That night Tang slept with a guarded alertness. It was a part of him,
which he could turn on and off, as the occasion demanded. Six hours
after he dropped off to sleep he awoke, with all his senses alive and
ready for action. Without moving he listened. Inside and outside the
hut all was silent.
Rising quietly he drew his gun and walked over to Lutscher's cot. He
shook the sleeping figure.
"What...?" Lutscher asked sleepily, sitting up.
"We're going to try it again," Tang said. "Get dressed. Quietly."
"Get dressed?" Lutscher's brain was still sleep-clogged. "Why? Oh, I
get it," he answered himself. "You think you can take me away while the
mahutes are sleeping. Well, I suppose the only way you can find out is
by trying."
"Don't waste time," Tang snapped.
Lutscher rolled out of bed and began pulling on his trousers. Over in
the corner Bunzo grunted, and stirred uneasily.
"I'm ready," Lutscher said a minute later.
"You'd better put on your shoes," Tang said.
"I assure you I won't need them," Lutscher answered. Behind the words
Tang could sense his silent laughter.
Outside they found that the first streaks of dawn were breaking over
the river. They walked fifty feet before one of the mahutes shuffled
out of a hut ahead of them. Another came from their right, and behind
them they heard two more running toward them.
"There'll be more waiting for us up ahead," Lutscher said. "Are you
going to try to shoot your way through them?"
Tang let his shoulders droop. "We'll go back to the hut," he said.
"You think you've won again," he told Lutscher, once they were there.
"But I had a double purpose in taking our little trip. I think I know
now how you communicate with your friends."