pulled myself from the drift and made my way downward, being careful to move along the rocks wherever possible, trying not to dislodge any of the loose snow. The Chinese soldier had positioned himself between two large rock formations and he stood at ease, figuring his post was more of a formality than anything else. Beyond the two rocks was a narrow crevasse in the glacier, deeper than the eye could see. I poised on the top of the rock and dropped, hitting him right on target. He went down with me on top of him. I crossed a right to his jaw and he went limp. Pulling him behind me, I moved into the towering walls abutting the crevasse. He was coming around and I held his head and shoulder out over the edge of the seemingly bottomless cut in the mountains. My Chinese was good enough, if he didn't speak one of the more obscure dialects. It turned out he understood me very well. After letting him look down into the crevasse, I yanked him over on his back, holding him half over the edge.

"Why do you wait here?" I asked. He saw in my eyes that I wouldn't think twice about dropping him off the edge.

"We wait orders to move," he said.

"Orders from whom?" I asked.

He shrugged. "I am only soldier," he said. "Cannot say."

I pushed him further off the edge and he grabbed for my arm for support. His narrow eyes widened in terror.

"Orders from whom?" I repeated. "You're a specially picked lot, I'd bet, and you all know why you're here."

"Orders from monk," he gasped.

"When do you expect them?"

He started to give me another evasive answer but thought better of it. "Soon," he stammered. "Any time now. Snow delay everthing."

I pulled him back from the edge. I was only going to put him out and let him find his way back to Tibet when he woke up, if he could, but he made the mistake of lunging at me. I sidestepped the lunge, kicked his feet out from under him and chopped him across the neck. He went down, rolled over and, as the loose snow gave way beneath the weight of his body, slipped over the edge and into the cut I climbed back to where I'd left Hilary.

"We have to get back, but not until we take care of this bunch," I told her in a matter-of-fact tone.

"You're balmy," she said. "The two of us against all of them? You can't be serious."

"You do just as I say and well take care of every one of them all at once," I said. I'd taken the soldier's rifle with me and I gave it to Hilary, taking my Marlin back. I gestured to the towering mountainsides on both sides of the pass.

"Those cliffs and ledges are covered with tons of fresh snow that hasn't settled yet," I said. "It can be dislodged by any sudden vibration and a gigantic avalanche triggered."

I saw sudden understanding come into her eyes. "And the vibration could be caused by shots echoing in the pass, bouncing back and forth off the mountainsides," she said.

"Bright girl," I said. "Sometimes it only takes the vibration from the soundwaves of one shot to trigger a snowslide. But we're going to make sure. I'm going to climb down and cross over to the other side. When you hear my first shot, you start firing. Aim right across at the opposite mountainside. Get off six shots and then stop. Whatever you do, don't move from here. You'll be protected here under the ledge overhead. When it's over you can start down. I'll meet you at the bottom of this cut."

I started down, waving back at her. I stayed low as I reached the edge of the pass where the sentry had been. Wriggling across the open space on my belly, I reached the other side and began to climb up the slippery, loose snow. Finding a niche approximately at the same level as Hilary was across from me, I looked down at the troops in the pass. I couldn't pick Hilary out in the glare of the fresh snow, but I raised the rifle and fired. I heard her shot answer at once. I kept firing into the air, six shots in all. Below, the Chinese were scurrying about, dashing from their tents, looking up, wondering what the hell was going on. When I stopped Hilary's last shot echoed across the pass and I listened for the sound I was almost certain would come. It began as a soft rumble first and then it gathered volume until, as the tons upon tons of snow began to cascade down the cliffs on both sides of the pass, the rumbling roar was punctuated by the sharp cracks of hardened snow shaken loose by the white torrent. The avalanche roared into the pass, burying the men and the tents in minutes, piling snow upon snow until there was nothing but a gigantic mound of the white death. I waited, silent, awed by the cataclysmic force of what I'd witnessed. A strange silence settled over the pass, a silence of utter and total finality, as if the towering giants of stone were uttering their own pax vobiscum.

I started down slowly and met Hilary at the bottom of the cut. We made the tortuous route back down the mountains with hardly a word between us. The spectacle of nature's awesome power had made words almost like man, a seemingly superfluous, unimportant quantity.

We reached the village and once again I witnessed the Nepalese Western Union at work. The first two men we met took one look at me and ran off down the street. I knew that in one hour everyone would know that the foreigner had returned safely.

"See you around, Nick," Hilary said as she walked on when we neared Khaleen's house. "It's not over yet, is it?"

"No," I said. "Not yet. Not so long as Ghotak is still trying."

"Then be careful, will you?" she said, her eyes suddenly misty.

"Keep in close touch, doll," I said. "You haven't got your story yet."

Khaleen came racing out of the house as I approached and fell into my arms, her small body quivering. I was glad Hilary had walked on.

"My Nick, my Nick," she sobbed. "You were right. You are alive and all that you said was right. The people will know it now."

"Not everything I said," I murmured. "The yeti lives. I saw him."

She recoiled from my arms as though she'd been stabbed. "You saw the yeti?" she said, horror in her voice. "You saw him from a distance, no?"

"I fought with him," I said. "I looked into his eyes."

She seemed to shrivel up and I took her in my arms.

"What is it, Khaleen?" I asked. "What's the matter?"

"It is known that he who looks upon the face of the yeti will die," she said tonelessly.

"Oh, for God's sake," I exploded. "You people have a proverb for everything concerning the yeti. I looked at the damned thing, and I'm not going to die because of it. That'll be one more damned proverb you can scratch off the books."

She turned and went into the house and I felt sorry for her. Her unbounded joy had been torn apart I turned and strode down the street toward the temple. Ghotak, obviously warned by one of his men that I was approaching, appeared at the steps and came down to face me.

"Aren't you calling a meeting?" I said. "Come on, chum, let's hear those bells. I'm back, see, and very alive."

"I can see that," he said through tight lips. "I shall not call the people together. This only means that another sign from Karkotek must be awaited."

I glanced about and saw that a crowd had quickly gathered about and he was grandstanding it.

"All right," I shrugged. "No meeting and there'll be another sign. The next one will mean your finish, Ghotak, you and the yeti and your whole crew." I turned and started off but I paused and looked back at him. "Oh, by the way," I grinned. "The company you were expecting won't be able to make it. They told me to tell you they're just snowed under."

I saw his jaws clench and his eyes shoot sparks of fury at me. He turned and went back into the temple and I walked off. His impassive exterior was being hard pressed to stay that way as his house of cards was beginning to crumble. I walked back to the house and went into my room. I was tired, damned tired, and it didn't take long for me to fall asleep. I was dimly aware that Khaleen's warm little form did not steal into the room and press itself close against me, and I was vaguely sorry and saddened.