[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
wirecaller."
"What of seeing to our trunk?" Dunedin said.
"Hell with it. The Tawantiinsuujans will make sure it catches up with us
sooner or later. They're good at that sort of thing: hardly a thiefly wick
among 'em. We didn't pack everything, you know there's still enough stuff to
wear back at the place."
Monkey-face looked dubious, but followed Park to the front of the car. As
they went down the steps, the thane's wrinkled face split in a big, delighted
smile. He pointed. "Look, Judge Scoglund! Someone came to meet us after all.
There's the Vinlandish spokesman to Tawantiinsuuju."
Osfric Lundqvist spotted Park and Dunedin at about the same time Dunedin saw
him. He waved and used his beefy frame to push his way through the crowd
toward his two countrymen.
"Haw, Judge Scoglund!" The ambassador pumped Park's hand as if he were
jacking up a wain. "Well done! I say again, well done! Without your tireless
swinking on behalf of peace, the Son of the Sun and the Emir would still be
bemixed in uproarious war."
"The very thing I told him," Eric Dunedin chirped. "The very thing."
"You're most kind, bestness," Park murmured. He sent Monkey-face a glance
that meantshut up. He had no interest whatever in standing in the railway
station chattering with this political hack. What he wanted was to get to a
wirecaller.
Dunedin, unfortunately, didn't catch the glance. He said, "Singlehanded, the
judge talked Maita Kapak and Hussein into ontaking peace."
"Wonderful!" Lundqvist boomed. "Though as you said, Judge Scoglund, you came
here as a forstander of the International Court and not of Vinland, still what
you did here brings pride to all Vinlandish hearts."
"It wasn't as big a dealing as all that," Park said. Where he'd intended to
magnify his accomplishments for Kuurikwiljor, now he downplayed them in an
effort to make Lundqvist give up and go away.
That, however, the ambassador refused to do. Park had picked off Amazon
leeches with less cling than he displayed. Finally he said, "Isn't that
Tjiimpuu waving for you, Thane Lundqvist?"
Lundqvist looked around. "Where?"
"He's behind those two tall wicks now."
"Reckon I ock to learn what he wants of me. I'll see you later, Judge
Scoglund; I have much mair to talk about with you." Lundqvist plunged back
into the crowd, moving quickly in the direction Park had given him.
"I didn't see the warden for outlandish dealings back there," Eric Dunedin
said.
"Neither did I," Park told him. "Let's get out of here before Lundqvist finds
out and comes back."
Page 180
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
He and his thane hurried off, going the opposite way from Lundqvist. Soon
they were standing outside the station. Park had hoped to flag a cab, but saw
none. For one thing, they weren't as common here as in Vinland. For another,
as he realized after a moment, cabbies didn't come swarming to meet a troop
train, not in Tawantiinsuuju, where anything pertaining to military
transportation was a state monopoly. As he watched, soldiers started filing
onto government folkwains by now, Park seldom thought of them as buses.
The station was a couple of miles from the house he'd been assigned. He was
about to give up and start walking though his lungs, newly returned to two
miles above sea level, dreaded the prospect when a familiar-looking wain
pulled up nearby. Ankowaljuu stuck his head out. "Need a ride, Judge
Scoglund?"
"Yes, and thank you very much." Park and Dunedin climbed into the wain. Park
shifted to Ketjwa. "Hello, Ljiikljiik," he told thetukuuii riikook 'sdriver.
Ljiikljilk nodded, then set off at the same breakneck pace he'd used before.
Ankowaljuu said, "You have a fine recall, to bethink yourself of the name of a
man you met just for a brief while."
"Thanks." Park didn't point out that any aspiring politician learned to
remember people's names. He also didn't say that he wouldn't forget
Ljiikljiik's driving if he lived to be ninety.
It had its uses, though. Faster than Park would have thought possible, the
wain pulled up in front of his house. "I hope everything is still in there,"
he said.
"It will be," Ankowaljuu said confidently. "In the olden days, a
Tawantiinsuujan who was going out put a stick across his door to show he was
not home, and no one ever bothered his goods. We're not so lawful now, worse
luck, but I was sad when I got to New Belfast and saw lodging-room doors with
three locks."
"You'd have been sadder yet if you hadn't used them," Park said. Still,
despite the years he'd spent in the DA's office battling crime, he found
slightly inhuman the idea of letting the world know a house was standing
empty. If anywhere, though, it might have worked in Tawantiinsuuju.
As Ankowaljuu had predicted, the inside of the house was untouched.
Thetukuuii riikook clasped his hand. "I wish I could stay, Judge Scoglund, but
I have dealings elsewhere that will not wait."
