"No reason why he shouldn't," said Anketam. "Kevenoe's a good man."
"Oh, I know that," said the old man. "But Basom won't like it at all.
And I don't think Zillia will, either."
"That's the way things happen," said Anketam. "A man can't expect to go
through life having everything his own way. There's other girls around
for Basom. If he can't have the prettiest, he'll have to be satisfied
with someone else." He chuckled. "That's why I picked Memi. She's not
beautiful and never was, but she's a wonderful wife."
"That's so," said Blejjo. "A wise man is one who only wants what he
knows he can have. Right now"--he took off his hat and wiped his bald
head--"all I want is a dip in that river."
"Swim first and then fish?"
"I think so, don't you? Basom was right about this hot sun."
"I'll go along with you," agreed Anketam.
They made their way to the river, to the shallow place at the bend where
everyone swam. There were a dozen and more kids there, having a great
time in the slow moving water, and several of the older people soaking
themselves and keeping an eye on the kids to make sure they didn't
wander out to where the water was deep and the current swift.
Anketam and Blejjo took off their clothes and cooled themselves in the
water for a good half hour before they dressed again and went on upriver
to a spot where Blejjo swore the fish were biting.
They were. In the next four hours, the two men had caught six fish
apiece, and Blejjo was trying for his seventh. Here, near the river,
there was a slight breeze, and it was fairly cool beneath the
overhanging branches of the closely bunched trees.
Blejjo had spotted a big, red-and-yellow striped beauty loafing quietly
in a back eddy, and he was lowering his hook gently to a point just in
front of the fish when both men heard the voice calling.
"Anketam! Anketam! Blejjo! Where you at?"
Blejjo went on with his careful work, knowing that Anketam would take
care of whatever it was.
Anketam recognized the voice. He stood up and called: "Over here, Basom!
What's the trouble?"
A minute later, Basom came running through the trees, his feet crashing
through the underbrush.
Blejjo sat up abruptly, an angry look on his face. "Basom, you scared my
fish away."
"Fish, nothing," said Basom. "I ran all the way here to tell you!" He
was grinning widely and panting for breath at the same time.
"You suddenly got an awful lot of energy," Blejjo said sourly.
"What happened?" Anketam asked.
"The invasion!" Basom said between breaths. "Kevenoe himself came down
to tell us! They've started the invasion! The war's on!"
"Than what are you looking so happy about?" Anketam snapped.
"That's what I came to tell you." Basom's grin didn't fade in the least.
"They landed up in the Frozen Country, where our missiles couldn't get
'em, according to Kevenoe. Then they started marching down on one of the
big towns. Tens of thousands of 'em! And we whipped 'em! Our army cut
'em to pieces and sent 'em running back to their base! We won! We
_won_!"