Tredrick was still pretending he hadn't seen Campbell, pretending there
weren't men crawling through dark tunnels to trap him.
"It'll mean trouble. It may mean death or imprisonment. It's a
million-to-one shot. You'd better give me up and forget it."
The point of Marah's hook pricked under his jaw. "Speak quickly,
little man!"
"Okay. Tell 'em to behave. Then get me out of here, fast!"
* * * * *
Tredrick's men knew their way around. A lot of gypsies, moreover, who
weren't with Tredrick, joined the hunt for the _latnik_. They didn't
want trouble with the Spaceguard.
Campbell stumbled through a maze of dark and stifling passages, holding
Stella's hand and thinking of the Spaceguard ships sweeping closer.
They were almost caught a dozen times, trying to get across Romany to
the Fitts-Sothern.
The hunt seemed to be an outlet for the pent feelings of Romany.
Campbell decided he would never go hunting again. And then, just above
where his ship lay, they stepped into a trap.
They were in the Saturnian Quarter, in the hulk devoted to refugees
from Titan. There were coolers working here. There was snow on the
barren rocks, glimmering in weird light like a dark rainbow.
"The caves," said Stella Moore. "The Baraki."
There was an echoing clamor of voices all around them, footsteps
clattering over metal and icy rock. They ran, breathing hard.
There were some low cliffs, and a ledge, and then caves with queer
blue-violet fires burning in them.
Creatures sat at the cave mouths. They were small, vaguely anthropoid,
dead white, and unpleasantly rubbery. They were quite naked, and their
single eyes were phosphorescent. Marah knelt.
"Little Fathers, we ask shelter in the name of freedom."
The shouts and the footsteps were closer. There was sweat on Campbell's
forehead. One of the white things nodded slightly.
"No disturbance," it whispered. "We will have no disturbance of our
thoughts. You may shelter, to stop this ugly noise."
"Thank you, Little Father." Marah plunged into the cave, with the
others on his heels. Campbell snarled, "They'll come and take us!"