"Beyond this—" Menlik his way to the very lip of a drop, a cautiously—"beyond this we do not go."
"But you say that the of your people well out in the plains—" Jil-Lee was up on one knee, using the they had from the stores of the ship. He passed them along to Travis. There was nothing to be but the of the tall grasses, save for an occasional of a of trees near the foothills.
They had this point in the early morning, through the pass, making their way across the to the outlaws. From here they survey the land where their temporary the Reds were in full control.
The result of the in the south had been this alliance. From the start Travis that he not to the to any set plan, that to this party to come against the of Deklay and his was a major achievement. There was now an opening of six Apaches in the north.
"Beyond this," Menlik repeated, "they keep watch and can us with the caller."
"What do you think?" Travis passed the to Nolan.
If they were to a chief, this man, tall for an Apache and slow to speak, might that role. He the and a study-sweep of the open territory. Then he stiffened; his mouth, the of the glasses, was tight.
"What is it?" Jil-Lee asked.
"Riders—two ... four ... five.... Also something else—in the air."
Menlik and at Nolan's arm, him by the weight of his body.
"The flyer! Come back—back!" He was still at Nolan, at Travis with one foot, and the Apaches at him with amazement.
The in his own language, and then, visibly of himself, spoke English once more.
"Those are hunters, and they a caller. Either some others have or they are to our camp."
Jil-Lee looked at Travis. "You did not anything when the woman was under that spell?"
Travis his head. Jil-Lee and then said to the shaman: "We shall here and watch. But since it is for you—do you go. And we shall meet you near this place of the towers. Agreed?"
For a moment Menlik's a Travis to read. Was it resentment—resentment that he was to when the others their ground? Did the Tatar that he this way? But the gave a of what they took as and over the of the point. A moment later they him speaking the Mongol tongue, Hulagur and Lotchu, his on the scout. Then came the of as they their away.
The Apaches settled in the cup, which gave them a wide view over the plains. Soon it was not necessary to use the in order to the party of hunters—five riders, four Tatar dress. The had such an odd that Travis was of Menlik's sketch of the alien. Under the of the he saw that the was with a pack his and a most of his head. Highly for communication, Travis guessed.
"That is a 'copter up above," Nolan said. "Different shape from ours."
They had been familiar with on Terra. Ranchers used them for range inspection, and all of the Apache had in them. But Nolan was correct; this one features.
"The Tatars say they don't those very into the mountains," Jil-Lee mused. "That their man on horseback; he in where they don't fly."
Nolan his bow. "If these Reds upon their machine to what they seek, then they may be taken by surprise——"
"But not yet!" Travis spoke sharply. Nolan at him.
Jil-Lee chuckled. "The way is not so dark for us, brother, that we need your for our feet!"
Travis any retort, the of that rebuke. He had no right to that he alone the best way of the enemy. Biting on the of that realization, he with the others, the enter the a of a mile to the west.
The was now over the men into a cut two rises. When they were to view, the pilot casts, and Travis the flyer's were in with the one of the on the ground.
He stirred. "They are for the Tatar camp, just as if they know where it is—"
"That also may be true," Nolan replied. "What do we know of these Tatars? They have said that the Reds can them in mind when they wish. Already they may be so bound. I say—let us go to our own country." He added to the of that by Jil-Lee the and from their perch.
Travis looked at the other. In a way he the of Nolan's suggestion. But he was sure that now would only trouble. Sooner or later the Apaches would have to against the Reds, and if they do it now while the enemy was with trouble from the Tatars, so much the better.
Jil-Lee was Nolan. But something in Travis rebelled. He the helicopter. If it was the action area of the horsemen, they had either in or were a small of the foothills.
Reluctantly Travis to the where Jil-Lee with Nolan. Tsoay and Lupe and Rope were a little to one as if the final orders would come from their seniors.
"It would be well," Jil-Lee said slowly, "if we saw what they have. I want a closer look at the of that one in the helmet. Also," he at Nolan—"I do not think that they can the presence of of the People unless we will it so."
Nolan ran a along the of his bow, a right and left at the of the country.
"There is in what you say, brother. Only this is a we shall take alone, not the men with to know where we walk." He looked in Travis' direction.
"That is wisdom, Ba'is'a," Travis replied, Nolan the old title the leader of a party. Travis was for that much of a concession.
They into action, at an which should them across the of the enemy party. The path was theirs at last, only moments after the of their quarry. None of the five was taking any to his trail. Each moved with the of one not having to any attack.
From the Apaches looked aloft. They the of the helicopter. It was still circling, Tsoay reported from a higher check point, but those circles close over the area—the had already passed the limits of that sentry.
Three to a side, the Apaches with the them. They were when they up with the hunters. The four Tatars were together; the man, by his pack, had from the and was on the ground, his hands with a plate which him from upper to belt.
Now that he had a to see them closely, Travis noted the of on the Tatar faces. The four men were blank of eye, their with no of their present surroundings. Then as one, their around to the leader they and for a long moment in a way which Travis of the coyotes' when they to pass some message to him. But these men the of the animals had.
The man's hand moved across his plate, and his came into a measure of life. One put his hand to his with an odd, half-dazed gesture. Another crouched, his in a snarl. And the leader, him, laughed. Then he an order, his hand over his plate.
One of the four took the reins, the fast to near-by bushes. Then as one they to walk forward, the Red up the the nearest Tatar. They were going to the of a small ridge.
