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diff --git a/22524.txt b/22524.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..05b4591 --- /dev/null +++ b/22524.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1179 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Hunters, by William Morrison + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Hunters + +Author: William Morrison + +Illustrator: Van Dongen + +Release Date: September 6, 2007 [EBook #22524] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HUNTERS *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Jana Srna and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + THE + HUNTERS + + BY WILLIAM MORRISON + + ILLUSTRATED BY VAN DONGEN + + + To all who didn't know him, Curt George was a + mighty hunter and actor. But this time he was + up against others who could really act, and + whose business was the hunting of whole worlds. + + +There were thirty or more of the little girls, their ages ranging +apparently from nine to eleven, all of them chirping away like a flock +of chicks as they followed the old mother hen past the line of cages. +"Now, now, girls," called Miss Burton cheerily. "Don't scatter. I can't +keep my eye on you if you get too far away from me. You, Hilda, give me +that water pistol. No, don't fill it up first at that fountain. And +Frances, stop bouncing your ball. You'll lose it through the bars, and a +polar bear may get it and not want to give it back." + +Frances giggled. "Oh, Miss Burton, do you think the polar bear would +want to play catch?" + +The two men who were looking on wore pleased smiles. "Charming," said +Manto. "But somewhat unpredictable, despite all our experiences, _muy +amigo_." + +[Illustration] + +"No attempts at Spanish, Manto, not here. It calls attention to us. And +you are not sure of the grammar anyway. You may find yourself saying +things you do not intend." + +"Sorry, Palit. It wasn't an attempt to show my skill, I assure you. It's +that by now I have a tendency to confuse one language with another." + +"I know. You were never a linguist. But about these interesting +creatures--" + +"I suggest that they could stand investigation. It would be good to know +how they think." + +"Whatever you say, Manto. If you wish, we shall join the little ladies." + +"We must have our story prepared first." + +Palit nodded, and the two men stepped under the shade of a tree whose +long, drooping, leaf-covered branches formed a convenient screen. For a +moment, the tree hid silence. Then there came from beneath the branches +the chatter of girlish voices, and two little girls skipped merrily +away. Miss Burton did not at first notice that now she had an additional +two children in her charge. + +"Do you think you will be able to keep your English straight?" asked one +of the new little girls. + +The other one smiled with amusement and at first did not answer. Then +she began to skip around her companion and chant, "I know a secret, I +know a secret." + +There was no better way to make herself inconspicuous. For some time, +Miss Burton did not notice her. + + * * * * * + +The polar bears, the grizzlies, the penguins, the reptiles, all were +left behind. At times the children scattered, but Miss Burton knew how +to get them together again, and not one was lost. + +"Here, children, is the building where the kangaroos live. Who knows +where kangaroos come from?" + +"Australia!" clanged the shrill chorus. + +"That's right. And what other animals come from Australia?" + +"I know, Miss Burton!" cried Frances, a dark-haired nine-year-old with a +pair of glittering eyes that stared like a pair of critics from a small +heart-shaped face. "I've been here before. Wallabies and wombats!" + +"Very good, Frances." + +Frances smirked at the approbation. "I've been to the zoo lots of +times," she said to the girl next to her. "My father takes me." + +"I wish my father would take me too," replied the other little girl, +with an air of wistfulness. + +"Why don't you ask him to?" Before the other little girl could answer, +Frances paused, cocked her head slightly, and demanded, "Who are you? +You aren't in our class." + +"I'm in Miss Hassel's class." + +"Miss Hassel? Who is she? Is she in our school?" + +"I don't know," said the other little girl uncertainly. "I go to P. S. +77--" + +"Oh, Miss Burton," screamed Frances. "Here's a girl who isn't in our +class! She got lost from her own class!" + + * * * * * + +"Really?" Miss Burton seemed rather pleased at the idea that some other +teacher had been so careless as to lose one of her charges. "What's your +name, child?" + +"I'm Carolyn." + +"Carolyn what?" + +"Carolyn Manto. Please, Miss Burton, I had to go to the bathroom, and +then when I came out--" + +"Yes, yes, I know." + +A shrill cry came from another section of her class. "Oh, Miss Burton, +here's another one who's lost!" + +The other little girl was pushed forward. "Now, who are _you_?" Miss +Burton asked. + +"I'm Doris Palit. I went with Carolyn to the bathroom--" + + * * * * * + +Miss Burton made a sound of annoyance. Imagine losing _two_ children and +not noticing it right away. The other teacher must be frantic by now, +and serve her right for being so careless. + +"All right, you may stay with us until we find a policeman--" She +interrupted herself. "Frances, what are you giggling at now?" + +"It's Carolyn. She's making faces just like you!" + +"Really, Carolyn, that isn't at all nice!" + +Carolyn's face altered itself in a hurry, so as to lose any resemblance +to Miss Burton's. "I'm sorry, Miss Burton, I didn't really mean to do +anything wrong." + +"Well, I'd like to know how you were brought up, if you don't know that +it's wrong to mimic people to their faces. A big girl like you, too. How +old are you, Carolyn?" + +Carolyn shrank, she hoped imperceptibly, by an inch. "I'm two--" + +An outburst of shrill laughter. "She's two years old, she's two years +old!" + +"I was going to say, I'm _to_welve. Almost, anyway." + +"Eleven years old," said Miss Burton. "Old enough to know better." + +"I'm sorry, Miss Burton. And honest, Miss Burton, I didn't mean +anything, but I'm studying to be an actress, and I imitate people, like +the actors you see on television--" + +"Oh, Miss Burton, please don't make her go home with a policeman. If +she's going to be an actress, I'll bet she'd love to see Curt George!" + +"Well, after the way she's behaved, I don't know whether I should let +her. I really don't." + +"Please, Miss Burton, it was an accident. I won't do it again." + +"All right, if you're good, and cause no trouble. But we still have +plenty of time before seeing Mr. George. It's only two now, and we're +not supposed to go to the lecture hall until four." + +"Miss Burton," called Barbara Willman, "do you think he'd give us his +autograph?" + +"Now, children, I've warned you about that. You mustn't annoy him. Mr. +George is a famous movie actor, and his time is valuable. It's very kind +of him to offer to speak to us, especially when so many grown-up people +are anxious to hear him, but we mustn't take advantage of his kindness." + +"But he likes children, Miss Burton! My big sister read in a movie +magazine where it said he's just crazy about them." + +"I know, but--he's not in good health, children. They say he got jungle +fever in Africa, where he was shooting all those lions, and +rhinoceroses, and elephants for his new picture. That's why you mustn't +bother him too much." + +"But he looks so big and strong, Miss Burton. It wouldn't hurt him to +sign an autograph!" + +"Oh, yes, it would," asserted one little girl. "He shakes. When he has +an attack of fever, his hand shakes." + +"Yes, Africa is a dangerous continent, and one never knows how the +dangers will strike one," said Miss Burton complacently. "So we must all +remember how bravely Mr. George is fighting his misfortune, and do our +best not to tire him out." + + * * * * * + +In the bright light that flooded the afternoon breakfast table, Curt +George's handsome, manly face wore an expression of distress. He groaned +dismally, and muttered, "What a head I've got, what a head. How do you +expect me to face that gang of kids without a drink to pick me up?" + +"You've had your drink," said Carol. She was slim, attractive, and +efficient. At the moment she was being more efficient than attractive, +and she could sense his resentment. "That's all you get. Now, lay off, +and try to be reasonably sober, for a change." + +"But those kids! They'll squeal and giggle--" + +"They're about the only audience in the world that won't spot you as a +drunk. God knows where I could find any one else who'd believe that your +hand shakes because of fever." + +"I know that you're looking out for my best interests, Carol. But one +more drink wouldn't hurt me." + +She said wearily, but firmly, "I don't argue with drunks, Curt. I just +go ahead and protect them from themselves. No drinks." + +"Afterwards?" + +"I can't watch you the way a mother watches a child." + +The contemptuous reply sent his mind off on a new tack. "You could if we +were married." + +"I've never believed in marrying weak characters to reform them." + +"But if I proved to you that I could change--" + +"Prove it first, and I'll consider your proposal afterwards." + +"You certainly are a cold-blooded creature, Carol. But I suppose that in +your profession you have to be." + +"Cold, suspicious, nasty--and reliable. It's inevitable when I must deal +with such warm-hearted, trusting, and unreliable clients." + +He watched her move about the room, clearing away the dishes from his +meager breakfast. "What are you humming, Carol?" + +"Was I humming?" + +"I thought I recognized it--_All of Me, Why Not Take All of Me_? That's +it! Your subconscious gives you away. You really want to marry me!" + +"A mistake," she said coolly. "My subconscious doesn't know what it's +talking about. All I want of you is the usual ten per cent." + +"Can't you forget for a moment that you're an agent, and remember that +you're a woman, too?" + +"No. Not unless you forget that you're a drunk, and remember that you're +a man. Not unless you make me forget that you drank your way through +Africa--" + +"Because