The Hunters | Page 3

said coolly. "My subconscious doesn't know what it's talking about. All I want of you is the usual ten per cent."
"Can't you forget for a moment that you're an agent, and remember that you're a woman, too?"
"No. Not unless you forget that you're a drunk, and remember that you're a man. Not unless you make me forget that you drank your way through Africa--"
"Because you weren't there with me!"
"--with hardly enough energy to let them dress you in that hunter's outfit and photograph you as if you were shooting lions."
"You're so unforgiving, Carol. You don't have much use for me, do you--consciously, that is?"
"Frankly, Curt, no. I don't have much use for useless people."
"I'm not entirely useless. I earn you that ten per cent--"
"I'd gladly forego that to see you sober."
"But it's your contempt for me that drives me to drink. And when I think of having to face those dear little kiddies with nothing inside me--"
"There should be happiness inside you at the thought of your doing a good deed. Not a drop, George, not a drop."
* * * * *
The two little girls drew apart from the others and began to whisper into each other's ears. The whispers were punctuated by giggles which made the entire childish conversation seem quite normal. But Palit was in no laughing mood. He said, in his own language, "You're getting careless, Manto. You had no business imitating her expression."
"I'm sorry, Palit, but it was so suggestive. And I'm a very suggestible person."
"So am I. But I control myself."
"Still, if the temptation were great enough, I don't think you'd be able to resist either."
"The issues are important enough to make me resist."
"Still, I thought I saw your own face taking on a bit of her expression too."
"You are imagining things, Manto. Another thing, that mistake in starting to say you were two hundred years old--"
"They would have thought it a joke. And I think I got out of that rather neatly."
"You like to skate on thin ice, don't you, Manto? Just as you did when you changed your height. You had no business shrinking right out in public like that."
"I did it skillfully. Not a single person noticed."
"I noticed."
"Don't quibble."
"I don't intend to. Some of these children have very sharp eyes. You'd be surprised at what they see."
Manto said tolerantly, "You're getting jittery, Palit. We've been away from home too long."
"I am not jittery in the least. But I believe in taking due care."
"What could possibly happen to us? If we were to announce to the children and the teacher, and to every one in this zoo, for that matter, exactly who and what we were, they wouldn't believe us. And even if they did, they wouldn't be able to act rapidly enough to harm us."
"You never can tell about such things. Wise--people--simply don't take unnecessary chances."
"I'll grant that you're my superior in such wisdom."
"You needn't be sarcastic, Manto, I know I'm superior. I realize what a godsend this planet is--you don't. It has the right gravity, a suitable atmosphere, the proper chemical composition--everything."
"Including a population that will be helpless before us."
"And you would take chances of losing all this."
"Don't be silly, Palit. What chances am I taking?"
"The chance of being discovered. Here we stumble on this place quite by accident. No one at home knows about it, no one so much as suspects that it exists. We must get back and report--and you do all sorts of silly things which may reveal what we are, and lead these people to suspect their danger."
* * * * *
This time, Manto's giggle was no longer mere camouflage, but expressed to a certain degree how he felt. "They cannot possibly suspect. We have been all over the world, we have taken many forms and adapted ourselves to many customs, and no one has suspected. And even if danger really threatened, it would be easy to escape. I could take the form of the school teacher herself, of a policeman, of any one in authority. However, at present there is not the slightest shadow of danger. So, Palit, you had better stop being fearful."
Palit said firmly, "Be careful, and I won't be fearful. That's all there is to it."
"I'll be careful. After all, I shouldn't want us to lose these children. They're so exactly the kind we need. Look how inquiring they are, how unafraid, how quick to adapt to any circumstances--"
Miss Burton's voice said, "Good gracious, children, what language are you using? Greek?"
They had been speaking too loud, they had been overheard. Palit and Manto stared at each other, and giggled coyly. Then, after a second to think, Palit said, "Onay, Issmay Urtonbay!"
"What?"
Frances shrilled triumphantly, "It isn't Greek, Miss Burton, it's Latin--Pig-Latin. She said, 'No, Miss Burton.'"
"Good heavens, what is Pig-Latin?"
"It's a kind of way