The Mercurian was sitting up, wagging its head from side to side as if
waiting for approbation. But Lamoureux, quite sure now that it wouldn't
or couldn't talk, wouldn't have given a damn if it had beaten every
champion on Earth. In addition, he was bothered by the fact that it was
snowing again.
The flakes had just begun to fall, large and feathery, and Lamoureux
himself soon had a powdered look. Most of the other men were still
gathered around the Mercurian. But one of them, Sprott, came over to
Lamoureux and glanced up at the sky as if puzzled.
"It's following us around, Captain."
"What is?"
"The snow, sir."
"Don't be silly, Sprott. We just happen to have run into a streak of
bad weather."
Sprott went on stubbornly, "It looks funny to me. First it rains and
snows for ten days around the ship. But it doesn't rain, or at least
it doesn't snow, here. An hour after we get to this place, though, it
starts coming down."
Lamoureux brushed some of the white flakes off his shoulders. "All
right, Sprott, suppose you are right. It _is_ following us around.
That's no reason to alarm the other men, is it?"
"I guess not, sir.... I won't say a word. But there's something else I
wanted to speak to you about, sir. It's McCracken."
"You believe he's responsible for the snow?"
Sprott looked astonished. "I don't mean that, sir. I don't see how he
could be."
"I do. He shot a Mercurian. I have an idea that they're the ones who
are causing the peculiar weather we've been having."
"Why would they do that, sir?"
"Well, Kalinoff didn't mention seeing any weapons among them, so
we've always assumed they had none. But suppose the weather was their
weapon. It's a very effective one, Sprott. They've made things damnably
unpleasant for us."
"How can they make rain where there isn't any, Captain? I know that
rainmakers on Earth have had some success. But all they do is get the
rain to fall near where it would have fallen anyway. They may make it
precipitate a few hours before it would have otherwise, but that's all.
Here there weren't any clouds to start with."
Lamoureux admitted, "I don't know how the trick is done, Sprott. But I
agree with you that the snow is following us around, and I'm sure that
the trick _is_ done."
* * * * *
Sprott was silent a moment. Then he said, "And you think, sir, it's all
because McCracken shot one of them?"
"They evidently believe in the principle of the rain falling on the
just and unjust alike. And the same thing goes for the snow."
Sprott said doubtfully, "I'm not sure about that, sir. But I do know
that McCracken is up to something. He's been getting some queer noises
on his receiver."
"Such as Haskell singing lullabies from the ship?"
"Nothing as unpleasant as that, Captain. They're just a series of
sounds, some a little longer than others. Da, da, da-a-a, da--that sort
of thing."