you weren't there with me!" + +"--with hardly enough energy to let them dress you in that hunter's +outfit and photograph you as if you were shooting lions." + +"You're so unforgiving, Carol. You don't have much use for me, do +you--consciously, that is?" + +"Frankly, Curt, no. I don't have much use for useless people." + +"I'm not entirely useless. I earn you that ten per cent--" + +"I'd gladly forego that to see you sober." + +"But it's your contempt for me that drives me to drink. And when I think +of having to face those dear little kiddies with nothing inside me--" + +"There should be happiness inside you at the thought of your doing a +good deed. Not a drop, George, not a drop." + + * * * * * + +The two little girls drew apart from the others and began to whisper +into each other's ears. The whispers were punctuated by giggles which +made the entire childish conversation seem quite normal. But Palit was +in no laughing mood. He said, in his own language, "You're getting +careless, Manto. You had no business imitating her expression." + +"I'm sorry, Palit, but it was so suggestive. And I'm a very suggestible +person." + +"So am I. But I control myself." + +"Still, if the temptation were great enough, I don't think you'd be able +to resist either." + +"The issues are important enough to make me resist." + +"Still, I thought I saw your own face taking on a bit of her expression +too." + +"You are imagining things, Manto. Another thing, that mistake in +starting to say you were two hundred years old--" + +"They would have thought it a joke. And I think I got out of that rather +neatly." + +"You like to skate on thin ice, don't you, Manto? Just as you did when +you changed your height. You had no business shrinking right out in +public like that." + +"I did it skillfully. Not a single person noticed." + +"_I_ noticed." + +"Don't quibble." + +"I don't intend to. Some of these children have very sharp eyes. You'd +be surprised at what they see." + +Manto said tolerantly, "You're getting jittery, Palit. We've been away +from home too long." + +"I am not jittery in the least. But I believe in taking due care." + +"What could possibly happen to us? If we were to announce to the +children and the teacher, and to every one in this zoo, for that matter, +exactly who and what we were, they wouldn't believe us. And even if they +did, they wouldn't be able to act rapidly enough to harm us." + +"You never can tell about such things. Wise--people--simply don't take +unnecessary chances." + +"I'll grant that you're my superior in such wisdom." + +"You needn't be sarcastic, Manto, I _know_ I'm superior. _I_ realize +what a godsend this planet is--you don't. It has the right gravity, a +suitable atmosphere, the proper chemical composition--everything." + +"Including a population that will be helpless before us." + +"And you would take chances of losing all this." + +"Don't be silly, Palit. What chances am I taking?" + +"The chance of being discovered. Here we stumble on this place quite by +accident. No one at home knows about it, no one so much as suspects that +it exists. We must get back and report--and you do all sorts of silly +things which may reveal what we are, and lead these people to suspect +their danger." + + * * * * * + +This time, Manto's giggle was no longer mere camouflage, but expressed +to a certain degree how he felt. "They cannot possibly suspect. We have +been all over the world, we have taken many forms and adapted ourselves +to many customs, and no one has suspected. And even if danger really +threatened, it would be easy to escape. I could take the form of the +school teacher herself, of a policeman, of any one in authority. +However, at present there is not the slightest shadow of danger. So, +Palit, you had better stop being fearful." + +Palit said firmly, "Be careful, and I won't be fearful. That's all there +is to it." + +"I'll be careful. After all, I shouldn't want us to lose these children. +They're so exactly the kind we need. Look how inquiring they are, how +unafraid, how quick to adapt to any circumstances--" + +Miss Burton's voice said, "Good gracious, children, what language _are_ +you using? Greek?" + +They had been speaking too loud, they had been overheard. Palit and +Manto stared at each other, and giggled coyly. Then, after a second to +think, Palit said, "Onay, Issmay Urtonbay!" + +"What?" + +Frances shrilled triumphantly, "It isn't Greek, Miss Burton, it's +Latin--Pig-Latin. She said, 'No, Miss Burton.'" + +"Good heavens, what is Pig-Latin?" + +"It's a kind of way of talking where you talk kind of backwards. Like, +you don't say, _Me_, you say, _Emay_." + +"You don't say, _Yes_, you say _Esyay_," added another little girl. + +"You don't say, _You_, you say, _Ouyay_. You don't say--" + +"All right, all right, I get the idea." + +"You don't say--" + +"That'll do," said Miss Burton firmly. "Now, let's get along to the lion +house. And please, children, do not make faces at the lions. How would +you like to be in a cage and have people make faces at you? Always +remember to be considerate to others." + +"Even