Danny Dunn and the Swamp Monster by Raymond Abrashkin

Author:Raymond Abrashkin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction;Young Adult;Juvenile;Sci-fi;Adventure
Publisher: Wildside Press LLC
Published: 2018-01-16T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 8

Tracks in the Mud

Danny sat up, yawning and rubbing his eyes. Early as it was, the sun was already hot on the canvas of the tent. He gave Joe a shove.

“Yibi, yibi,” he said.

Joe groaned. “Too early.”

“Come on. We’re going to set up the cameras this morning.”

Joe struggled out of his light sleeping bag. “Okay. In that case, yabi, yabi. I hope breakfast is yabi, too.”

Dr. Fenster and Professor Bullfinch were already up, and coffee was steaming on the stove. Irene was eating cornflakes with canned milk.

“You’re late,” she said smugly. “I’ve been up for hours.”

“Well, minutes anyway,” said the Professor. “Sit down, boys. We plan to pay a visit to the Nuer this morning, so that there will be no trouble when we set up the apparatus.”

“Where’s their village?” Danny asked.

Dr. Fenster pointed along the shore. Not far away, they could see pale gray smoke rising. “It’s not the village, actually,” he said. “That’s much farther inland. In the dry season they come down to the river and set up camps. They graze their cattle on the grass, and do some fishing and hunting.”

Breakfast didn’t take long. Soon, they were following Dr. Fenster along the river bank. They pushed between reeds and tall grasses and came to a fence made of bundles of grass tied together. Beyond it, they could see small huts and windbreaks of grass, with fires in front of them in pits dug in the earth. There were cattle tied up to pegs driven into the ground. The cows were like none they had ever seen. They had humped shoulders and tall, graceful horns.

A couple of children, playing near the water’s edge, saw them and ran shouting. Men who had been smoking their pipes around the fires got up and came slowly towards the explorers. Their manner was calm and dignified. After a moment, Cuol, the son of Dar, pushed his way to the front.

Dr. Fenster said, “Good morning. We’d like to talk to your chief.”

Cuol smiled. “That will be hard,” he said. “We have no chief.”

“You mean he is still at your village?” said Dr. Fenster.

“No. I mean there are no chiefs among the Nuer.”

“I see. Well, then, who’s in charge of things?”

“Each of us is in charge of himself,” said Cuol.

Dr. Fenster scratched his chin. “Who gives orders?”

Cuol burst into laughter. “Whoever saw a Nuer come when someone sent for him?” he said. “We do not give orders and we do not take them.”

“That is most interesting,” said Professor Bullfinch. “Suppose you wanted someone to help you do something difficult?”

“If I needed help, I would say, ‘Son of my mother, help me,’ and someone would do so.”

Dr. Fenster nodded. “Not a bad way to live,” he said. “Well, we want to set up some scientific equipment in the swamp. And I wanted to be sure that whatever we did would not interfere with the work of your people. Would you have any objection?”

Cuol turned and spoke to the other men.

After a moment, he said, “We do not mind.

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