"It's the Hunting Club he don't like."
"I wish to God I'd never heard of a farn beast," Ri said. "At least,
then, I wouldn't be one of his guides. Why didn't he hire somebody
else?"
* * * * *
Mia looked at his companion. He spat. "What hurts most, he pays us for
it. I could buy half this planet, and he makes me his guide--at less
than I pay my secretary."
"Well, anyway, we won't have to cross that ridge."
"Hey, you!" Extrone called.
The two of them turned immediately.
"You two scout ahead," Extrone said. "See if you can pick up some
tracks."
"Yes, sir," Ri said, and instantly the two of them readjusted their
shoulder straps and started off.
Shortly they were inside of the scrub forest, safe from sight. "Let's
wait here," Mia said.
"No, we better go on. He may have sent a spy in."
They pushed on, being careful to blaze the trees, because they were not
professional guides.
"We don't want to get too near," Ri said after toiling through the
forest for many minutes. "Without guns, we don't want to get near
enough for the farn beast to charge us."
They stopped. The forest was dense, the vines clinging.
"He'll want the bearers to hack a path for him," Mia said. "But we go
it alone. Damn him."
Ri twisted his mouth into a sour frown. He wiped at his forehead. "Hot.
By God, it's hot. I didn't think it was this hot, the first time we
were here."
Mia said, "The first time, _we_ weren't guides. We didn't notice it so
much then."
They fought a few yards more into the forest.
Then it ended. Or, rather, there was a wide gap. Before them lay a
blast area, unmistakable. The grass was beginning to grow again, but
the tree stumps were roasted from the rocket breath.
"This isn't ours!" Ri said. "This looks like it was made nearly a year
ago!"