lions, Miss Burton?" + +"Even lions." + +"But Mr. George shot lots of lions. Was he considerate of them too?" + +"There is no time for silly questions," said Miss Burton, with the same +firmness. "Come along." + +They all trouped after her, Palit and Manto bringing up the rear. Manto +giggled, and whispered with amusement, "That Pig-Latin business was +quick thinking, Palit. But in fact, quite unnecessary. The things that +you do to avoid being suspected!" + +"It never hurts to take precautions. And I think that now it is time to +leave." + +"No, not yet. You are always anxious to learn details before reporting. +Why not learn a few more details now?" + +"Because they are not necessary. We already have a good understanding of +human customs and psychology." + +"But not of the psychology of children. And they, if you remember, are +the ones who will have to adapt. We shall be asked about them. It would +be nice if we could report that they are fit for all-purpose service, on +a wide range of planets. Let us stay awhile longer." + +"All right," conceded Palit, grudgingly. + + * * * * * + +So they stayed, and out of some twigs and leaves they shaped the +necessary coins with which to buy peanuts, and popcorn, and ice cream, +and other delicacies favored by the young. Manto wanted to win easy +popularity by treating a few of the other children, but Palit put his +girlish foot down. No use arousing suspicion. Even as it was-- + +"Gee, your father gives you an awful lot of spending money," said +Frances enviously. "Is he rich?" + +"We get as much as we want," replied Manto carelessly. + +"Gosh, I wish I did." + +Miss Burton collected her brood. "Come together, children, I have +something to say to you. Soon it will be time to go in and hear Mr. +George. Now, if Mr. George is so kind as to entertain us, don't you +think that it's only proper for us to entertain him?" + +"We could put on our class play!" yelled Barbara. + +"Barbara's a fine one to talk," said Frances. "She doesn't even remember +her lines." + +"No, children, we mustn't do anything we can't do well. That wouldn't +make a good impression. And besides, there is no time for a play. +Perhaps Barbara will sing--" + +"I can sing a 'Thank You' song," interrupted Frances. + +"That would be nice." + +"I can recite," added another little girl. + +"Fine. How about you, Carolyn? You and your little friend, Doris. Can +she act too?" + +Carolyn giggled. "Oh, yes, she can act very well. I can act like people. +She can act like animals." The laughing, girlish eyes evaded a dirty +look from the little friend. "She can act like _any_ kind of animal." + +"She's certainly a talented child. But she seems so shy!" + +"Oh, no," said Carolyn. "She likes to be coaxed." + +"She shouldn't be like that. Perhaps, Carolyn, you and Doris can do +something together. And perhaps, too, Mr. George will be pleased to see +that your teacher also has talent." + +"You, Miss Burton?" + +Miss Burton coughed modestly. "Yes, children, I never told you, but I +was once ambitious to be an actress too. I studied dramatics, and +really, I was quite good at it. I was told that if I persevered I might +actually be famous. Just think, your teacher might actually have been a +famous actress! However, in my day, there were many coarse people on the +stage, and the life of the theater was not attractive--but perhaps we'd +better not speak of that. At any rate, I know the principles of the +dramatic art very well." + + * * * * * + +"God knows what I'll have to go through," said Curt. "And I don't see +how I can take it sober." + +"I don't see how they can take you drunk," replied Carol. + +"Why go through with it at all? Why not call the whole thing quits?" + +"Because people are depending on you. You always want to call quits +whenever you run into something you don't like. You may as well call +quits to your contract if that's the way you feel." + +"And to your ten per cent, darling." + +"You think I'd mind that. I work for my ten per cent, Curt, sweetheart. +I work too damn hard for that ten per cent." + +"You can marry me and take it easy. Honest, Carol, if you treated me +better, if you showed me I meant something to you, I'd give up +drinking." + +She made a face. "Don't talk nonsense. Take your outfit, and let's get +ready to go. Unless you want to change here, and walk around dressed as +a lion hunter." + +"Why not? I've walked around dressed as worse. A drunk." + +"Drunks don't attract attention. They're too ordinary." + +"But a drunken lion hunter--that's something special." He went into the +next room and began to change. "Carol," he called. "Do you like me?" + +"At times." + +"Would you say that you liked me very much?" + +"When you're sober. Rarely." + +"Love me?" + +"Once in a blue moon." + +"What would I have to do for you to want to marry me?" + +"Amount to something." + +"I like that. Don't you think I amount to something now? Women swoon at +the sight of my face on the screen, and come to life again at the sound +of my voice." + +"The women who swoon at you will swoon at anybody. Besides, I don't +consider that making nitwits