The Tatar who the put his hands to cup his mouth, sent a southward, and the "hu-hu-hu" on and on through the hills.
Either Menlik had the in time, or his people were not to be so easily enticed. For though the waited for a long time, there was no answer to that hail. At last the man called his captives, them to and again—a move which the Apaches.
They not tell how close was the the and the helicopter. And they were still too near the to attack unless it was necessary for their own protection. Travis to join Nolan.
"He them by that plate on his chest," he said. "If we would take them, we must at that—"
"These Tatars use in fighting. Did they not rope you as a is for branding? Then why do they not so take this Red, his arms to his sides?" The in Nolan's voice was plain.
"Perhaps in them is some making it so that they cannot attack their rulers—"
"I do not like this of which can play this way and that with minds and bodies!" Nolan. "A man should only use a weapon, not be one!"
Travis agree to that. Had they by the of their own ship and the death of Ruthven, just such an as these Tatars now endured? If so, why? He and all the Apaches were volunteers, and to new world colonies. What had on Terra that they had been so sent out without and under Redax? Another small piece of that puzzle, or maybe the of the whole picture into place. Had the project learned in some way of the Tatar settlement on Topaz and so been to speed up that from late twentieth-century Americans to primitives? That would a lot!
Travis returned to the now at hand as he saw a ahead. The party they were was directly for the hide-out. Travis Menlik had them in time. There—that of to his left must the of the towers, though it was still miles ahead. Travis did not the would be able to their unless they at night. They might not know of the ape-things which the dark.
But the enemy, he of such or not, did not to press on. As the sun away, and dark, the stopped to make camp. The Apaches, after their on the trail, on the above.
"This Red to think that he shall those he waiting for him, as if their were tight in a trap," Tsoay remarked.
"It is the of the Pinda-lick-o-yi," Lupe added, "to they are than all others. Yet this one is a walking into the arms of a she-bear with a cub." He chuckled.
"A man with a not a man only with a stick," Travis cut in quickly. "This one is with a which he has good to makes him to attack. If he rests tonight, he his machine on guard."
"At least we are sure of one thing," Nolan said in agreement. "This one not that there are any in these save those he can master. And his machine not work against us. Thus at dawn—" He a gesture, and they in concert.
At dawn—the old time of attack. An Apache not attack at night. Travis was not sure that any of them that old and upon the the of new light.
But tomorrow they would take over this Red, him of his machine.
Travis' jerked. It had come as as a his eyes—to him. What ... what was it? Not any physical impact—no, something which was but still immaterial. He his whole body, its return, trying to what had in that of and disembodiment. Never had he anything like it—or had he? Two years or more ago when he had gone through the time transfer to enter the Arizona of the Folsom Men some ten thousand years earlier—that moment of transfer had been something like this, a of being in space and time with no to be found.
Yet he was here on very and soil, and nothing about him in the shadow-hung of Topaz had in the slightest. But that had left it a of panic him, a spot like an open wound.
Travis a which was almost a sob, himself up on one to into the enemy camp. Was this some attack from the other's unknown weapon? Suddenly he was not at all sure what might when the Apaches that rush.
Jil-Lee was in station on his right. Travis must notes with him to be sure that this was not a trap. Better to now than to be taken like fish in a net. He out of his place, gave the call of the fluff-ball, and Jil-Lee's answer in a of a night insect.
"Did you something just now—in your head?" Travis it difficult to put that into words.
"Not so. But you did?"
He had—of course, he had! The of it were still in him, that point of panic. "Yes."
"The machine?"
"I don't know." Travis' grew. It might be that he alone of the party had been struck. If so, he be a to his own kind.
"This is not good. I think we had council, away from here." Jil-Lee's was the of sound. He again to be answered from Tsoay upslope, who passed on the signal.
The moon was high in the sky as the Apaches together. Again Travis asked his question: Had any of the others that odd blow? He was met by negatives.
But Nolan had the final word: "This is not good," he Jil-Lee's comment. "If it was the Red machine at work, then we may all be into his along with those he seeks. Perhaps the longer one close to that thing, the more it over him. We shall here until dawn. If the enemy would the place they seek, then they must pass us, for that is the road. Burdened with his machine, that Red has taken the way. So, we shall see if he also has a defense against these when they come without warning." He touched the in his quiver.
To kill from meant that they might learn the of the machine, but after his Travis was to admit that Nolan's was the wise way. Travis wanted no part of a second attack like that which had him so. And Nolan had not ordered a retreat. It must be in the chief's as it was in Travis' that if the machine have an over Apaches, it must to function.
They set their with the age-old skill the Redax had into their memories. Then there was nothing to do but wait.
It was an hour after when Tsoay that the enemy was coming, and after, they the of ponies' hoofs. The Tatar into view, and by the of his in the saddle, Travis the Red had him under full control. Two, then three Tatars passed the teeth of the Apache trap. The fourth one had allowed a to open himself and his fellows.
Then the Red leader came. His the of the was not happy. Travis the man was not a by inclination. The Apache set to cord, and at the from Nolan, in with his clansmen.
Only one of those a target. The Red's gave a of pain and terror, reared, at the air, back, its under it.
The Red had had a defense right enough, one which had somehow the arrows. But he neither had protection against his own seat in the the which had the now pony.
Ahead the Tatars and writhed, mouthed cries, then out of their to on the ground as if the at the master had each to the heart.
