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He brought out a package which he unfolded on the lee side of the vessel. It was a conical framework about three feet high. He spread a thin sheet of plastic over it, secured its corners, and then sprayed a thick coat of foam over the plastic. The foam dried within ten minutes, and he sprayed another coat and then another. The three coats made a covering four inches thick. He cut a hole at the base for the cubs and used the cutout as a swinging door. The cubs now had a snug warm house.
The bearhouse was a smaller scale model of the dwellings that the humans would erect later on. These were very light and even Rachel could carry one for miles, though the size made them awkward to handle. They could be dragged through the roughest land, however, without damaging them. And axles and wheels, also stored in the vessel, could be attached to them when they were to be moved any distance.
At noon, they were all back at the tribal campsite. This was to be referred to in the official reports, and so unofficially among themselves, as Site A-One or just A-One. Again, they were confronted by a number of warriors. Gribardsun proceeded ahead of his fellows but much more swiftly this time, as if he expected to be received without suspicion. He headed for the tent housing Abinal and entered with a nod to the mother, Amaga. Abinal looked much better. He was frightened on seeing the stranger, but Gribardsun talked in a soothing tone while he examined him. He gave the boy another pill, but the boy refused to swallow it.
Gribardsun, smiling, took out another and swallowed it to show Abinal that it was harmless.
Abinal still turned his face away, and his mother jabbered away at Gribardsun. It seemed she was trying to get him to leave the boy alone.
Gribardsun made signs indicating that Abinal would die if he did not take the pill. He also indicated that the others would die, too, but he was not sure that he was getting his message across.
He left the tent because it was obvious that Abinal was too scared of him to do anything he was going to suggest. Rachel was taking films of a woman ski
Gribardsun decided that their camp should be set up about a quarter-mile down the valley. There was a slight overhang halfway up a steep hill that would give them protection from the weather. They would be close enough to visit the site without wasting much travel time. But they would not be so close that the natives would feel that the aliens were sitting on top of them.
Gribardsun entered the tent again. The boy was being fed by his sister, Laminak, who appeared to be about twelve years old. She looked up startled when Gribardsun came in, but she smiled at him. He smiled back at her and, squatting, felt Abinal's pulse. It was seventy-six, and his skin was warm but moist. Gribardsun stood up and turned away and inserted a panacea into the spout of a bag of water. That the pill would be much diluted did not matter. It was extremely powerful. Moreover, if the others drank from the bag, that was all the better. Gribardsun would have liked to dope all the water bags.
The boy said something, and the girl stood up and faced the Englishman. She spoke to him in a protesting ma
Laminak called out, and Amaga, her mother, entered. There wasn't much room to stand in the tent then. Gribardsun bent over and went out through the narrow, low opening.
'What's going on in there?' Rachel asked.
Gribardsun told her, and she said, 'If you get them upset, then we lose our chance to study them at close range.'
'And if they all die, then we lose our chance too,' he said. 'Besides, I can't see letting anyone die if I can prevent it. Even if...'
'Even if they're going to die anyway and, in one sense, are already dead?' Rachel said.
He smiled and said, 'In that sense, we also are already dead. And we know it! But that doesn't stop us from trying to live forever, does it?'
Amaga came out of the tent with the bag of water. She walked to the end of the ledge and poured the water down the hillside. Then, after a quick but triumphant glance at the Englishman, she went back into the tent.
'They won't accept my help,' he said. 'They're afraid I'll get control of them if they take my medicine, I suppose. And so Abinal may die.'
'It's a matter of timing,' she said. 'If we had only gotten here a week or so sooner, they might have accepted your medicine when Abinal got sick. But...'
Gribardsun was not one to dwell long on what-if's. If he could not help Abinal now, then he would work to establish confidence in himself through the tribe's elders. He might be able to help Abinal later on. If it was too late then, so be it.
Through sign language, he communicated to the adult males that he had killed two bears - or two large ferocious animals and that they should follow him to the scene of the kill. They were reluctant. Then, understanding at last that they were afraid to leave the women and children while any of the four stayed behind, he told the others they would have to come with him. Von Billma
Gribardsun also suggested that those women who could be spared should come along with them. After about twenty minutes, they set out with the four aliens in the lead. The natives were still suspicious, but the image of all that meat was too tempting.
Long before he reached the site, Gribardsun knew that someone had been at the bears. Through the slight drizzle, he saw that the stones he had piled up had been torn down and rolled away.
He entered the gap in the rocks slowly, cautiously. There were no humans there, and only parts of the bears remained. The entrails had been left behind, and there was blood on the rocks here and there. However, the robbers had done a relatively neat job.
Gribardsun paid no attention to the furious chatter of the disappointed men and women nor their reproachful expressions. He cast around the area past the rocky floor until he found a footprint in the half-frozen mud. It was filling in swiftly, but there was enough of an outline to show him that a large man with boots or some kind of shoes had slipped off a rock and stepped into the mud.
He went north and within a hundred yards found that a bear's paw had trailed in the mud for several feet. It must have slipped off the shoulders of the man carrying it.
'There must be quite a few in the party,' he said to von Billma
He decided that it was because he was a queerly clothed stranger, and also because they might have been scared by the firing of the rifle.
There was a shout, and they looked up to see a band of six hunters approaching them. These were Glamug, the shaman, Shivkaet, Angrogrim, Gullshab, Dubhab, and the chief, Thammash. They carried pieces of two reindeer wrapped in the ski
There was a loud and fierce conference with frequent glances and gesticulations at the four strangers.
By now, Gribardsun and von Billma