The Time Traders

nce they were out of sight of Cassca

reason to suppose otherwise, then there is no use in contacting either Dorhta's town or Munga's. The sa

ly impressed with Lurgha's cur

elieve that unless Cassca performs her mysteries and sows part of the first field in the spring there won't be any harvest. Consequently, she is secure in her office and doesn't fear the Wrath of Lurgha too much

ow he paused again and turned toward the sea. "We have to stick it o

ribesmen be

d on this line. They must have a large post here, too, or they couldn't have sent a plane on that raid. You can't build a time transport large enough to take through a considerable amount of material. Everything used by us in this age has to be assembled on this side, and the use of all machines is limited to where they can not be seen by any natives. Luckily large sections of this world are m

ction Ross collected an armload of firewood. He was no woodsman and his prolonged exposure to the chilling drizzle made him eager for even the very rough shelter of a cave, so eager that he plunged forward carelessly. His foot came down

his prone body; he heard grunts, snarls, and was severely pommeled. Then he was free as the bodies broke away. Shaken, he got to his knees. A short distance away the fight was still in progress. He saw Ashe straddl

s. One of their blows must have reached the animal's heart. With an almost human cry the wolf stiffened convulsivel

ped up to the link belt. He was breathing hard, but otherwise he was as composed as alway

unic. He fitted an arrow to the string, grateful to be a passable marksman. The slash

the blood now thickening int

of his hip. He pressed his palm against the gaping wound and motioned Ross to

the dark opening, and waited. The stone rattled as it struck an inner wall, but there was no other sound. A second stone from a different angle followed the first, with the same results. Ross was now certain that the

se to whelping-" He nudged the white wolf with his toe. His hands he

side the bow and kneeled to examine Ashe's thigh wound. His own sl

her's bronze belt to bring out a small packet. Ashe made a wry face as he swallowed three of the pills within. R

"Now come here where I can get my hands on you and let me

ile he cleaned up the floor of the cave and then made his companion as comfortable as he could on a bed of bracken. The fire Ross had longed for was bui

m ached, sharp pain shooting from fingers to elbow when he moved it. Though Ashe made no complaint, Ross gauge

ch greasy bite, licking his hands clean afterward while Ashe lay bac

r base now that Sandy's installation is gone. I'll have to lay up, since

wolf would have died down in the valley. Yet a strange shyness kept him from trying to put his thanks into words. The only kind of a

to hunt-"

better hunting ground than inland. If the wolf laired here very long, she has alre

our territory, and I'm green at the game. You tell me what to do, and I'll do it the best that I can." He glance

y. "Then bury the carcass. You'd better drag it up here to work

t job the shock-haired man of the record tape had accomplished. Ross had to wash himself off in the stream before piling stones over the corpse in temporary burial. When he

e Ashe crawl over to mend the dying fire from their store o

ghly. "This is my job.

ry glad to have a moment or so later when a wailing howl sounded down-wind. If this was not the w

k drizzle which had hung over the land the day before was gone, and he faced a clear, bright morning, though t

thing to learn something academically and another to put that learning into practic

oss, approaching with caution, was glad of it, for from one of those hillocks arose a trail of white smoke, and he saw a black blot which was probably

e marsh grasses, paddling in the pools, and setting up a clamor to drive

In place of the finely chipped and wickedly barbed flint points used for heavier game, these were tipped with needle-sharp, light bone heads. He had a

ked back into a pool in its death struggle, however, and Ross was forced to leave cover to retrieve its body

ttered dress. The kilt-tunic smudged with mud, scorched and charred along one edge, was styled like h

ever in the fire and the fashioned metal, the climbing sun, and the

top the water from running?" The stranger's voice was hoarse. Now that Ross had time to examine him more closely he saw the dark bruise o

of Assha. We retu

sh

onunciation, was still cautious. "You are from the h

other red stripe, puffed and fiery looking, which swelled the calf of one leg. The man studied Ross closely, and then his fingers moved in

nfo

his head. "McNeil," he name

nd, he could be a Red spy. Ross had not forgotten Kurt

wn to see about a missing burden donkey and was about halfway back up the hill when she hit. When I came to I wa

"What are you

ew that Ashe was coming through and hoped to reach him when he hit the beach, but I was too late. Then I fig

taking no chances. He pushed his dagger back into its sheath and

e, you young fool? We

d he would lay a muddled trail before he returned to the cave valley. If this man

mouth of the cave at the fire, using his dagger to fashion a crutch out of a length of sapling. He surveyed Ross's b

eyes, a right eyebrow which quirks u

yes, okay-and he

ff a front too

stranger. Yes, there had been a smal

ight not to bring him here without being

ou said about the Reds' planti

te them-we don't dare do that. But the man you met is M

in spite of that leg. From his

is tongue. "Odd that Cassca didn't tell us about him. Unless she thought there

as well. He didn't look too comfo

Ross hesitated. That shelter on the small island was surely the place where McNeil had holed up. S

not have explained. However, because he did so the loop of hide rope meant for his throat hit his shoulder harmlessly. It fell to the ground, and he stamped one b

eet the ropeman even as his knee came up against the fellow's jaw, jarring Lal so that

oice was weak, b

rough a screen of brush to a hollow. Luckily there was no water cupped there, for McNeil lay in the bottom of that