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H. Beam Piper FUZZIES AND OTHER PEOPLE 71
and the woods stretched away on either side and in front
of them and the moving-water was small and easy to
cross. On the other side, the ground sloped up gently
away from it, then rose in a steep mountainside. This
would be a good place to find things to eat. They
splashed across at a shallow place and ran up the bank,
laughing and shouting, and spread out line-abreast,
hunting under the big trees toward the side of the moun-
tain. There were brown-nut trees here. They picked up
sticks and stones and threw them to knock nuts down,
and then Big She shouted:
"Look, nuts here already fall off tree. Many-many on
ground."
It was so; the ground at the bottom of one tree was
covered with them. They all ran quickly, gathering
under the tree, laying nuts on big stones and pounding
them with little ones to break the shells to get at the
white inside. They were good, and enough for every-
body; they ate as fast as they could crack them. They
were all careful, though, to watch and listen, for in a
place like this there was always danger. Animals could
not hear their voices that was an always-so thing which
they could trust but they made much noise cracking
the nuts, and animals which hunted People would hear
it and know what it was.
So they kept their clubs to hand, so that they could
catch them up if they had to run quickly, and Carries-
Bright-Things kept the three sticks with the bright-
things on the ends with her club. They would not be able
to stay here long, he thought. Long enough to eat as
many of the nuts as they wanted, but no longer. He
began to think whether to go down the stream or climb
up the side of the mountain. Along the stream they
would find more good-to-eat things, but the sun was
well past highest-time, and they might find a better
sleeping-place on the mountaintop. But this moving-
water went in the direction of the sun's left hand, and
that was the way he wanted to go.
They had been traveling steadily toward the sun's left
hand for many days now. It was an always-so thing that
after leaf-turning time, when the leaves became brown
and fell, it became more cold toward the sun's right
hand and stayed warmer to the sun's left; and People
liked being where it was warm. Far to the sun's right
hand, farther than he had ever been, it was said that it
grew so cold at times that little pools of still water would
be edged with hardness from the cold. This he had never
seen for himself, but other People had told about it. So,
ever since the day when they had seen the gotza killed by
the thunder-death and had found the bright-things, they
had been moving toward the sun's left hand.
He himself had another, even stronger, reason. Ever
since he had seen the two Big Ones inside the flying
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thing, he had been determined to find the Big One
Place.
He did not speak about this to the others. They were
content to go where Wise One led them; but if he told
them what was in his mind, they would all cry out
against it and there would be argument, and nothing
would be done. The others were still afraid of the flying
Big Ones, especially Big She and Fruitfinder and Stone-
breaker. He could understand that. It was always well to
be at least a little afraid of something one did not know
about, and a strange kind of People who went about in
flying things and made thunder-death that killed gotza
in the air could be very dangerous. But he was sure that
they would be friendly.
They had killed the three gotza that had threatened
him and the others at the cliff where they had been
eating the hatta-zosa; they had been watching from
above, and had done nothing until the gotza came, and
then they had turned loose the thunder-death, and then
they had gone away, leaving the three bright-things.
And after chasing the other gotza in their flying thing
and killing it, they had passed directly over him and the
others, and must have seen them, but they had done no
72
PUZZIES AND OTHER PEOPLE
H. Beam Piper
73
harm. That had been when he had made up his mind to
find the Big One Place, and make friends with them.
But when he had spoken of it to the others, they had all
been afraid. All but Stabber; he had wanted to make
friends with the Big Ones too, but when the others had
been afraid he had said no more about it.
That had been two hands of sun-times and dark-times
ago. Since then, they had seen flying things four times,
always to the sun's left hand. He knew nothing about
the country in that direction, but to the sun's right hand
nobody had ever told of seeing flying things. So, he was
sure, in order to find the Big One Place, he must go
toward the sun's left hand. But he must not speak about
it to the others, only say that it would be warmer to the
sun's left hand, and talk about how they might find
nrsanyzatku.
There was a crashing in the brush in the direction the
moving-water came from, as though some big animal
was running very fast. If so, something bigger was chas-
ing it. He sprang to his feet, his club in one hand and the
stone with which he had been cracking nuts in the
other. The others were on their feet, ready to flee too,
when a takku came rushing straight toward them.
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Takku were not dangerous; they ate only growing-
things. People did not hunt them, however, because
they were big and too fleet of foot to catch. But behind
the takku something else was coming, making more
noise, and it would be something dangerous. He hurled
his stone, throwing a little ahead of the takku, meaning
to drive it and whatever was after it away from them. To
his surprise, he hit it on the flank.
"Throw stones!" he shouted. "Chase takku away!"
The others understood; they snatched up stones and
pelted the takku. One stone hit it on the neck. It swerved
away from them, stumbled, and was trying to regain its
feet when the hesh-nazza burst from the brush behind
it and caught it.
Hesh-nazza were the biggest animals in the woods.
They had three horns, one jutting from the middle of
the forehead and one curving back from each lower jaw.
Except for the gotza, which attacked from above, no
animal was more feared by the People, and even the
gotza never attacked a hesh-nazza. Catching up with the
takku, the hesh-nazza gored it in the side, in back of
the shoulder, with its forehead-horn. The takku bleated
in pain, and continued to bleat while the hesh-nazza
struck it with its forefeet and freed its horn to gore
again.
The Gashta did not stay to see what happened after
that. The takku was still bleating as they ran up the
mountainside; as they climbed, it stopped, and then the
hesh-nazza gave a great bellow, as they always did after
killing. By this time it would be tearing the flesh of the
takku with its jaw-horns, and eating. He was glad he
had thought to throw the stone, and tell the others to
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