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.With myfingernail I scratched a bit of rust from the chain on my collar.Far off,across the marsh, we could hear the noises of jungle birds, the howling oftiny, long-limbed primates.It was about an Ahn after the late evening rain,somewhere about the twentieth Ahn.The sky was still overcast, providing asuitable darkness for the work which must soon be at hand."I must speak with you," he said, in halting Gorean."I did not know you could speak Gorean," I said, looking ahead in thedarkness."When a child," he said, "I once ran away.I lived for two years in Schendi,then returned to Ukungu.""I did not think a mere village would content you," I said."It was a long anddangerous journey for a child.""I returned to Ukungu," he said."Perhaps that is why you are such a patriot of Ukungu," I said, "because onceyou fled from it.""I must speak with you," he said."Perhaps I do not speak with members of the nobility," I said."Forgive me," he said."I was a fool.""You have learned, then," I said, "from Bila Huruma, who will speak to allmen.""How else can one listen?" he asked."How else can one understand others?""Beggers speak to beggers, and to Ubars," I said."It is a saying of Schendi," he said."Yes," I said."Do you speak Ushindi?" he asked."A little," I said.Page 153 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html"Can you understand me?" he asked, speaking in the dialect of the court ofBila Huruma."Yes," I said.Gorean was not easy for him.Ushindi, I was sure, was no easierfor me.Ayari, to my right, knew Ushindi well enough to transpose easily intothe related Ngao dialect spoken in the Ukungu district, but I did not."If Icannot understand you, I will tell you," I said.I had little doubt but what,between his Gorean and my understanding of the Ushindi dialect spoken at thecourt of Bila Huruma, we could communicate."I will try to speak Gorean," he said."That, at least, is not the language ofBila Huruma.""There are other things in its favor as well," I said."It is a complex,efficient language with a large vocabulary.""Ukungu," he said, "is the most beautiful language in all the world.""That may well be," I said, "but I cannot speak it." I, personally, would havethought that English or Gorean would have been the most beautiful language inall the world.I had met individuals, however, who thought the same of Frenchand German, and Spanish, and Chinese and Japanese.The only common denominatorin these discussions seemed to be that each of the informants was a nativespeaker of the language in question.How chauvinistic we are with respect toour languages.This chauvinism can sometimes be so serious as to blind certainindividuals to the natural superiority of English, or, perhaps, Gorean.Orperhaps French, or German.or Spanish, or Chinese, or Japanese, or, say, Bassaor Hindi."I will try to speak Gorean," he said."Very well," I said, generously.I breathed more easily."I want to escape," he said."I must escape.""Very well," I said."Let us do so.""But how?" he asked."The means," I said, "have long lain at our disposal.It is only that I havelacked the cooperation necessary to capitalize on them."I turned to Ayari."Pass the word down the chain," I said, "in bothdirections, in various languages, that we shall escape tonight.""How do you propose to do this?" asked Ayari."Discharge your duties, my friendly interpreter," I said."You will seeshortly.""What if some fear to escape?" asked Ayari."They will then be torn alive out of the chain," I told him."I am not sure I am in favor of this," said Ayari."Do you wish to be the first?" I asked him."Not me," said Ayari."I am busy.I have things to do.I am passing the worddown the chain.""How can we escaper asked Kisu.I reached out and measured the chain at his collar, and slipped my hands downthe chain until, about five feet later, it lifted to the collar of the nextman.I pushed them closely together, to drop the chain, in a loop, to the logfloor of the extended raft.By feeling I dropped the loop between the ends oftwo logs and drew it back, about two feet in from the end of the log it wasnow looped beneath.The bottom of the loop was then under water and about onelog.I put one end of the chain in the hands of the powerful Kisu and took theother end in my own hands."I see," said Kisu, "but this is an inefficient tool.""You could ask the askaris for a better," I suggested.We then began, smoothly and firmly, exerting heavy, even pressures, to drawthe chain back and forth under the log.In moments, using this crude saw, orcuffing tool, we had cut through the bark of the log and had begun,rhythmically, to gash and splinter the harder wood beneath.The spacing andtwisting of the links, in the motion of the metal, served well in lieu ofteeth.There was an occasional squeak of the metal on the wet wood but thePage 154 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlwork, for the most part, was accomplished silently, the sound being concealedunder the surface of the water.It was a mistake on the part of the askaris tohave left us in neck chains in a cage mounted on a log platform.We ceasedwork, once, when a canoe of askaris, on watch, paddled by.My hands began to bleed on the chain.Doubtless Kisu's hands, too, werebloodied.One man crept close to us."This is madness," he said."I am not with you.""You must then be killed," I told him."I have changed my mind," he said."I am now with you, fully.""Good," I said."The sound will carry under the water," said another man.Sound does carrybetter under water than above it, indeed, some five times as well.The sound,of course, does not well break the surface of the water.Thus the sound,though propagated efficiently either beneath or above the surface, is not wellpropagated, because of the barrier of the surface, either from beneath thesurface to above the surface, or from above the surface to beneath thesurface."It will attract tharlarion, or fish, and then tharlarion," he said."We will wait for them to investigate and disperse," I said.Ayari was near to me."It is dark," he said."It is a good night for raiders."A bit of wood, moved by the chain, splintered up by my feet.I slid the loop of chain down toward the end of the log, near the end of theother log, to which it was adjacent [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.With myfingernail I scratched a bit of rust from the chain on my collar.Far off,across the marsh, we could hear the noises of jungle birds, the howling oftiny, long-limbed primates.It was about an Ahn after the late evening rain,somewhere about the twentieth Ahn.The sky was still overcast, providing asuitable darkness for the work which must soon be at hand."I must speak with you," he said, in halting Gorean."I did not know you could speak Gorean," I said, looking ahead in thedarkness."When a child," he said, "I once ran away.I lived for two years in Schendi,then returned to Ukungu.""I did not think a mere village would content you," I said."It was a long anddangerous journey for a child.""I returned to Ukungu," he said."Perhaps that is why you are such a patriot of Ukungu," I said, "because onceyou fled from it.""I must speak with you," he said."Perhaps I do not speak with members of the nobility," I said."Forgive me," he said."I was a fool.""You have learned, then," I said, "from Bila Huruma, who will speak to allmen.""How else can one listen?" he asked."How else can one understand others?""Beggers speak to beggers, and to Ubars," I said."It is a saying of Schendi," he said."Yes," I said."Do you speak Ushindi?" he asked."A little," I said.Page 153 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html"Can you understand me?" he asked, speaking in the dialect of the court ofBila Huruma."Yes," I said.Gorean was not easy for him.Ushindi, I was sure, was no easierfor me.Ayari, to my right, knew Ushindi well enough to transpose easily intothe related Ngao dialect spoken in the Ukungu district, but I did not."If Icannot understand you, I will tell you," I said.I had little doubt but what,between his Gorean and my understanding of the Ushindi dialect spoken at thecourt of Bila Huruma, we could communicate."I will try to speak Gorean," he said."That, at least, is not the language ofBila Huruma.""There are other things in its favor as well," I said."It is a complex,efficient language with a large vocabulary.""Ukungu," he said, "is the most beautiful language in all the world.""That may well be," I said, "but I cannot speak it." I, personally, would havethought that English or Gorean would have been the most beautiful language inall the world.I had met individuals, however, who thought the same of Frenchand German, and Spanish, and Chinese and Japanese.The only common denominatorin these discussions seemed to be that each of the informants was a nativespeaker of the language in question.How chauvinistic we are with respect toour languages.This chauvinism can sometimes be so serious as to blind certainindividuals to the natural superiority of English, or, perhaps, Gorean.Orperhaps French, or German.or Spanish, or Chinese, or Japanese, or, say, Bassaor Hindi."I will try to speak Gorean," he said."Very well," I said, generously.I breathed more easily."I want to escape," he said."I must escape.""Very well," I said."Let us do so.""But how?" he asked."The means," I said, "have long lain at our disposal.It is only that I havelacked the cooperation necessary to capitalize on them."I turned to Ayari."Pass the word down the chain," I said, "in bothdirections, in various languages, that we shall escape tonight.""How do you propose to do this?" asked Ayari."Discharge your duties, my friendly interpreter," I said."You will seeshortly.""What if some fear to escape?" asked Ayari."They will then be torn alive out of the chain," I told him."I am not sure I am in favor of this," said Ayari."Do you wish to be the first?" I asked him."Not me," said Ayari."I am busy.I have things to do.I am passing the worddown the chain.""How can we escaper asked Kisu.I reached out and measured the chain at his collar, and slipped my hands downthe chain until, about five feet later, it lifted to the collar of the nextman.I pushed them closely together, to drop the chain, in a loop, to the logfloor of the extended raft.By feeling I dropped the loop between the ends oftwo logs and drew it back, about two feet in from the end of the log it wasnow looped beneath.The bottom of the loop was then under water and about onelog.I put one end of the chain in the hands of the powerful Kisu and took theother end in my own hands."I see," said Kisu, "but this is an inefficient tool.""You could ask the askaris for a better," I suggested.We then began, smoothly and firmly, exerting heavy, even pressures, to drawthe chain back and forth under the log.In moments, using this crude saw, orcuffing tool, we had cut through the bark of the log and had begun,rhythmically, to gash and splinter the harder wood beneath.The spacing andtwisting of the links, in the motion of the metal, served well in lieu ofteeth.There was an occasional squeak of the metal on the wet wood but thePage 154 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlwork, for the most part, was accomplished silently, the sound being concealedunder the surface of the water.It was a mistake on the part of the askaris tohave left us in neck chains in a cage mounted on a log platform.We ceasedwork, once, when a canoe of askaris, on watch, paddled by.My hands began to bleed on the chain.Doubtless Kisu's hands, too, werebloodied.One man crept close to us."This is madness," he said."I am not with you.""You must then be killed," I told him."I have changed my mind," he said."I am now with you, fully.""Good," I said."The sound will carry under the water," said another man.Sound does carrybetter under water than above it, indeed, some five times as well.The sound,of course, does not well break the surface of the water.Thus the sound,though propagated efficiently either beneath or above the surface, is not wellpropagated, because of the barrier of the surface, either from beneath thesurface to above the surface, or from above the surface to beneath thesurface."It will attract tharlarion, or fish, and then tharlarion," he said."We will wait for them to investigate and disperse," I said.Ayari was near to me."It is dark," he said."It is a good night for raiders."A bit of wood, moved by the chain, splintered up by my feet.I slid the loop of chain down toward the end of the log, near the end of theother log, to which it was adjacent [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]