Lord of the Trees Read Online Free PDF

a living being, may be dead very shortly. And since my life could last forever, or over thirty thousand years anyway, I have much more than most people to lose. ButI didn’t think of that. I am as willing to risk it now as I will be thirty millennia from now, if I live that long.
    When the nearest man was within ten feet, he had a man on his right about twenty feet away and a man on his left about thirty. He had turned his head to say something to the man behind him. The butt of my rifle drove through the branches of a bush into his throat.
    He fell backward and then I was on him and had squeezed his neck with my hands. I took his knife and a full magazine, which I carried clamped under my left arm. But another man about twenty feet behind him had noticed that his predecessor had disappeared.
    He spoke in English with an Italian accent. “Hey, Brodie, where are you? You all right?”
    I answered back in an imitation of Brodie’s voice. “I fell down in this damned bush!”
    The man advanced cautiously, then stopped and said, “Stand up so I can see you!”
    I put on Brodie’s green digger’s hat—it was several sizes too small—and rose far enough so he could see the hat and the upper part of my face. He said something and came toward me, and I threw Brodie’s knife into his solar plexus.
    At the same, there was a yell from behind me. The dead sniper had been discovered.
    The leader, bawling out in a Scots English, told everyone to stand still. They were not to start firing in a panic, or they would be killing each other. And they were to call out, in order, identifying themselves.
    I waited, and when the time came, I called out with Brodie’svoice and then the voice of the Italian. I did not know his name, and the leader could have tripped me up there. But he gave each man’s name himself before requiring an answer.
    I counted thirty-two men. Some of them were, like the Italian, backing up the enclosers in case I should break loose.
    By then I had gotten close enough to the man on my left to cut his jugular vein from behind with the edge of the knife.
    It seemed to me that I had an aisle of escape. I could get away and be miles inland, and once I was in the rain forest of the higher lands, I could not be caught.
    But I have pride. I wanted to teach the Nine another lesson and also cut down the numbers opposing me. Also, it seemed to me their base must be nearby and that they must have a powerful short-wave transceiver there.
    Still, there are times to be discreet, and this was one. I went on into the jungle. I had gotten about fifty yards when I heard muffled shouts. They had discovered the bodies, and they would be scared now. No doubt many, if not all of them, knew who I was. They would have known my abilities in the jungle by report and now they knew by experience. Moreover, adding to the desperation at having me loose would be the desperation at having to report failure to the Nine. They might as well be dead if I escaped.
    I tried to figure where the radio would most likely be stationed. At one time, I could have told you, with my eyes shut, exactly where every tree and bush and open area were. But the place had changed too much; I might as well be in completely new territory. Finally, I took to the trees.
    I carried the FN strapped over my shoulder, and in thefoliage at the top I removed it. I could see ten of the thirty-one; the others were hidden in the bush. Nine were congregated around a tall thin man with a thick black moustache. His hands flew and his mouth worked as he gave orders.
    I had seen him before, and now that I recreated his voice in my mind, I remembered it, too. I had heard it in the caves where the Nine hold their annual ceremonies, where the members of their ancient organization come for the grisly rites they must endure in order to get the elixir of youth. He had not had a moustache then and he had not been wearing clothes and it had been ten years ago, so I did not immediately recognize