"It's all rick," Park said. "But I thank you again for everything. Without
you, no one would have had the chance to listen to me up there in the jungle."
"You were the needful one. No one would have listened to me." Thetukuuii
riikook nodded one last time, hurried out the door and back into his wain.
Ljiikljiik zoomed off.
"At last!" Park said. He fairly ran to the telephone. "Get me the house of
Pauljuu, Ruuminjavii's son, in the district of Puumatjupan."
The phone rang and rang. Just as Park began to lose patience, a servant
answered: "Yes? Who is it?"
"This is Judge Ib Scoglund," Park said grandly. "I'd like to speak to
Kuurikwiljor, please."
Page 181
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"Oh! Judge Scoglund!" the woman exclaimed. "Just one moment, please." She set
down the receiver. Faintly, Park heard her calling someone. He preened while
he waited; just hearing his name, he thought, had been enough to impress the
servant.
A voice he knew came on the line: "Judge Scoglund! How are you today,
excellency?"
"Fine, thanks, Pauljuu," Park answered, frowning a little. "But I asked to
speak with your sister, not with you.
"Kuurikwiljor is not here."
"When should I call back, then?"
"Judge Scoglund " Pauljuu hesitated, as if unsure how to go on. "Judge
Scoglund, the last time you called here, some weeks ago, you made arrangements
to see my sister that evening and then never came."
"I couldn't help it," Park said. "I was called away I was almost dragged
away on the mission tomake peace with the Dar al-Harb. The mission that
succeeded, I might add."
"I know that now. So does Kuurikwiljor, and we honor you for it. But we only
learned the truth in the past few days. At the time at the time, Judge
Scoglund, all we knew was that you had not come. My sister was not pleased."
"I see. I was afraid of that. I'm sorry. I did try to get in touch after I
left, but I had no luck. But if she isn't angry any more, Pauljuu, perhaps "
"I am sorry too, Judge Scoglund, but I fear you do not see yet. A few days
after you well, after you disappeared, as we thought then a noble named Kajoo
Toopa made an offer of marriage for Kuurikwiljor. The rank of our family,
which is higher than his own, made him willing to overlook her being a widow.
After some thought, she accepted. The ceremony was performed eight days
ago.Patjam kuutiin, Judge Scoglund."
" `The world changes,' " Park echoed dully. "Uh-huh." After a moment, he [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl wyciskamy.pev.pl
wirecaller."
"What of seeing to our trunk?" Dunedin said.
"Hell with it. The Tawantiinsuujans will make sure it catches up with us
sooner or later. They're good at that sort of thing: hardly a thiefly wick
among 'em. We didn't pack everything, you know there's still enough stuff to
wear back at the place."
Monkey-face looked dubious, but followed Park to the front of the car. As
they went down the steps, the thane's wrinkled face split in a big, delighted
smile. He pointed. "Look, Judge Scoglund! Someone came to meet us after all.
There's the Vinlandish spokesman to Tawantiinsuuju."
Osfric Lundqvist spotted Park and Dunedin at about the same time Dunedin saw
him. He waved and used his beefy frame to push his way through the crowd
toward his two countrymen.
"Haw, Judge Scoglund!" The ambassador pumped Park's hand as if he were
jacking up a wain. "Well done! I say again, well done! Without your tireless
swinking on behalf of peace, the Son of the Sun and the Emir would still be
bemixed in uproarious war."
"The very thing I told him," Eric Dunedin chirped. "The very thing."
"You're most kind, bestness," Park murmured. He sent Monkey-face a glance
that meantshut up. He had no interest whatever in standing in the railway
station chattering with this political hack. What he wanted was to get to a
wirecaller.
Dunedin, unfortunately, didn't catch the glance. He said, "Singlehanded, the
judge talked Maita Kapak and Hussein into ontaking peace."
"Wonderful!" Lundqvist boomed. "Though as you said, Judge Scoglund, you came
here as a forstander of the International Court and not of Vinland, still what
you did here brings pride to all Vinlandish hearts."
"It wasn't as big a dealing as all that," Park said. Where he'd intended to
magnify his accomplishments for Kuurikwiljor, now he downplayed them in an
effort to make Lundqvist give up and go away.
That, however, the ambassador refused to do. Park had picked off Amazon
leeches with less cling than he displayed. Finally he said, "Isn't that
Tjiimpuu waving for you, Thane Lundqvist?"
Lundqvist looked around. "Where?"
"He's behind those two tall wicks now."
"Reckon I ock to learn what he wants of me. I'll see you later, Judge
Scoglund; I have much mair to talk about with you." Lundqvist plunged back
into the crowd, moving quickly in the direction Park had given him.
