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Gribardsun did not say how he had talked the Wotagrub into making peace. Nor did he say anything about taking revenge for their having killed so many Wota'shaimg. From now on there would be peace. The Wotagrub would move even farther away. The borders of the two tribes would be such and such, and he defined them as exactly as he could, using landmarks both tribes knew well. If one tribesman ventured into the territory of the other tribe, he must refrain from hunting there.
The Wota'shaimg did not like anything he said. They wanted an eye for an eye. In fact, two eyes for an eye. And they could not understand why such a powerful magician and warrior as Gribardsun did not exact vengeance.
The Englishman explained that he could have wiped out the whole tribe easily. But he saw no reason to do so. That was that.
He later told his colleagues that it would have done no good to have gone into ethics or morality. The Wota'shaimg would not have understood his modern philosophy. The best thing to do was to issue an edict as if he were a god. They could understand that. If they did not understand rationality, they understood power. The great magician and wicked warrior - to them, wicked was a compliment - required such and such or would punish them. So they would do as he said, even if they did not like it.
Gribardsun ordered a feast, and the two strangers squatted with the elders of the tribe and the scientists and ate with them. After that, they relaxed. The Wota'shaimg were not likely to murder them if they ate with them. The sharing of food implied safety for those who shared. There was no spoken law to this effect. It was just understood.
The time travelers examined the boomerangs of the strangers. These were carved with flint and consisted of a heavy close-grained wood which they could not identify as yet. The wood did not grow in this area. Gribardsun said he could speak only a few words - word-sentences, rather - of the strangers. But through sign language he had learned that their origin was far to the south, and that they had brought these boomerangs from their native territory. That was probably either in southern Iberia or possibly North Africa. The two would be co
'I believe that a trip southward, say about the time fall is due, would be consistent with our purpose,' Gribardsun said. He chewed on a piece of rare-cooked ibex steak for a moment and then said, 'We could travel swiftly to get away from the effects of winter here. Winter farther south won't be so severe that we can't travel. And I think we should take a look at the land bridge and at North Africa.'
'Isn't that rather dangerous, putting ourselves so far away from our vessel?' Drummond said. 'I admit the scientific desirability of studying the southern area. But we must weigh the possible results against the chances of killing ourselves off and so ruining the entire expedition. After all, the power spent on getting us here and back, the fact that this is absolutely the only chance we'll get for a personal look into the Magdalenian period - well, I don't think we should get too far away from our base of operations. Here we have the situation well in hand. But if we wander around, just four of us, we're subject to attack, to accident, to many things. We might be cut off. We might...'
'Anything that could happen south could happen here,' Gribardsun said. 'Let's think about it. We have a month before autumn comes. We'll consider the feasibility of austral explorations then.'
'Meanwhile,' von Billma
'Why not?' Gribardsun said. 'But I'd like you to collect some animal specimens, too, including entomological specimens, if you could. And get samples of the blood of the Wotagrub if you can. Don't push too hard at first about that, though.'
The German was delighted. He stood up and said, I'll get my tent and recorder and other equipment and leave as soon as possible.'
'Sometime tomorrow,' Gribardsun said, smiling. 'We have some things to thresh out, a policy to determine regarding the Wotagrub. It's necessary that everybody understand exactly where we stand. And that won't be easy, since we have to communicate with the Wotagrub through signs.'
It was late when the fires were allowed to dim and the time travelers, the elders, and the two strangers went to bed. But Gribardsun was satisfied that everybody understood, in general, what the relationship of the two tribes was to be.
The following afternoon, von Billma
Rachel, watching him march off between them, said, 'Do you really think that it's wise to let him go off alone, John?'
He did not answer. He had a habit, a
Rachel bit her lip and looked at Drummond. He shrugged and moved away. He knew that she wanted him to give her moral support when she questioned Gribardsun about his past. But von Billma
Drummond had asked her how she knew. Did she really know the Englishman that well?
Rachel had admitted that she did not, certainly not in any sense that Drummond may have implied. But her feminine intuition, her perceptivity, irrational perhaps but nevertheless valid, told her that Gribardsun was not a felon or a maniac. She knew he was a decent human being, just as a moth knows that certain flying objects are not bats. But her ante
Drummond had laughed at that and asked her how in the world she had ever gotten her doctorate in zoology. Angrily, she had replied that perhaps he was right about her intuitions. They had told her that Drummond was a strong man, a good husband, and that he was in love with her. But she had been mistaken. So perhaps her intuitions about Gribardsun were also wrong.
Drummond had then become angry in turn, and they had quarreled again.