* * * * *
The brutes must have sensed us. They stopped and wheeled around. Quern
shivered. He was beginning to understand things. He snarled,
"How do you expect me to do my act? No platform--nothing! You're crazy,
Jig! Let's get out of here!"
I shook him. "Put that baby to sleep. Make him and his harem go out of
town, north. There's quicksand there. Go on, damn you!"
He cursed me. You could smell the fear rising hot from us all. I heard
feet running behind me, and then more, going away. Quern said,
"All right, you crazy fool. Raise me up. Hold your hands flat."