Three Survived by Robert Silverberg

Author:Robert Silverberg [Silverberg, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wildside Press
Published: 2011-11-24T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 9

RAND CHECKED his detector and his compass and set out to the east — toward the rescue beacon. Leswick fell in behind him, and Dombey brought up the rear.

They marched silently for nearly an hour. The path they were following took a twisting route through the jungle, and sometimes it swerved toward the south or north. Once it even seemed to double back on itself and head west. Despite all the curves and turns, though, it still went mainly toward the east. It was a well worn path, lined with stamped-down leaves and twigs.

Rand wondered how long it would be before they met the people who had made the path.

The jungle was tropical, heavy with fog and warm mist. Humming yellow-winged insects circled their heads, and they marched forward through clouds of red gnats. The borders of the path were lined with tall, narrow trees that had scaly bark.

The trees shot up straight for hundreds of feet. They had no branches at all close to the ground. High above the jungle floor they sprouted long branches that bore thick, heavy leaves. Each leaf was the size of a man. The tops of the trees were close together, forming a green canopy.

Every half hour or so there was a light rainfall. But very little of the rain reached the men walking through the jungle. The big leaves of the high canopy caught most of the moisture. Rand could hear the sounds of drizzle pattering against the leaves, even when he felt no raindrops.

Long snaky vines dangled from the high branches. They were like thick ropes, some as thick as a man’s arm. Closer to ground level grew shrubs and small trees. The low twisted trees that bore the green fruits seemed to grow all over the jungle.

Leswick was the first to point that out. “I should have known it,” he complained. “These fruits are everywhere — and here I am, carrying ten pounds of them on my back!”

“Keep them there,” Rand said. “For all we know, this is the last grove of those trees between here and the beacon. We may be sorry later if we throw away the ones you’re carrying.”

“They grow everywhere,” Dombey said suddenly. “He can throw ’em away, boss.”

Rand chuckled. It wasn’t often that Dombey sounded so sure of anything.

“Oh? Have you made a study of the botany here, Tarzan? Are you certain the fruit trees grow all over? How can you know?”

Dombey made an annoyed-sounding grunt. “I just know, is all. Boss, he can throw those things away, honest. He’s only gonna get tired from carrying ’em. Believe me, there’s plenty more where these came from.”

“You hear that, Rand?” Leswick said. “If I don’t need to carry them, I don’t want to carry them!”

Rand shook his head. “Listen, Leswick, maybe Dombey knows what he’s talking about, and maybe not. But until I’m sure that the fruit trees are common all around here, I don’t plan to scrap our supply. Ten pounds more or less won’t kill you.

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