"You joined in, Slim. You know you did."
"I don"t care. You found them and that"s what I"ll say when they come here looking for us."
Red said, "All right for you." But the thought of the consequences inspired him anyway, and he reached for the cage door.
Slim said, "Wait!"
Red was glad to. He said, "Now what"s biting you?"
"One of them"s got something on him that looks like it might be iron or something."
"Where?"
"Right there. I saw it before but I thought it was just part of him. But if he"s "people," maybe it"s a disintegrator gun."
"What"s that?"
"I read about it in the books from Beforethewars. Mostly people with s.p.a.ce-ships have disintegrator guns. They point them at you and you get disintegratored."
"They didn"t point it at us till now," pointed out Red with his heart not quite in it.
"I don"t care. I"m not hanging around here and getting disintegratored.
I"m getting my father."
"Cowardy-cat. Yellow cowardy-cat."
"I don"t care. You can call all the names you want, but if you bother them now you"ll get disintegratored. You wait and see, and it"ll be all your fault."
He made for the narrow spiral stairs that led to the main floor of the barn, stopped at its head, then backed away.
Red"s mother was moving up, panting a little with the exertion and smiling a tight smile for the benefit of Slim in his capacity as guest.
"Red! You, Red! Are you up there? Now don"t try to hide. I know this is where you"re keeping them. Cook saw where you ran with the meat."
Red quavered, "h.e.l.lo, ma!"
"Now show me those nasty animals? I"m going to see to it that you get rid of them right away."
It was over! And despite the imminent corporal punishment, Red felt something like a load fall from him. At least the decision was out of his hands.
"Right there, ma. I didn"t do anything to them, ma. I didn"t know. They just looked like little animals and I thought you"d let me keep them, ma. I wouldn"t have taken the meat only they wouldn"t eat gra.s.s or leaves and we couldn"t find good nuts or berries and cook never lets me have anything or I would have asked her and I didn"t know it was for lunch and--"
He was speaking on the sheer momentum of terror and did not realize that his mother did not hear him but, with eyes frozen and popping at the cage, was screaming in thin, piercing tones.
X
The Astronomer was saying, "A quiet burial is all we can do. There is no point in any publicity now," when they heard the screams.
She had not entirely recovered by the time she reached them, running and running. It was minutes before her husband could extract sense from her.
She was saying, finally, "I tell you they"re in the barn. I don"t know what they are. No, no--"
She barred the Industrialist"s quick movement in that direction. She said, "Don"t _you_ go. Send one of the hands with a shotgun. I tell you I never saw anything like it. Little horrible beasts with--with--I can"t describe it. To think that Red was touching them and trying to feed them. He was _holding_ them, and feeding them meat."
Red began, "I only--"
And Slim said, "It was not--"
The Industrialist said, quickly, "Now you boys have done enough harm today. March! Into the house! And not a word; not one word! I"m not interested in anything you have to say. After this is all over, I"ll hear you out and as for you, Red, I"ll see that you"re properly punished."
He turned to his wife. "Now whatever the animals are, we"ll have them killed." He added quietly once the youngsters were out of hearing, "Come, come. The children aren"t hurt and, after all, they haven"t done anything really terrible. They"ve just found a new pet."
The Astronomer spoke with difficulty. "Pardon me, ma"am, but can you describe these animals?"
She shook her head. She was quite beyond words.
"Can you just tell me if they--"
"I"m sorry," said the Industrialist, apologetically, "but I think I had better take care of her. Will you excuse me?"
"A moment. Please. One moment. She said she had never seen such animals before. Surely it is not usual to find animals that are completely unique on an estate such as this."
"I"m sorry. Let"s not discuss that now."
"Except that unique animals might have landed during the night."
The Industrialist stepped away from his wife. "What are you implying?"
"I think we had better go to the barn, sir!"
The Industrialist stared a moment, turned and suddenly and quite uncharacteristically began running. The Astronomer followed and the woman"s wail rose unheeded behind them.
XI
The Industrialist stared, looked at the Astronomer, turned to stare again.
"Those?"
"Those," said the Astronomer. "I have no doubt we appear strange and repulsive to them."
"What do they say?"
"Why, that they are uncomfortable and tired and even a little sick, but that they are not seriously damaged, and that the youngsters treated them well."
"Treated them well! Scooping them up, keeping them in a cage, giving them gra.s.s and raw meat to eat? Tell me how to speak to them."
"It may take a little time. Think _at_ them. Try to listen. It will come to you, but perhaps not right away."