Retief Unbound Read Online Free PDF Page A

tie, and followed Potter.
    "We're damn glad you're here,
mister," said a fat man with two revolvers belted across his paunch.
"We can use every man. We're in bad shape. We ran into the Flap-jacks
three months ago and we haven't made a smart move since. First, we thought they
were a native form we hadn't run into before. Fact is, one of the boys shot
one, think' it was fair game. I guess that was the start of it." He paused
to stir the fire.
    "And then a bunch of 'em hit
Swazey's farm here. Killed two of his cattle, and pulled back," he said.
    "We figure they thought the
cows were people," said Swazey. "They were out for revenge."
    "How could anybody think a cow
was folks," another man put in. "They don't look nothin' like—"
    "Don't be so dumb, Bert,"
said Swazey. "They'd never seen Terries before; they know better
now."
    Bert chuckled. "Sure do. We
showed 'em the next time, didn't we, Potter? Got four—"
    "They walked right up to my
place a couple days after the first time," Swazey said. "We were
ready for 'em. Peppered 'em good. They cut and run—"
    "Flopped, you mean.
Ugliest-lookin' critters you ever saw. Look just like a old piece of dirty
blanket humpin' around."
    "It's been goin' on this way
ever since. They raid and then we raid. But lately they've been bringin' some
big stuff into it. They've got some kind of pint-sized airships and automatic
rifles. We've lost four men now and a dozen more in the freezer, waiting for
the med ship. We can't afford it. The colony's got less than three hundred
able-bodied men."
    "But we're hangin' onto our
farms," said Potter. "All these oases are old sea-beds—a mile deep,
solid topsoil. And there's a couple of hundred others we haven't touched yet.
The Flap-jacks won't get 'em while there's a man alive."
    "The whole system needs the
food we can raise," Bert said. "These farms we're tryin' to start
won't be enough but they'll help."
    "We been yellin' for help to
the CDT, over on Ivory," said Potter. "But you know these Embassy
stooges."
    "We heard they were sendin'
some kind of bureaucrat in here to tell us to get out and give the oasis to the
Flapjacks," said Swazey. He tightened his mouth. "We're waitin' for
him. . .."
    "Meanwhile we got
reinforcements comin' up. We put out the word back home; we all got relatives
on Ivory and Verde—"
    "Shut up, you damn fool!"
a deep voice grated.
    "Lemuel!" Potter said.
"Nobody else could sneak up on us like that—"
    "If I'd a been a Flap-jack,
I'd of et you alive," the newcomer said, moving into the ring of the
fire. He was a tall, broad-faced man in grimy leather. He eyed Retief.
    "Who's that?"
    "What do ya mean?" Potter
spoke in the silence. "He's your cousin."
    "He ain't no cousin of
mine," Lemuel said. He stepped to Retief.
    "Who you spyin' for,
stranger?" he rasped.
    Retief got to his feet. "I
think I should explain—"
    A short-nosed automatic appeared in
Lemuel's hand, a clashing note against his fringed buckskins.
    "Skip the talk. I know a fink
when I see one."
    "Just for a change, I'd like
to finish a sentence," Retief said. "And I suggest you put your
courage back in your pocket before it bites you."
    "You talk too damned fancy to
suit me."
    "You're wrong. I talk to suit
me. Now, for the last time: put it away."
    Lemuel stared at Retief. "You
givin' me orders . . . ?"
    Retief's left fist shot out and
smacked Lemuel's face dead center. The raw-boned settler stumbled back, blood
starting from his nose. The pistol fired into the dirt as he dropped it. He
caught himself, jumped for Retief . . . and met a straight right that snapped
him onto his back—out cold.
    "Wow!" said Potter.
"The stranger took Lem ... in two punches
..."
    "One," said Swazey.
"That first one was just a love tap."
    Bert froze. "Quiet,
boys," he whispered. In the sudden silence a night lizard called. Retief
strained, heard nothing. He narrowed his eyes, peering past the fire.
    With a swift lunge he seized up the
bucket of drinking water, dashed it over the fire,