Seahorse in the Sky

CHAPTER NINETEEN

THE EXPEDITION AGAINST the People of the River, which took place some ten or twelve days after Absu mes Marur and his pathfinder had brought back the body of Tore Norstedt and had witnessed for the first time the tremendous power of explosives, was an unqualified success. No blood was spilled; and the People of the River were, in a sense, hoist with their own petard. Or, at least, two of them were.

Before the attack took place, a three-day reconnaissance was carried out by John Howard and Farn zem Marur. John showed the pathfinder how to use the binoculars; and between the two of them they managed to keep a more or less continuous watch. They verified the impression previously received by Paul Redman and his party that the primitive group were largely nocturnal in their habits. They also discovered that, whenever any of them left the bridge of huts to go into the forest on either side of the river, they always took the same routes. This enabled the attack to be carried out with an obvious and simple strategy.

It was timed to begin near to mid-day, when the People of the River would be most relaxed and—hopefully—most somnolent. It was to be carried out by six men only, divided into two forces. Russell and Andrew Payne were to be the ‘trigger-mechanism’; and the force entrusted with the task of taking prisoners was to consist of John Howard, Farn zem Marur and another Gren Li warrior, all under the command of Absu.

Tore’s boat had been completed and had passed its fresh water trials very well indeed. The boat was a necessary part of the operation. It was to be used for carrying the long and bulky nets that it had taken the women of Keep Marur several days to make, and it was also to be used for ferrying Russell and Andrew with their two grenades across a broad stretch of river about two kilometres upstream from the bridge of huts.

On the day chosen for the operation, Russell and John synchronized their watches. Then both parties set out shortly after dawn. Russell and Andrew began to paddle the boat, loaded with nets, downstream to the rendezvous point while Absu, fully armed and armoured and looking more than ever like a sun-burned Mongolian St. George, led his small troop on pulpuls from the Erewhon Hilton, out across the savannah towards the southern forest.

Because the currents were a little faster than had been anticipated, Russell and Andrew arrived at the rendezvous shortly before Absu and his small party. But, soon after the nets had been unloaded, the grenades checked and their fuses fixed, Absu and his group arrived.

The plan was simply that Russell and Andrew, having got themselves to the other side of the river, would make their way unobserved to within fifty or sixty metres of the bridge of huts. By which time, the reception party should be in position on the opposite bank.

When all was ready, Russell and Andrew, making as much noise as possible, would hurl their grenades near enough to the bridge of huts to create a spectacular explosion without— if possible—causing any actual damage. In theory, the People of the River ought to be so shaken by what, presumably, to them, would seem like a manifestation of supernatural force that they would retreat—at speed, it was hoped—to the far side of the river, where Absu and his small company would be waiting for them.

Fortunately, practice and theory coincided.

The grenades not only made a very satisfactory double bang—as if the heavens were falling—but also flung large quantities of loose earth and stones into the air and, since the weather had been very dry, created a dust cloud that must have seemed to the occupants of the bridge of huts like the onset of darkness at noon.

It had been a warm, sunny morning, peaceful and relaxing. Then suddenly, there were two terrible cracks of doom, followed by a hail of small stones and fragments of earth and a tremendous yelling. Under such circumstances, civilized people might well have panicked. As it was, the People of the River were terrified.

Instinctively, they ran away from the huts, away from the noise and the apparent source of destruction and straight into the line of nets that Absu and his three companions had suspended between trees along the customary route into the forest. If one of the net lengths had not refused to fall when its release rope was pulled, several of the Stone Age people might have been taken prisoner.

As it was, when Farn zem Marur and John Howard pulled their ropes, two of the People of the River, kicking and shouting, fell entangled to the ground. The rest, seeing strange creatures descend from the treetops, and no doubt utterly unnerved by the appearance of Absu, fully armoured, with lance ready, and sitting tranquilly upon his pulpul, fled screaming into the forest. By the time they had recovered their wits, the attackers and their prisoners had departed, leaving behind them on the far side of the river two small craters as evidence of the magic forces that had been employed.

Since the prisoners had an apparently inexhaustible fund of energy and refused to stay still or quiet even when they were bound and being sat on, Farn zem Marur sensibly knocked them both on the head.

Then each was slung over the back of a pulpul for the return journey to the Erewhon Hilton. It was only when they were unconscious and being secured to the pulpuls that it was discovered that one of the prisoners was indisputably a woman. She was dressed in the same kind of rough animal skins as her companion, she had similarly long matted black hair, and her features—discernible because her face was a little cleaner—were only slightly softer. Her sex was proclaimed by full breasts that had burst out of her crudely sewn clothing during the struggles in the net.

Having secured their prisoners, the small party turned north and travelled as quickly as possible back through the forest. Absu would have preferred to stay and do battle if the surprised and dispirited enemy should recover themselves and regroup; but he had given his word to Russell that he would avoid taking life if possible. And whatever else he was Absu mes Marur was a man of his word.

Meanwhile, Russell and Andrew had the harder task. Going downstream had been largely a matter of using the paddles to steer the boat. Taking it back upstream involved hard work for slow progress. It was nearly dark before they had moored the boat to the river bank at the point where it was nearest to the Erewhon Hilton.

By the time they had covered the few kilometres to the hotel, Absu and his party were already installed and their prisoners, doubtless nursing considerable headaches, had returned to a mute and sullen consciousness.