'You listen to me, black Irish, maybe you live longer.'
'Do I hear the voodoo drums, llama man?'
'Soon you no more hear. You listen good. There is deadly snake in front of cab with you. Little snake was in my bag, somehow get out. Back home we call snake a twostep. Nice name, huh?' Tarkiz offered a wide toothy grin to Jocko. 'Snake bite man, he take one step, feel bad. Take two step, he fall down dead. No antidote. If you do not get out of cab right now, snake going to bite you, and we send home your head in basket.'
Jocko looked about warily, then his eyes grew huge as a bright yellowandorange snake wriggled toward his foot.
In a flash he had his door open and stood in the street several feet from the taxi. 'You crazy, mon!' he shouted.
Indy and Gale leaned forward, ready to abandon the cab if necessary. 'Good God, it's really there!' Gale said in a hoarse voice. She stared in disbelief as Tarkiz leaned into the front of the cab and snatched up the snake. He petted it gently along its back and dropped it into a side pocket of his jacket. Gale screeched and threw her arms about Indy.
'Get it out of here!' she yelled.
'It's his pet,' Indy answered. 'I can't do that.'
'GET IT OUT!' She buried her head in his chest.
Indy patted her gently on her shoulder. 'No need to worry, Gale. Once he has the snake in his pocket, it's harmless.' He met Tarkiz's eyes and the two winked at one another.
In his quick glance, Indy had seen what the others missed. The snake was a beautifully articulated wood or metal mechanical device with a real snakeskin covering the body, and nasty fangs for good measure in the gaping mouth.
But Indy knew snakes, had dealt with them even though they gave him the creeps, and just the way this 'creature' moved heightened his suspicions, all confirmed by the way Tarkiz smiled triumphantly as he dropped the 'kill in twostep' snake into his pocket.
Jocko, tense from anger and his open showing of fright, returned to the cab and stabbed a finger at Tarkiz. 'You and I, dungheap, we got unfinished business.'
Tarkiz guffawed. 'I not worry about man who is frightened like little girl by worm.'
Indy leaned forward to tap Jocko gently on the shoulder. 'Straight to the museum, my Irish muse, and no more detours or stops, got it?'
Jocko turned around, pointed a finger at Indy, and snapped his thumb forward like a firing pin closing on a round.
'Gotcha, Boss.'
11
The American Museum of Natural History sprawled over several city blocks from its entrance at Central Park West and 79th Street in Manhattan. As impressive as were the museums Indy and Gale had visited elsewhere, this structure and its vast and complex interior stood in a class by itself. It seemed to go on forever.
Hundreds of exhibit rooms and huge halls, some thirty to fifty feet in height, accommodated dozens of fauna from throughout the world, including such creatures of monstrous size as the great blue whale. To stand in a room and look upward at the preserved specimen of the largest creature that ever existed on the planet, itself surrounded by dozens of other specimens large and small, was an overwhelming sight. Throughout the museum were literally hundreds of thousands of life forms.
Gale walked with Indy and Tarkiz down long corridors through just a small part of the museum to a private area several stories below ground level. Her eyes moved constantly. 'This is incredible,' she said with unabashed awe at the exhibits about them. 'I could stay in the Egyptian archives for a month!'
'They have a worldwide exchange program,' Indy acknowledged. 'They trade off with institutions from just about everywhere. And it helps that this museum, or its foundation, is sponsored by some very wealthy people. There's a lot about this country that needs improvement, just like anywhere else in the world, but this place,' he spread wide his arms as if to encompass the magnificent structure, 'well, it's one of the finest statements ever made about people trying to understand his world.'
Jocko Kilarney, leading the way, turned to Indy. 'Professor, I've never heard it said better. In fact, you've done field research for the Foundation, haven't you?'
'I have the idea you already know every step I've taken for the Foundation,' Indy said wryly.
Jocko shrugged. 'I meant the compliment, sir, most sincerely.'
'You're a man of many different faces, Jocko,' Gale told him.
Jocko replied with a smile and a brief bow. 'We will take the elevator at the end of this hallway,' he said.
They stopped by elevator doors with a large red sign that said freight only. no passengers.
'I guess we come under the heading of freight,' Indy noted.
'Consider yourself valuable cargo,' Jocko said lightly. The doors opened, and they were soon on their way to a thirdlevel subbasement. They emerged from a sloping corridor to a surprisingly large domed area. Gale stopped short, looking about her with surprise and wonder.
They seemed to be in the middle of a northern forest, trees looming about them, rocks, slopes and even a brook gurgling unseen within the heavy growth. Gale froze as a tree branch moved aside and a huge brown bear rose to its feet and roared. Immediately Tarkiz shoved her aside, placing himself between her and the bear. His automatic, pitiful as it was against the enormous animal bulk, was in his hand. Then another bear emerged through bushes, this one on all fours. Suddenly it reared high: the deadly Kodiak, largest bear in the world.
'Put away the gun,' Indy told Tarkiz.
