第35节

gn of the C'Natti, or for

that matter, the San'Paul. Something must have happened to cause the

original plan to go awry. Something drastic like the She-Kargo

discovering what lay in store for them.

If that was so, then the vital element of surprise had been lost.

Samurai-General Shinoda consulted the map spread out on the navigator's

table and conferred with the wheel-boat's captain, Kato Yukinagi. The

channel separating the upper and lower sand-bars was now a shallow

fording point. It would slow down any force retreating towards the

northern shore but it would not prevent them from doing so. Using the

powerful spyglasg mounted on a gleaming brass pillar outside the

wheel-house, he slowly scanned the long upper sand-bar that ran away to

starboard. It was completely deserted, but when he focused on the

escarpment that dominated the northern shore he glimpsed figures moving

about on top. Figures that seemed to be trying to conceal their

presence.

After Captain Yukinagi had taken a look through the spyglass and

confirmed his suspicions, Shinoda made a careful survey of the

escarpment and spotted several lines of men - they could only be Mutes

- hauling baggage up the steep slope west of the sand-bar. Their

distance from his ship made it impossible to tell which group they

belonged to but they had no reason to be there. If they had come to

trade, they should be on the beach. On the other hand, if they

intended to join those already on top and cover the retreat of the

She-Kargo they were heading in the right direction.

Shinoda was only guessing at their intentions. The distant figures

might be the missing C'Natti moving to cut off the She-Kargo but in

that case why were they humping back packs? He could not afford to

take any chances. After the sinking of the wheel-boat on Lake

Mi-shiga, everyone in the expedition knew that further failure would

not be tolerated. As a precautionary measure he decided to land some

of his men onto the upper sandbar to seal off this possible escape

route. He conferred briefly with Captain Yukinagi, the Flag Officer

was summoned, and the appropriate signal was sent to the starboard

flank-boat.

On the shore, Rolling-Stone, Mack-Truck and Blue-Thunder saw the

wheel-boat detach itself from the flotilla and angle away to their

left. They didn't need to be master-tacticians to understand the

reason for the move.

It was as obvious as it was unexpected.

The plan hatched by Mr Snow and the war council called for the

She-Kargo faction to give ground as soon as the D'Troit began to stoke

up the present atmosphere to the point where the two sides came to

blows. But while exchanging the usual swaggering taunts with the

warriors on the She-Kargo right flank, the D'Troit front-liners had

kept the situation below boiling point. The She-Kargo had to begin

their withdrawal before the wheel-boat got into position but was denied

the reason for doing so!

The D'Troit, having come to a similar conclusion as to the Iron

Master's strategy, had quickly issued instructions to their warriors to

cool it, thereby forcing the She-Kargo into making the first move.

The leading delegates of the She-Kargo faction who formed the top

echelon of the hastily-formed chain of command on the sand-bar put

their heads together.

'Treacherous toads!" exclaimed Rolling-Stone. 'Yesterday they tried

to blame us for everything, and now they're trying to force us into a

position where we have to attack them!" 'We don't have to pick a

fight,' said Wind-Walker, a M'Waukee wordsmith from the Clan T'Maso.

'We could just withdraw."

Black-Sabbath, paramount warrior of one of the biggest of the She-Kargo

clans reacted angrily. 'The Clan K'Rella has never backed away from

any of these jackals from the D'Troit and is not about to do so now!'

Several other members of the war council expressed the same view with

equal force.

'We're not running away from a fight!" exclaimed Wind-Walker. 'We're

running into one! Do you think the D'Troit are just going to stand

there and watch us fade away? They'll be right on our heels with the

sharp iron out!" Mack-Truck said: 'If we're going to move, we'd better

do it now." He pointed to the huge straggling pack of C'Natti warriors

heading around the western side of the lagoon. 'We have to get to the

north shore before they cross the river. Otherwise we're done for."