[p 8]
THE WEAKLING
By
EVERETT B. COLE
A strong man can, of course, be dangerous,but he doesn’t approach the viciousdeadliness of a weakling—with a weapon!
Illustrated by van Dongen
aran Makun lookedacross the table at thecaravan master.
“And you couldn’tfind a trace of him?”
“Nothing. Not even a scrap of hiscargo or so much as the bones of along-neck. He just dropped out ofsight of his whole train. He wentthrough this big estate, you see. Thenhe cut back to pick up some of hisstops on the northern swing. Well,that was all. He didn’t get to the firstone.” The other waved a hand.
“Weird situation, too. Oh, the nullwas swirling, we know that, and hecould have been caught in an arm. Ithappens, but it isn’t too often that anexperienced man like your brothergets in so deep he can’t get out somehow—orat least leave some trace ofwhat happened.” The man picked uphis cup, eying it thoughtfully.
“Oh, we’ve all had close ones, sure.We’ve all lost a long-neck or so, nowand then. Whenever the null swirls,it can cover big territory in a big hurryand most of that northern swing isnull area at one time or another. Oneof those arms can overrun a train atnight and if a man loses his head, he’sin big trouble.” He sipped from his cup.
“Young caravan master got caughtthat way, just a while back. A friendof mine, Dr. Zalbon, was runningthe swing after the null retracted. Hefound what was left.”
“Told me he ran into a herd ofcarnivores. Fifteen or twenty real bigfellows. Jaws as long as a man. Hekilled them off and then found they’dbeen feeding on what was left of DarKonil’s train.”
He shook his head. “It’s not a nicearea.”
“Hold everything.” Naran leanedforward. “You said my brother wentthrough this big estate. Anyone seehim come out?”
[p 11]
Dar Girdek smiled. “Oh, sure. TheMaster of the Estates, Kio Barra,himself. He saw him to the borderand watched him go on his way.”
Naran looked doubtful. “And whatkind of a character is this Barra?”
“Oh, him!” Dar Girdek waved ahand. “Nothing there. In the firstplace, he holds one of the biggest estatesin the mountain area. So whatwould he want to rob a freigh