Kiteman of Karanga Read Online Free PDF Page B

through the sand in strange shapes a hundred feet or more high. The outcroppings gradually became a range of rocky ridges separated by flat, sandy valleys. They were bare of everything except the hardiest desert vegetation, but the appearance of any terrain feature on the faceless desert was encouraging. With high spirits Karl circled, looking for water. Finally he saw a smear of dusty green in the distance and he set his course straight for it.
    Glimmering in amongst the rocks, Karl spied a pool of water. From aloft its color seemed the purest aqua, and its sandy bottom was lit up by the slanting sunlight. Around it grew dozens of palm trees and a profusion of desert plants—spiny yucca, oddly shaped cactuses, and thorny bushes. Karl moved forward in his harness, banked hard to the left, and spiraled down to the oasis. A few minutes later he had drunk his fill and was swimming in the most beautiful pool he had ever seen.
    He was soaking in the clear water when a screech broke the silence. It was answered from the opposite ridge and then a piercing chorus of screeches echoed through the rocky valley. Karl jumped from the pool and looked around for a safe place. He had heard that sound only once before, but it was unmistakable. These rocky ridges were inhabited by the dread lizard, the large carnivorous reptile that moved so fast that it could snap spears from the air and devour an antelope or a man in three or four gulps.
    Grabbing his hunting gear and his wing, Karl ran toward a cleft in the rock of the valley wall that he had spotted from the pool. It looked narrow enough to be blocked by a campfire. Leaving his belongings inside, Karl quickly gathered a pile of brush and soon had a fire blazing at the entrance to keep the lizards away. Though he ached with fatigue, he forced himself to sit by the fire and mend his water sack. In the morning he might have to make a quick retreat, and there would be no time for sewing then.
    Karl intended to wake up from time to time during the night and put more fuel on his fire, but he fell into such a deep sleep that despite his fear of the dread lizards, he first awoke at dawn. His fire had long since turned to ashes—he was lucky not to have been eaten in his sleep. Resolving to be more vigilant, he took his spear and headed toward the water hole to fill his newly mended water bag. He had gone scarcely a hundred yards when he noticed an odd stirring beneath the sand near his feet. More carrion crabs, he thought, remembering what a vile meal the crab had made. But the sand continued moving, and suddenly a green head broke into the sunlight. Karl pounced with his spear and withdrew a three-foot-long, newly hatched dread lizard. Soon Karl had skewered the baby lizard on a piece of brush and roasted it over a new fire. The meat of the young lizard was succulent and delicious!
    When he had finished eating, Karl wrapped up the remaining meat in a scrap of terry leather and started again for the spring. He studied the sand, hoping that he would see antelope tracks made the night before, but he found no sign at all until he came across dozens of deep, four-toed imprints that caused his spine to tingle. Lizards had come down from the rocks on his left, crossed the sand, and disappeared into the brush on his right.
    Karl wheeled as a roar broke the morning calm. From out of the brush a dread lizard came charging toward him. Dropping everything, he ran for the nearest palm tree. Leaping up the trunk, he hugged the rough bark and shinnied up as far as he could. Then he grasped the thick mass of fronds and struggled into the top of the palm. Beneath him, the lizard clawed at the trunk, emitting piercing screeches as it snapped the air.
    Only a few feet from those deadly jaws, Karl looked on in terror as the giant reptile began bending the trunk back and forth with its powerful claws. The palm fronds lifted into the air as the tree's heavy top swished to and fro. His heart pounding, Karl closed his