going to jeopardize the Patrol's mission to try to help you get away with murder-and I do mean murder!'
'But-' Burke looked wildly around him. 'Tex! Matt! Are you going to let him side up with those frog-people against a man?'
Matt gave him a stony-eyed stare. Tex said, 'Button your lip, Stinky.'
Oscar added, 'Yes, do. -And go to sleep. My arm hurts and I don't want to be bothered any more with you tonight.'
The room quieted .down at once, even though none of them got to sleep quickly. Matt lay awake a long time, worrying out their predicament, wondering whether or not Oscar could convince the frog mother-he thought of her as such-of the innocence of their intentions, and repeatedly blaming himself for the disaster to the jeep. Presently! he fell into an exhausted sleep.
He was awakened by a moaning sound. It brought him wide-awake at once and to the lieutenant's side. He found'] Tex already awake with him. 'What is it?' he asked. 'Is he worse?' j
'He keeps trying to say something,' Tex answered. j
Thurlow's eyes came open and he looked up at Matt. ! 'Maman,' he said querulously. 'Maman-pourquoi fait-il nuit j ainsi?' ' |
Oscar joined them. 'What's he saying?'
'Sounds like he's calling for his momma,' said Tex. 'The rest is just gibberish.'
'Where did that bladder get to? We could give him a. j drink.' It was found and again the patient drank, then seemed to drop at once to sleep. 'You guys go back to sleep,' said Oscar. 'I want to snag a word with the guard j that brings us our next meal and try to get to see the big. j mother. He's got to have some medical attention, somehow.' j
'I'll take the watch, Oz,' Matt offered.
'No, I can't sleep very well anyhow. This darn thing! itches.' He held up his damaged arm.
'Well-all right.'
Matt was still awake when the curtain opened. Oscar had been sitting cross-legged at the door, waiting; as the native shoved inside a platter of food, he thrust his arm into the opening.
'Remove thy arm,' said the native emphatically.
'Attend thou me,' insisted Oscar. 'I must have speech with thy mother.'
'Remove thy arm.'
'Thou wilt carry my message?'
'Remove thy arm!'
Oscar did so and the curtain was hurriedly secured. Matt said, 'Doesn't look as if they intended to powwow with us, does it, Oz?'
'Keep your shirt on,' Oscar answered. 'Breakfast. Wake up the others.'
It was the same dull fodder as before. 'Split it five ways, Tex,' Oscar directed. 'The lieutenant may snap out of it and be hungry.'
Burke looked at it and sniffed. 'I'm sick of that stuff. I don't want any.'
'Okay, split it four ways.' Tex nodded and did so.
They ate; presently Matt sat back, burped reflectively, and said, 'You know, while I could use some orange juice and coffee, that stuffs not bad.'
'Did I ever tell you,' asked Tex, 'about the time my Uncle Bodie got incarcerated in the jail at Juarez?-by mistake, of course.'
'Of course,' agreed Oscar. 'What happened?'
'Well, they fed him nothing but Mexican jumping beans. He-'
'Didn't they upset him?'
'Not a bit. He ate as many as he could and a week later he jumped over a twelve foot wall and bounced home.'
'Having met your Uncle Bodie, I can well believe it. What do you suppose he would do under these circumstances?'
'Obvious. He'd make love to the old girl and inside of three days he'd be head man around here.'
'I think I'll have some breakfast after all^' announced Burke.
'You'll leave that chow for the lieutenant,' Oscar said firmly. 'You had your chance.'
'You've got no authority over me.'
'There are two reasons why you are wrong.'
'So? What are they?'
'Matt and Tex.'
Tex stood up. 'Shall I clip him, boss?'
'Not yet.'
'Oh, shucks!'
'Anyhow,' objected Matt. 'I get first crack-I'm senior to you, Tex.'
'Pulling rank on me, eh? Why you unspeakable rat!'
'Mister Rat, if you please, Yep, in this instance I claim j| rank.'
'But this is a social occasion.'
'Shut up, you guys,' instructed Oscar. 'Neither of you is to clip him unless he gets to sniffing around that food dish.'
There was a noise 'at the door, the curtain was pushed back and a native announced, 'My mother will see thee. Come.'
'Myself alone, or me and my sisters?'
'All of you. Come.'
However, when Burke attempted to pass through the door two of the little creatures pushed him back inside. They continued, to restrain him while four others picked up Lieutenant Thurlow and carried him outside. The numerous party set out down the passageway.
'I wish they would light these rabbit nests,' Tex complained, after stumbling.
'It's light enough to their eyes,' Oscar answered. f
'Natch,' agreed Tex, 'but a fat lot of good that does me. My eyes don't see infra-red.' ;
'Then pick up your big feet.'
They were taken to another large room, not the entrance hall, for it contained no pool of water. An amphibian, the same who had viewed them and ordered them taken away on their arrival, sat on a raised platform at the far end of the room. Only Oscar recognized her as such; to the others she looked like the rest.
Oscar quickened his pace and drew ahead of his escort 'Greetings, thou old and wise mother of many.'
She sat up and looked at him steadily. The room was very quiet. On every side the little folk waited, looking first from the earthlings to their chief executive, then back again. Matt felt that somehow the nature of her answer would show them their fate.
'Greetings.' She had chucked the ball back to Oscar by refusing to assign him any title at all, good or bad. 'Thou sought speech with me. Thou may speak.'
'What manner of city is thine? Have I, perhaps, journeyed so far that manners are no longer observed?' The Venerian word meant much more than 'manners'; it referred to the entire obligatory code of custom by which the older and stronger looked out for the weaker and younger.
The entire audience stirred. Matt wondered if Oscar had overplayed his hand. The expression of the leader changed but Matt had no way of reading it. 'My city and my daughters live ever by custom-' She used a more inclusive term, embracing tabus and other required acts, as well as the law of assistance, '-and I have never before heard it suggested that we fail in performance.'
'I hear thee, gracious mother of many, but thy words confuse me. We come, my 'sisters' and I, seeking shelter and help for ourselves and our 'mother' who is gravely ill. I myself am injured and am unable to protect my younger 'sisters.' What have we received in thy house? Thou hast deprived us of our freedom; our 'mother' lies unattended and failing. Indeed we have not even been granted the common decency of personal rooms in which to eat.'
A noise rose from the spectators which Matt correctly interpreted as the equivalent of a shocked gasp. Oscar had deliberately used the offensive word 'eat,' instead of talking around it. Matt was sure now that Oscar had lost his judgment.
