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wall. He must stay under cover. Forward or back then? The larger body of
hunters was behind him. The advance party, fewer in number, might be easier to
slip through undetected. But they would be alert for just that move. In the
larger group there would be more confusion . . .
He seized the thought as hungry jaws clench over a morsel of food. Darkness,
confusion, limited space and an excess of numbers-there had to be a way to use
these factors. And as he examined the possibilities, he realized that he could
not hope to exploit the situation by acting like a fugitive. He had to join
the hunters. He had to go to them.
Cautiously he began to work his way back along the route over which he had
fled. Nothing so concrete or shapely as a plan controlled his movements. There
were too many unknown factors; too many unexpected things might happen. He had
to act by instinct when the time came, adjusting to meet the specific
situation, following only a general over-all purpose. But a small current of
hope trickled through him, banishing his fatigue, sharpening his senses.
He was not sure what made him pause. He melted into the shadow of a tree, his
back against the trunk to hide the telltale marker stripe of the hunted. There
were no sounds ahead to give him warning. The hunters, sensing that he might
be close, moved stealthily.
Hendley could feel their presence. As he stood motionless, holding his breath,
straining with eyes and ears, a shadow stirred in the underbrush less than
fifteen feet away.
Muscles in his arms and legs began to jerk spasmodically from the effort to
remain rigid. He felt the beginnings of a cramp in his foot, a tight hard
knotting of muscle in the arch.
He set his teeth, willing himself to remain inert as a stone. The hunter had
paused. Was he looking toward Hend-ley's tree? Was there a betraying thickness
in its shadow? The crouching figure crept forward again, one step at a
137
, time, his hands carefully parting the branches through which he moved. Now
he drew level with Hendley's position. Another step took him beyond the tree.
The hunter wouldn't be alone. The others must be right behind him, fanned out
across the width of the woods. If one of them blundered too close before
Hendley acted, it would all be over. But his plan was crystallizing. The
single advance hunter was the key, the unpredictable factor he had been hoping
for. Now there were other shadows gliding through the woods. He saw two to his
right beyond the first man's position. And to his left was a slimmer, slighter
figure -a woman, Hendley saw with a start. Others moved on either side, heard
but not seen. They were all around him.
The first man, the eager hunter, was ten yards or more ahead. A patch of his
uniform caught a hazy shaft of-not light, but a grayer darkness. At that
moment Hendley stepped away from the tree.
"There he is!" he shouted, pointing. "There!"
The leading hunter whirled at the outcry. There was a fleeting second of
stillness. Then another shout went up: "We've got him!" And suddenly the woods
were alive with hunters crashing forward toward the lone figure in the lead.
The man threw up his hands as two
hunters stormed through a thicket to get at him. "No!" he yelled. But as they
converged on him he panicked. He turned and ran.
They were on him before he had taken five steps, burying his cries under the
fury of the attack. It wouldn't have mattered what the unlucky man had
shouted, Hendley thought. The hunters were too tense, their excitement drawn
to too high a pitch. He'd relied on that edginess, but the success of the ruse
brought no feeling of satisfaction. They would learn their mistake all too
quickly. Any second someone might notice that the victim lacked the marker
stripe of the hunted on the back of his uniform.
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Hendley forced himself to wait. It would be fatal to turn abruptly and run
from the scene.
He would draw attention- and he wore the mark of the target. Carefully,
keeping his back concealed as much as possible from the hunters who crashed
past him through the darkness toward the struggle ahead, Hendley worked his
way back and forth across the woods, trying to give the illusion of hurrying
toward the action while actually drifting back with each maneuver. Quickly the
horde of hunters thinned out. A last figure pushed past Hendley, breathing
heavily, whimpering with frustration. Then the woods behind him seemed clear.
Using less caution now, Hendley tried to put more distance between him and the
hunters. Even when they discovered their mistake, they wouldn't expect him to
be be-
138
hind them. They couldn't know that he had shouted the mistaken identification.
Any overeager hunter could have made the error.
The sounds of the fight receded rapidly. Moments later Hendley heard what
seemed to be an angry bellow. The mistake had been found! But it was too late,
he thought, exulting.
Surely dawn could not be far away. Surely he could elude them long enough to
winl
Haste-and the illusion of success-made him careless. He stumbled onto a
cleared path before realizing it was there. It was only six feet across, but
prudence would have made him inspect it carefully if he'd seen it in time.
Instead he found himself momentarily without cover.
And facing him on the open path was a grinning Freeman. "That was a neat
trick," the hunter said.
Hendley spun away. He was not quick enough. Thick, powerful arms grabbed him
from behind, stopped him, wrestled him to the ground. The other man's bulk
crashed on top of him. A hand clamped over his mouth. "Not a sound," the man
breathed.
As Hendley stared up at the hunter, his stunned amazement gave way to fear.
The dark face grinning down at him was that of the visitor.
* * *
"Surprised? It wasn't so hard," the visitor said. "I threw in with those
joyboys who were after you. I didn't know what the hunt was all about at
first, but one way or another I had to make sure of you. You know too much.
One word too much. BAM."
Hendley shook his head violently, fighting against the hand which gagged his
mouth.
"I couldn't take any chances with you," the visitor said softly. "Once I saw
what the hunters were up to, I figured everything was okay. You wouldn't be a
problem. But when I
recognized your voice shouting back there, I guessed what you were pulling
off." There was grudging approval in the big man's voice. "After that it was
easy," he said. "I heard you working your way back through the trees. I just
slipped out into the clear and got ahead of you." Suddenly the visitor brought
his other hand up, carrying the belt from his uniform. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]