"I didn't see the warden for outlandish dealings back there," Eric Dunedin
said.
"Neither did I," Park told him. "Let's get out of here before Lundqvist finds
out and comes back."
Page 180
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
He and his thane hurried off, going the opposite way from Lundqvist. Soon
they were standing outside the station. Park had hoped to flag a cab, but saw
none. For one thing, they weren't as common here as in Vinland. For another,
as he realized after a moment, cabbies didn't come swarming to meet a troop
train, not in Tawantiinsuuju, where anything pertaining to military
transportation was a state monopoly. As he watched, soldiers started filing
onto government folkwains by now, Park seldom thought of them as buses.
The station was a couple of miles from the house he'd been assigned. He was
about to give up and start walking though his lungs, newly returned to two
miles above sea level, dreaded the prospect when a familiar-looking wain
pulled up nearby. Ankowaljuu stuck his head out. "Need a ride, Judge
Scoglund?"
"Yes, and thank you very much." Park and Dunedin climbed into the wain. Park
shifted to Ketjwa. "Hello, Ljiikljiik," he told thetukuuii riikook 'sdriver.
Ljiikljilk nodded, then set off at the same breakneck pace he'd used before.
Ankowaljuu said, "You have a fine recall, to bethink yourself of the name of a
man you met just for a brief while."
"Thanks." Park didn't point out that any aspiring politician learned to
remember people's names. He also didn't say that he wouldn't forget
Ljiikljiik's driving if he lived to be ninety.
It had its uses, though. Faster than Park would have thought possible, the
wain pulled up in front of his house. "I hope everything is still in there,"
he said.
"It will be," Ankowaljuu said confidently. "In the olden days, a
Tawantiinsuujan who was going out put a stick across his door to show he was
not home, and no one ever bothered his goods. We're not so lawful now, worse
luck, but I was sad when I got to New Belfast and saw lodging-room doors with
three locks."
"You'd have been sadder yet if you hadn't used them," Park said. Still,
despite the years he'd spent in the DA's office battling crime, he found
slightly inhuman the idea of letting the world know a house was standing
empty. If anywhere, though, it might have worked in Tawantiinsuuju.
As Ankowaljuu had predicted, the inside of the house was untouched.
Thetukuuii riikook clasped his hand. "I wish I could stay, Judge Scoglund, but
I have dealings elsewhere that will not wait."
"It's all rick," Park said. "But I thank you again for everything. Without
you, no one would have had the chance to listen to me up there in the jungle."
"You were the needful one. No one would have listened to me." Thetukuuii
riikook nodded one last time, hurried out the door and back into his wain.
Ljiikljiik zoomed off.
"At last!" Park said. He fairly ran to the telephone. "Get me the house of
Pauljuu, Ruuminjavii's son, in the district of Puumatjupan."
The phone rang and rang. Just as Park began to lose patience, a servant
answered: "Yes? Who is it?"
"This is Judge Ib Scoglund," Park said grandly. "I'd like to speak to
Kuurikwiljor, please."
Page 181
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"Oh! Judge Scoglund!" the woman exclaimed. "Just one moment, please." She set
down the receiver. Faintly, Park heard her calling someone. He preened while
he waited; just hearing his name, he thought, had been enough to impress the
servant.
A voice he knew came on the line: "Judge Scoglund! How are you today,
excellency?"
"Fine, thanks, Pauljuu," Park answered, frowning a little. "But I asked to
speak with your sister, not with you.
"Kuurikwiljor is not here."
"When should I call back, then?"
"Judge Scoglund " Pauljuu hesitated, as if unsure how to go on. "Judge
Scoglund, the last time you called here, some weeks ago, you made arrangements
to see my sister that evening and then never came."
"I couldn't help it," Park said. "I was called away I was almost dragged
away on the mission tomake peace with the Dar al-Harb. The mission that
succeeded, I might add."
"I know that now. So does Kuurikwiljor, and we honor you for it. But we only
learned the truth in the past few days. At the time at the time, Judge
Scoglund, all we knew was that you had not come. My sister was not pleased."
"I see. I was afraid of that. I'm sorry. I did try to get in touch after I
left, but I had no luck. But if she isn't angry any more, Pauljuu, perhaps "
"I am sorry too, Judge Scoglund, but I fear you do not see yet. A few days
after you well, after you disappeared, as we thought then a noble named Kajoo
Toopa made an offer of marriage for Kuurikwiljor. The rank of our family,
which is higher than his own, made him willing to overlook her being a widow.
After some thought, she accepted. The ceremony was performed eight days
ago.Patjam kuutiin, Judge Scoglund."
" `The world changes,' " Park echoed dully. "Uh-huh." After a moment, he [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]