Fearless Master of the Jungle (A Bunduki Jungle Adventure by J.T. Edson Page B

place.’
    ‘ I’ve
noticed that,’ Bunduki admitted, in a similar stage whisper. Then,
turning with a mock ingratiating smile to the girls, he went on in
a louder voice, ‘I asked you to do it because it’s a little known
fact that women are better than men at some—’
    ‘ Tiger
skin or not, sister,’ Joar-Fane interrupted, looking at Dawn. ‘I
think you’re marrying beneath yourself.’
    ‘ Well,
dear, you’ve already done that,’ the Earth girl replied, then
directed a challenging look at her husband-to-be. ‘And we still
haven’t had an answer that made sense. Not that either of us expected one.’
    ‘ If
you must know,’ Bunduki said, exuding an aura of patient martyrdom.
‘Neither you nor Joar-Fane can splice a rope as well as we can, or
At-Vee and I would be only too pleased to let you do it and keep
the pleasure of finding the right kind of stones for
our—’
    ‘ Come
on, Joar-Fane, before I’m taken sick!’ Dawn groaned, although she
was willing to concede that at least part of the explanation was
valid. ‘They ’ d never have the sense to make the right choice.’
    ‘ Oh I
wouldn’t say that,’ the little Telonga girl protested. ‘They each
picked one thing correctly.’
    ‘ Nonsense, sister, we picked them, ’ Dawn corrected, before throwing a disgusted glare at the
men and continuing, ‘Which doesn’t say much for our judgment, I suppose.’
    With that, giving Bunduki and
At-Vee no chance to reply, the girls went to the edge of the
stream. Removing their dresses, which left them clad only in
leopard skin
briefs, they waded into the water and began to examine the small
rocks and boulders which covered the bottom of the fairly swift
flowing stretch near the hollow.
    ‘ That’s what I like,’ the blond giant remarked, watching the
girls commencing the task he had set them. ‘Loyal, obedient and
hard-working women.’
    ‘ And
that’s what we Telongas had, before Dawn of the “Earths” got at
them,’ At-Vee pointed out, smiling. ‘The trouble is I think they’ve
changed for the better. Shall—?’
    ‘ All
right!’ Dawn yelled indignantly, throwing the boulder she had just
picked up with sufficient accuracy to make the men jump out of its
way. “We ’ re working, so you two can make a start.’
    Taking the hint, Bunduki led
the way to where the saddles had been left. Opening his saddlebags,
he took out a coiled length of cord. About half the diameter of the
lariats, which had the hard-laid, triple strand texture of best
quality five-eighths of an inch Manila rope, it was more pliant and
was compose d
of half a dozen separate fibers. While he was doing this, At-Vee
unpacked a ball of thin, very strong thread and several small
leather pouches filled with fulsa, emptying the contents from six of them.
    Drawing his bowie knife,
Bunduki cut two lengths of about six foot six inches from the cord.
Then he removed two further portions, each around thirty-nine
inches long. Presenting one of each to At-Vee, he kept the others
for himself. Sitting on the ground, although the Hunter was still
unaware of exactly what they were producing, they set to work.
Opening out the strands, each of them started to splice his
short er
piece of cord into the center of the longer segment. With this
completed, they punctured holes around the mouths of the
empty fulsa pouches and began to attach one to each tip of the
connected cords.
    By the time the men had
performed that much of their task, the girls had dressed and
returned with four round boulders about the size of billiard balls
and two more, oval in shape, which were slightly smaller. Still
puzzled, but receiving no enlightenment in spite of hinting that he
would like information, At-Vee followed Bunduk i’s example by placing a round
stone into the pouches on the ends of the longer piece of cord and
one that was egg-shaped into that at the tip of the shorter. The
pouches were then closed and held securely by having the stout
thread whipped