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and he rolled like a boat. But he could move more quickly than any other man
of them, large or small; and he could get to places that none of the rest
could reach. A bear can go where even a puma cannot. He will grumble and talk
to himself and make a fuss over it, as a puma would disdain to do. But he will
go there and back.
But it was only fox fire, half an icre of it, a cup-shaped swamp of
early submerged rotting wood glowing in the jungles.
They lay up about two hours before daylight. There were eighteen of
them: Lieutenant Littlejohn, Sergeant Rand, Corporals Mueller and Meadows.
PFCs Hebert, Brooks, Pop Parker, Redwolf, Martin, and Gagnon; and privates
Bellar, Girones, Mufios, Villareal, Cross, Jennings, Crawford, and Crandall.
They slept for two hours before daylight, with Meadows, Redwolf, and Bellar as
guards.
Then they roused, had J rations, and moved along their route. There is
little twilight in the tropics. It is dark, and then within fifteen minutes it
is broad daylight. And the sun is the enemy.
They went in three groups of six men each. Lieutenant Littlejohn took
one with Corporal Meadows as his assistant. Corporal Mueller took one. And
Sergeant Rand took one. Every two or three hours they would rendezvous and
rest for half an hour,
"There is something moving up that ravine," said Sergeant Rand at one of
their rendezvous points, "less thin a mile from here. The birds are rising
above someone."
"It's likely wild pigs," said Mueller.
"Birds do not rise for pigs," said Rand. "They rise for some of the
large predatory animals, of which there are none on Guinea. They rise from
birds of other factions. And they rise from a man or men. These are rising
from men below them. Who can spot one?"
"Heavens," said Lieutenant Littlejohn. "Give me the field glasses. I
believe I see him."
"Heavens," said Meadows very softly to himself. But he gave the field
glasses to Lieutenant Littlejohn.
"Do you see them?" asked Rand.
"One, yes. I see him clearly. And he is a beauty."
Meadows and Mueller looked at each other in disgust.
"Well, can you tell what he is?" asked Sergeant Rand. "Let me look. It's
important."
"Of course it's important," said the lieutenant. "It will shake
ornithology to its roots."
"It will what?" asked Rand. The day had become blindingly hot. There is
an insanity about very hot days. "Tell us at once whether he is Japanese,
Melanesian, or Malay. Or let one of us look. We can tell in an instant."
"Japanese or Melanesian? What an odd term of reference! It almost seems
that we are not talking about the same thing. But he is a new species
entirely. I had heard the'caw'before, and bad found one feather. And now I
have seen him himself."
Sergeant Rand took the field glasses roughly away from the Lieutenant.
"It's too late," said Corporal Meadows. "The man has already gone over
the crest. And we still don't know what he was. But he has seen us."
"Lieutenant," said Rand, "will you please tell us just what you were
looking it?"
"The crow. A completely new species. Do you realize what this
means?"
"Yes, Lieutenant," said Rand wearily. "It will shake orninthology to its
roots. And when you have shaken it, what will you have? The man! The man,
Lieutenant, was he Japanese, Malay, or Melanesian?"
"Man? Was there a man there? Probably a patrolan of our counterparts, or
a straggler of some description. But the crow! A completely new species!"
"Judas Priest!" said Meadows.
Rand, Meadows, and Mueller talked a little apart from the lieutenant and
from the men. It was very hot now, and all the heat was not from the sun.
"What we do with the little joker if we get in a jam?" asked Meadows.
"I will be responsible," said Rand. "If it reaches a point of necessity,
I will do whatever has to be done. You are with me if that happens?"
"Yes."
"Yes."
"Then the men will be with me also. I have the scent of something. I
believe that the Hard Heads are back. It's been too quiet today. There is
nowhere so quiet as the mouth of a trap. I feel that there is more than one
pair of eyeballs watching us. See if you can spot them."
"Lieutenant," said Sargeant Rand a little later, "we will not split up
this time. We will go all eighteen together."
"You are giving the orders now?" asked the Lieutenant with what was
supposed to be ice in his voice. But the ice had a certain rattle and tinkle
to it.
"I seem to be," said Rand. "Someone has to give orders. We are under
surveillance. We will travel together for greater security if we are caught in
the bag."
"Suppose that I countermand your order?"
"Would you give an opposite order, knowing it to be foolish, just to
assert your authority?"
"No. No. The order is correct. It is just that I should have given it.
But I will not give the order to scatter again."
The lieutenant didn't know what was wrong, but he knew that he had lost
the argument. He should have been giving the orders and giving the right
orders. And instead, he had been daydreaming and giving no orders at all.
But his resolve, and he made one, didn't last long. At the next check he
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