gestures of greeting with those waiting on the siding.
Strachan finished his fruit. “I see that Master Kherát, our gallant conductor, is gathering his men and beasts to move out. You’d best collect yours, too.”
Reith got all his people back aboard the train save Otto Schwerin. A frantic search at last discovered Schwerin perched in a tree, photographing.
###
As yellow Roqir vanished behind the forested ridges, the special stopped on another siding at the village of Jizorg. Strachan led Reith and his tourists across the muddy main street to the inn. There a stout Krishnan quieted his eshun, which pulled on its chain and growled. This taverner then greeted the party with bows and voluble speech, too fast and in too strong a dialect for Reith to follow.
“He says,” reported Strachan, “that in return for the honor of hosting the first tourist party from outer space, he’s converting his hovel into a palace.”
“Looks pretty much like a hovel still to me,” said Considine.
In the courtyard, the taverner stopped at a well in the center. Two workmen were laying flat stones around the wellhead to form a terrace, while a Krishnan mason chipped another stone to make it fit the circular base of the wellhead. The taverner burst into speech, with gestures.
“He says,” explained Strachan, “that the old well was good enough when he had only a few guests at a time; but, with the rise in traffic he foresees, the courtyard will be trampled into a sea of mud. Hence the masonry. Next, he says, he’ll install a windlass and crank on the coping, instead of making the servants haul their buckets up hand over hand. I said the Industrial Revolution was on the way, did I no?”
Although Reith’s tourists had become somewhat hardened, they were taken aback by the primitiveness of the accommodations. The fact that, with only four beds available, the men would have to sleep four in a bed caused especial complaint.
“I demand one bed for myself and my wife!” said Guzmán-Vidal. “The other four ladies can have the other bed. We never sleep apart, even when we are fighting!”
“Nothing doing,” said Reith.
“But I am a man. I cannot be separated from my woman—”
“Do you want to go back to Novo on your own?” said Reith.
Guzmán-Vidal subsided, grumbling. When Price and Considine in turn raised objections, Reith said: “Now look here! You people set out on this very expensive and time-consuming tour because you wanted to see something different from earth, didn’t you? You were warned you’d have to rough it, without Terran amenities. If there were, you’d be like those people who want to go to Timbuktu, because the name sounds romantic. When they get there, they stay at the Timbuktu Hilton and complain it’s like every other city. A little discomfort is the price you pay for anything really exotic.”
###
A strange sound aroused Reith at sunrise. Looking out the window, he sighted Strachan, in his usual Krishnan costume, marching around the courtyard playing the bagpipes. Reith pulled on his clothes and went down to the yard, finding Strachan in a discussion with the taverner.
“One of my workmen disappeared during the night,” Strachan explained. “Mine host here tells me this same Krishnan had passed through here going east a few days ago, stabled an aya with him, and took the train to Baianch. When our train arrived, this fellow came with the others. He just paid his stable charges and rode off.”
“What’s the catch?” asked Reith.
“The catch, laddie, is that he passed himself off as an ordinary construction worker and signed up with my crew, when he was evidently nocht of the sort. For one thing, a workman doesn’t make enough siller to keep an aya. I think he’s a spy, sent by Barré to report on the progress of the railroad.”
“Does that put my people in danger?”
Strachan frowned. “Na, lad; I think not. At least, no more than they’d be in anyway, anywhere on this
Strachan finished his fruit. “I see that Master Kherát, our gallant conductor, is gathering his men and beasts to move out. You’d best collect yours, too.”
Reith got all his people back aboard the train save Otto Schwerin. A frantic search at last discovered Schwerin perched in a tree, photographing.
###
As yellow Roqir vanished behind the forested ridges, the special stopped on another siding at the village of Jizorg. Strachan led Reith and his tourists across the muddy main street to the inn. There a stout Krishnan quieted his eshun, which pulled on its chain and growled. This taverner then greeted the party with bows and voluble speech, too fast and in too strong a dialect for Reith to follow.
“He says,” reported Strachan, “that in return for the honor of hosting the first tourist party from outer space, he’s converting his hovel into a palace.”
“Looks pretty much like a hovel still to me,” said Considine.
In the courtyard, the taverner stopped at a well in the center. Two workmen were laying flat stones around the wellhead to form a terrace, while a Krishnan mason chipped another stone to make it fit the circular base of the wellhead. The taverner burst into speech, with gestures.
“He says,” explained Strachan, “that the old well was good enough when he had only a few guests at a time; but, with the rise in traffic he foresees, the courtyard will be trampled into a sea of mud. Hence the masonry. Next, he says, he’ll install a windlass and crank on the coping, instead of making the servants haul their buckets up hand over hand. I said the Industrial Revolution was on the way, did I no?”
Although Reith’s tourists had become somewhat hardened, they were taken aback by the primitiveness of the accommodations. The fact that, with only four beds available, the men would have to sleep four in a bed caused especial complaint.
“I demand one bed for myself and my wife!” said Guzmán-Vidal. “The other four ladies can have the other bed. We never sleep apart, even when we are fighting!”
“Nothing doing,” said Reith.
“But I am a man. I cannot be separated from my woman—”
“Do you want to go back to Novo on your own?” said Reith.
Guzmán-Vidal subsided, grumbling. When Price and Considine in turn raised objections, Reith said: “Now look here! You people set out on this very expensive and time-consuming tour because you wanted to see something different from earth, didn’t you? You were warned you’d have to rough it, without Terran amenities. If there were, you’d be like those people who want to go to Timbuktu, because the name sounds romantic. When they get there, they stay at the Timbuktu Hilton and complain it’s like every other city. A little discomfort is the price you pay for anything really exotic.”
###
A strange sound aroused Reith at sunrise. Looking out the window, he sighted Strachan, in his usual Krishnan costume, marching around the courtyard playing the bagpipes. Reith pulled on his clothes and went down to the yard, finding Strachan in a discussion with the taverner.
“One of my workmen disappeared during the night,” Strachan explained. “Mine host here tells me this same Krishnan had passed through here going east a few days ago, stabled an aya with him, and took the train to Baianch. When our train arrived, this fellow came with the others. He just paid his stable charges and rode off.”
“What’s the catch?” asked Reith.
“The catch, laddie, is that he passed himself off as an ordinary construction worker and signed up with my crew, when he was evidently nocht of the sort. For one thing, a workman doesn’t make enough siller to keep an aya. I think he’s a spy, sent by Barré to report on the progress of the railroad.”
“Does that put my people in danger?”
Strachan frowned. “Na, lad; I think not. At least, no more than they’d be in anyway, anywhere on this
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