swoon is a useful occupation for a real +man." + +"How can I be useful, Carol? No one ever taught me how." + +"Some people manage without being taught." + +"I suppose I could think how if I had a drink inside me." + +"Then you'll have to do without thinking." + +He came into the room again, powerful, manly, determined-looking. There +was an expression in his eye which indicated courage without end, a +courage that would enable him to brave the wrath of man, beast, or +devil. + +"How do I look?" + +"Your noble self, of course. A poor woman's edition of Rudolph +Valentino." + +"I feel terrified. I don't know how I'm going to face those kids. If +they were boys it wouldn't be so bad, but a bunch of little girls!" + +"They'll grow up to be your fans, if you're still alive five years from +now. Meanwhile, into each life some rain must fall." + +"You would talk of water, when you know how I feel." + +"Sorry. Come on, let's go." + + * * * * * + +The lecture hall resounded with giggles. And beneath the giggles was a +steady undercurrent of whispers, of girlish confidences exchanged, of +girlish hopes that would now be fulfilled. Miss Burton's class was not +the only one which had come to hear the famous actor-hunter describe his +brave exploits. There were at least five others like it, and by some +mistake, a class of boys, who also whispered to each other, in manly +superiority, and pretended to find amusement in the presence of so many +of the fairer sex. + +In this atmosphere of giggles and whispers, Manto and Palit could +exchange confidences without being noticed. Palit said savagely, "Why +did you tell her that I could act too?" + +"Why, because it's the truth. You're a very good animal performer. You +make a wonderful dragon, for instance. Go on, Palit, show her what a +fine dragon you can--" + +"Stop it, you fool, before you cause trouble!" + +"Very well, Palit. Did I tempt you?" + +"Did you tempt me! You and your sense of humor!" + +"You and your lack of it! But let's not argue now, Palit. Here, I think, +comes the lion-hunter. Let's scream, and be as properly excited as every +one else is." + + * * * * * + +My God, he thought, how can they keep their voices so high so long? My +eardrums hurt already. How do they stand a lifetime of it? Even an hour? + +"Go ahead," whispered Carol. "You've seen the script--go into your act. +Tell them what a hero you are. You have the odds in your favor to start +with." + +"My lovely looks," he said, with some bitterness. + +"Lovely is the word for you. But forget that. If you're good--you'll get +a drink afterwards." + +"Will it be one of those occasions when you love me?" + +"If the moon turns blue." + +He strode to the front of the platform, an elephant gun swinging easily +at his side, an easy grin radiating from his confident, rugged face. The +cheers rose to a shrill fortissimo, but the grin did not vanish. What a +great actor he really was, he told himself, to be able to pretend he +liked this. + +An assistant curator of some collection in the zoo, a flustered old +woman, was introducing him. There were a few laudatory references to his +great talents as an actor, and he managed to look properly modest as he +listened. The remarks about his knowledge of wild and ferocious beasts +were a little harder to take, but he took them. Then the old woman +stepped back, and he was facing his fate alone. + +"Children," he began. A pause, a bashful grin. "Perhaps I should rather +say, my friends. I'm not one to think of you as children. Some people +think of me as a child myself, because I like to hunt, and have +adventures. They think that such things are childish. But if they are, +I'm glad to be a child. I'm glad to be one of you. Yes, I think I _will_ +call you my friends. + +"Perhaps you regard me, my friends, as a very lucky person. But when I +recall some of the narrow escapes I have had, I don't agree with you. I +remember once, when we were on the trail of a rogue elephant--" + +He told the story of the rogue elephant, modestly granting a co-hero's +role to his guide. Then another story illustrating the strange ways of +lions. The elephant gun figured in still another tale, this time of a +vicious rhinoceros. His audience was quiet now, breathless with +interest, and he welcomed the respite from shrillness he had won for his +ears. + +"And now, my friends, it is time to say farewell." He actually looked +sad and regretful. "But it is my hope that I shall be able to see you +again--" + +Screams of exultation, shrill as ever, small hands beating +enthusiastically to indicate joy. Thank God that's over with, he +thought. Now for those drinks--and he didn't mean drink, singular. Talk +of being useful, he'd certainly been useful now. He'd made those kids +happy. What more can any reasonable person want? + + * * * * * + +But it wasn't over with. Another old lady had stepped up on the +platform. + +"Mr. George," she said, in a strangely affected voice, like that of the +first dramatic teacher he had ever had, the one who had almost ruined +his acting career. "Mr. George, I can't tell you how happy you have made +us all, young and old. Hasn't Mr. George made us happy, children?" + +"Yes, Miss Burton!" came the shrill scream. + +"And we feel that it would be no more than fair to repay you in some +small measure for the pleasure you have given us. First, a 'Thank You' +song by Frances Heller--" + +He hadn't expected this, and he repressed a groan. Mercifully, the first +song was short. He grinned the thanks he didn't feel. To think that he +could take this, while sober as a judge! What strength of character, +what will-power! + +Next, Miss Burton introduced another kid, who recited. And then, Miss +Burton stood upright and recited herself. + +That was the worst of all. He winced once, then bore up. You can get +used even to torture, he told himself. An adult making a fool of herself +is always more painful than a kid. And that affected elocutionist's +voice gave him the horrors. But he thanked her too. His good deed for +the day. Maybe Carol would have him now, he thought. + +A voice shrilled, "Miss Burton?" + +"Yes, dear?" + +"Aren't you going to call on Carolyn to act?" + +"Oh, yes, I was forgetting. Come up here, Carolyn, come up, Doris. +Carolyn and Doris, Mr. George, are studying how to act. They act people +_and_ animals. Who knows? Some day they, too, may be in the movies, just +as you are, Mr. George. Wouldn't that be nice, children?" + +What the devil do you do in a case like that? You grin, of course--but +what do you say, without handing over your soul to the devil? Agree how +nice it would be to have those sly little brats with faces magnified on +every screen all over the country? Like hell you do. + +"Now, what are we going to act, children?" + +"Please, Miss Burton," said Doris. "I don't know how to act. I can't +even imitate a puppy. Really I can't, Miss Burton--" + +"Come, come, mustn't be shy. Your friend says that you act very nicely +indeed. Can't want to go on the stage and still be shy. Now, do you know +any movie scenes? Shirley Temple used to be a good little actress, I +remember. Can you do any scenes that she does?" + + * * * * * + +The silence was getting to be embarrassing. And Carol said he didn't +amount to anything, he never did anything useful. Why, if thanks to his +being here this afternoon, those kids lost the ambition to go on the +stage, the whole human race would have cause to be grateful to him. To +him, and to Miss Burton. She'd kill ambition in anybody. + +Miss Burton had an idea. "I know what to do, children. If you can act +animals--Mr. George has shown you what the hunter does; you show him +what the lions do. Yes, Carolyn and Doris, you're going to be lions. You +are waiting in your lairs, ready to pounce on the unwary hunter. Crouch +now, behind that chair. Closer and closer he comes--you act it out, Mr. +George, please, that's the way--ever closer, and now your muscles +tighten for the spring, and you open your great, wide, red mouths in a +great, great big roar--" + +A deep and tremendous roar, as of thunder, crashed through the +auditorium. A roar--and then, from the audience, an outburst of +terrified screaming such as he had never heard. The bristles rose at the +back of his neck, and his heart froze. + +Facing him across the platform were two lions, tensed as if to leap. +Where they had come from he didn't know, but there they were, eyes +glaring, manes ruffled, more terrifying than any he had seen in Africa. +There they were, with the threat of death and destruction in their +fierce eyes, and here he was, terror and helplessness on his handsome, +manly, and bloodless face, heart unfrozen now and pounding fiercely, +knees melting, hands-- + +Hands clutching an elephant gun. The thought was like a director's +command. With calm efficiency, with all the precision of an actor +playing a scene rehearsed a thousand times, the gun leaped to his +shoulder, and now its own roar thundered out a challenge to the roaring +of the wild beasts, shouted at them in its own accents of barking +thunder. + +The shrill screaming continued long after the echoes of the gun's speech +had died away. Across the platform from him were two great bodies, the +bodies of lions, and yet curiously unlike the beasts in some ways, now +that they were dead and dissolving as if corroded by some invisible +acid. + +Carol's hand was on his arm, Carol's thin and breathless voice shook as +she said, "A drink--all the drinks you want." + +"One will do. And you." + +"And me. I guess you're kind of--kind of useful after all." + + +[Transcriber's Note: + +This e-text was produced from Space Science Fiction February 1953. +Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright +on this publication was renewed.] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Hunters, by William Morrison + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HUNTERS *** + +***** This file should be named 22524.txt or 22524.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/5/2/22524/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Jana Srna and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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