Travis settled his against the of and his right hand into the path of the sun, in his a of metal. Flash ... ... he the pattern just as his a hundred years and across space had used to among the Chiricahua and White Mountain ranges. If Tsoay had returned safely, and if Buck had the on that a mile or so ahead, then the would know that he was and with what escort.
He waited now, the small metal on the of his shirt, waiting for a reply. Mirrors were best, not which would too the presence of men in the hills. Tsoay must have returned....
"What is it that you do?"
Menlik, his shaman's up so that his and were dark against the rock, up the Apache. Menlik, Hulagur, and Kaydessa were with Travis, him one of their small to the trip. He was still by the Tatars, but he did not them for their attitude.
"Ah—" A of light from the point ahead. One ... two ... three flashes, a pause, then two more together. He had been read. Buck had to meet them, and his people's skill at the business, Travis was the Tatars would their unless the Apaches themselves. Also the Tatars were not to go to the rancheria, but would be met at a mid-point by a of Apaches. This was no time for the Tatars to learn just how the numbered.
Menlik Travis an to the ahead. "In this way you speak to your men?"
"This way I speak."
"A thing good and to be remembered. We have the drum, but that is for the ears of all with hearing. This is for the only of those on watch for it. Yes, a good thing. And your people—they will meet with us?"
"They wait ahead," Travis confirmed.
It was close to and the heat, in the ways, was like a in the air itself. The Tatars had their and rolled the of their up their away from their sweat-beaded faces. And at every they passed from hand to hand the skin of kumiss.
Now the on with heads, a way in a cut which into a canyon. Travis a watch for the scouts. And not for the time he of the of the coyotes. Somehow, in the Tatar camp, he had on the animals' him once he had started his return over the mountains.
But he had nothing of either beast, had he that with them which had been present since his on Topaz. Why they had left him so after him from the Mongol attack, and why they were themselves now, he did not know. But he was of a of for their absence, and he he would they had gone to the rancheria.
The along a wash which the canyon. Here the a weight and the men were like four-footed hunters. Finally Travis what he had been seeking, a of movement on the well above. He up his hand, his to a stand. Apaches in full view, ready, on cords. But they no sound.
Kaydessa out, her to equal with Travis.
"A trap!" Her face, with heat, was also with anger.
Travis slowly. "Is there a rope about you, Wolf Daughter?" he softly. "Are you now across this sand?"
Her mouth opened and then closed again. The she had to at him, across her pony's neck.
The Apache at the two men. Hulagur's hand was on his hilt, his from one of those to the next. But the of the Tatar position was too plain. Only Menlik no move toward any weapon, his wand. Instead, he sat in the saddle, no toward the Apaches save his self-confident detachment.
"We go on." Travis pointed ahead.
Just as as they had appeared from the of the cliffs, so did the vanish. Most of them were already on their way to the point Buck had for the meeting place. There had been only six men up there, but the Tatars had no way of just how large a of the whole that number was.
Travis' his head, nickered, and a trot. Somewhere ahead was water, one of those of and life which the whole range—to the of all animals and all men.
Menlik and Hulagur pushed on until their were hard on the of the two by the girl and Travis. Travis if they still waited for some to home, though he saw that men with for the scouts.
A grass-leaf them on and again the pace, out into a which a small and a good of and brush. To one of the water Buck stood, his arms across his chest, only with his knife. Grouped him were Deklay, Tsoay, Nolan, Manulito—Travis hurriedly. Manulito and Deklay were to be together—or had been when he was last in the rancheria. On Buck's from the past, had more than down. Nolan was a man who spoke, and opinion Travis not foretell. Tsoay would Buck.
Probably such a party was the best Travis have to gather. A of those who were to the past of the Redax—a of Bucks and Jil-Lees—was the of possibility. But Travis was none too happy to have Deklay in on this.
Travis dismounted, the push by himself to nose into the pool.
"This is," Travis pointed with his chin—"Menlik, one who talks with spirits.... Hulagur, who is son to a ... and Kaydessa, who is to a chief. They are of the people of the north." He the in English.
Then he to the Tatars. "Buck, Deklay, Nolan, Manulito, Tsoay," he named them all, "these to listen, and to speak for the Apaches."
But later when the two parties sat each other, he a common come from the on his of that circle. Deklay's was closed; he had a way back, as if he had no to approach the strangers. And Travis read into every line of Deklay's his and antagonism.
He himself to speak, his since they had Kaydessa's trail, sketching in the at the Tatar-Mongol settlement as he had learned it from her and from Menlik. He was to speak in English so that the Tatars all he was to his own kind. And the Apaches blank-faced, though Tsoay must already have reported much of this. When Travis was done it was Deklay who asked a question:
"What have we to do with these people?"
"There is this—" Travis his carefully, of what might move a still to with the of a hundred years earlier, "the Pinda-lick-o-yi (whom we call 'Reds,') are to live by with any who are not of their mind. And they have such as make our of string, our of rust. They do not kill; they enslave. And when they that we live, then they will come against us—"
Deklay's moved in a grin. "This is a large land, and we know how to use it. The Pinda-lick-o-yi will not us—"
"With their maybe not," Travis replied. "With their machines—that is another matter."
"Machines!" Deklay spat. "Always these ... Is that all you can talk about? It would that you are by these machines, which we have not seen—none of us!"
"It was a machine which you here," Buck observed. "Go you and look upon the and remember, Deklay. The knowledge of the Pinda-lick-o-yi is than ours when it with metal and wire and which can be with both. Machines us along the road of the stars, and there is no in the who to do the same. But now I have this to ask: Does our have a plan?"
"Those who are Reds," Travis answered slowly, "they do not number many. But more may later come from our own world. Have you of such arriving?" he asked Menlik.
"Not so, but we are not told much. We live and no one of us goes to the ship unless he is summoned. For they have to them, or long since they would have been dead. It is not proper for a man to eat from the pot, in the wind, sleep easy under the same sky with him who has his brother."
"They have then killed among your people?"
"They have killed," Menlik returned briefly.
Kaydessa and a word or two to her brother. Hulagur's came up, and he into speech.
"What he say?" Deklay demanded.
The girl replied: "He speaks of our father who in the of three and so was by the leader as a lesson to us—since he was our 'white beard,' the Khan."
"We have taken the in blood—under the Wolf Head Standard—that they will also die," Menlik added. "But we must shake them out of their ship-shell."
"That is the problem," Travis for the of his clansmen. "We must these Reds away from their protected camp—out into the open. When they now go they are by this 'caller' which the Tatars under their control, but it has no on us."
"So, again I say: What is all this to us?" Deklay got to his feet. "This machine not us, and we can make our in this land where no Pinda-lick-o-yi can them——"
"We are not dobe-gusndhe-he—invulnerable. Nor do we know the full range of they can use. It no one well to say 'doxa-da'—this is not so—when he not know all that in an enemy's wickiup."
To Travis' he saw agreement on Buck's face, Tsoay's, Nolan's. From the he had had little of Deklay; he only trust that the of the majority would be the one. It to the old, old Apache of prestige. A nantan-chief had the go'ndi, the high power, as a gift from birth. Common men power or power; they might have the gift of so they make gifts—be ikadntl'izi, the ones who spoke for their family groups the network of the tribe. But there was no or an a rancheria. The nagunlka-dnat'an, or chief, often only on the and had no voice in save those with a raid.
And to have a now would their small clan. Deklay and those of a like mind might elect to and not one of the him that right.
"We shall think on this," Buck said. "Here is food, water, for horses, a for our visitors. They will wait here." He looked at Travis. "You will wait with them, Fox, since you know their ways."
Travis' was objection, but then he Buck's wisdom. To offer the of to the Apaches needed an spokesman. And if he himself did it, Deklay might oppose the idea. Let Buck talk and it would be a of fact.
"It is well," Travis agreed.
Buck looked about, as if time from the of sun and on the ground. "We shall return in the when the here." With the toe of his high he an in the soft earth. Then, without any farewell, he off, the others fast on his heels.
"He is your chief, that one?" Kaydessa asked, pointing after Buck.
"He is one having a large voice in council," Travis replied. He set about up the cooking fire, out the of a split-horn which had been left them. Menlik sat on his by the pool, up water with his hand. Now he his against the of the sun.
"It will much talking to win over the one," he observed. "That one not like us or your plan. Just as there will be those among the Horde who will not like it either." He water from his fingers. "But this I do know, man who calls himself Fox, if we do not make a common cause, then we have no of going against the Reds. It will be for them as a man fleas." He his hand on his in slaps. "So ... and so ... and so!"
"This do I think also," Travis admitted.
"So let us that all men will be as wise as we," Menlik said, smiling. "And since we can take a hand in that decision, this a time for rest."
The might be to sleep the away, but after he had eaten, Hulagur up and the valley, making a of their with of last season's grass. Now and then he paused Kaydessa and spoke, his plain to Travis although he not the words.
Travis had settled in the shade, dozing, yet to every movement of the three Tatars. He not to think of what might be in the by his mind to that of the towers. Did any of those three such a of the past as he, Ashe, and Murdock had on that other world where the people had together for them the of an older civilization? At that time he had for their a new of defense, metal into blow-guns. It had been there, too, where he had upon the library of tapes, one of which had Travis and his people here on Topaz.
Even if he did of such in one of those towers, there would be no way of using them—with the ship on the side. Only—Travis' where they on his knees—there might be other waiting. If he were only free to explore!
He out to touch Menlik's shoulder. The turned, opening his with the of a cat. But the of in them quickly.
"What is it?"
For a moment Travis hesitated, already his impulse. He did not know how much Menlik of the present. Remember of the present—one part of the Apache's mind was at that of their situation. Men who had been into their and until the present time was less than the them had a difficult job any situation. But since Menlik had to his knowledge of English, he must be less that stairway.
"When we met you, Kaydessa and I, it was that valley." Travis was still of two minds about this questioning, but the Tatar had been close to the towers and there was a good the Mongols had them. "And were ... very old...."
Menlik was now. He took his wand, played with it as he spoke:
"That is, or was, a place of much power, Fox. Oh, I know that you question my with the and the powers they give. But one not to what one here—and here—" His long, to his and then to the where his shirt open. "I have walked the path in that valley, and there have been the whispers—"
"Whispers?"
Menlik the wand. "Whispers which are too low for many ears to distinguish. You can them as one the of an insect, but the words—no, the words! But that is a place of great power!"
"A place to explore!"
But Menlik only his wand. "That I wonder, Fox, do I wonder. This is not our world. And here there may be that which not welcome us."
Tricks-in-trade of a shaman? Or was it true of something description? Travis not be sure, but he that he must return to the and see for himself.
"Listen," Menlik said, closer, "I have your tale, that you were on that ship, the one which you along the old star paths. Have you such a thing as this?"
He a space of soft earth and with the narrow of his to draw. Whatever role Menlik had played in the present he had been into a of the Horde, he had had the ability of an artist, for with a minimum of lines he a in that sketch.
It was a man or at least a with outlines. But the round, was bare, the to thin limbs. There were large eyes, small nose and mouth, into the third of the head, an of an over-expanded brain case above. And it was familiar.
Not the men of the other world, not the ape-things. Yet for all its quality Travis was sure he had its like before. He closed his and to it from lines in the soil.
Such a head, white, almost like the of a bare, such a on a bone-thin arm in a blue-purple sleeve. Where had he it?
The Apache gave a as he fully. The as he had it—the officer had still been seated at its controls! The who had set the tape which took them out into that empire—he was the of Menlik's drawing!
"Where? When did you see such a one?" The Apache over the Tatar.
Menlik looked troubled. "He came into my mind when I walked the valley. I I almost see such a in one of the tower windows, but of that I am not sure. Who is it?"
"Someone from the old days—those who once the stars," Travis answered. But were they still here then, the of a which had ten thousand years ago? Were the Baldies, who centuries ago had so the Russians who had to their ships, still on Topaz?
He the of Ross Murdock's from those in the past of Europe, and he shivered. Murdock was tough, tough, yet his own of that and the final meeting had with it his terror. What a of and almost Terrans do now if they had to Topaz with the Baldies?
