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about Clan Water Gap putting up a named protector, and then that protector
turns out to have gotten into a hassle with someone with no authority at all.
Why they'd be laughing at our Clan all up and down the mountains. Worse yet,
what if that protector should lose "
"Lose?" snorted Iron Bender, with all the geniality of a grizzly abruptly
wakened from his long winter's nap.
"That's right, harnessmaker.Lose !" snarled the Hill Bluffer. "Guess there
just might be a real man not too far away from you at this moment who's pretty
sure youwould lose and handily!"
Suddenly, the two of them were standing nose to nose. Mal became abruptly
aware that he was still seated in the saddle arrangement on the Bluffer's back
and that, in case of trouble between the two big Dilbians, it would not be
easy for him to get down in a hurry.
"I'll tell you what, Postman," Iron Bender was growling. "Why don't you and I
just step out beyond the houses, here, where there's a little more open
space "
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"Stop it!" snapped Gentle Maiden. "Stop it right now, Iron Bender! You've got
no right to go fighting anybody for your own private pleasure when you're
still my protector. What if something happened, and you weren't able to
protect me and mine the way you should after that?"
"Maiden's right," said One Punch, sharply. "It's Clan honor and decency at
stake here, not just your feelings, Bender. Now, as I was saying, Law-Twister
here's been doing some fine talking and twisting, and he's come up with a real
point. It's as much a matter to us if he's a real Shorty-type protector to
those orphans Maiden adopted, as it is to him and the other Shorties "
His voice became mild. He turned to the crowd and spread his hands, modestly.
"Of course, I'm no real Grandfather," he said. "Some might think I wouldn't
stand a chance to be the one you'll pick at the next Clan meeting. Of course,
some might think I would, too but it's hardly for me to say. Only, speaking as
a man whomight be named a Grandfather someday, I'd say Gentle Maiden really
ought to let Law-Twister check with those three orphans to see if they want
him to talk or hassle, for them."
A bass-voiced murmur of agreement rose from the surrounding crowd, which by
this time had grown to a respectable size. For the first time since he had
said farewell to Ambassador Joshua Guy, Mal felt his spirits begin to rise.
For the first time, he seemed to be getting some control over the events which
had been hurrying him along like a chip swirling downstream in the current of
a fast river. Maybe, if he had a little luck, now
"Duty's duty, I guess," rumbled Iron Bender at just this moment. "All right,
then, Law-Twister now, stop your arguing, Gentle, it's no use you can see your
fellow Shorties. They're at Gentle's place, last but one on the left-hand side
of the street, here."
"Show you the way, myself, Postman," said One Punch.
The Clan elder led off, limping, and the crowd broke up as the Hill Bluffer
followed him. Iron Bender went off in the opposite direction, but Gentle
Maiden tagged along with the postman, Mal, and her grandfather, muttering to
herself.
"Take things kind of hard, don't you, Gentle?" said the Hill Bluffer to her,
affably. "Don't blame old Iron Bender. Man can't expect to win every time."
"Why not?" demanded Gentle. "I do! He's just so cautious, and slow, he makes
me sick! Why can't he be like One Punch, here, whenhe was young? Hit first and
think afterward particularly when I ask him to? Then Bender could go around
being slow and careful about his own business if he wanted; in fact, I'd be
all for him being like that, on his own time. A girl needs a man she can
respect; particularly when there's no other man around that's much more than
half-size to him!"
"Tell him so," suggested the Bluffer, strolling along, his long legs making a
single stride to each two of Gentle and One Punch.
"Certainly not! It'd look like I was giving in to him!" said Gentle. "It may
be all right for any old ordinary girl to go chasing a man, but not me. Folks
know me better than that. They'd laugh their heads off if I suddenly started
going all soft on Bender. And besides "
"Here we are, Postman Law-Twister," interrupted One Punch, stopping by the
heavy wooden door of a good-sized log building. "This is Gentle's place. The
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orphans are inside."
"Don't you go letting them out, now!" snapped Gentle, as Mal, relieved to be
out of the saddle after this much time in it, began sliding down the Bluffer's
broad back toward the ground.
"Don't worry, Granddaughter," said One Punch, as Mal's boots touched the
earth. "Postman and I'll wait right outside the door here with you. If one of
them tries to duck out, we'll catch him or her for you."
"They keep wanting to go back to their flying box," said Gentle. "And I know
the minute one of them gets inside it, he'll be into the air and off like a
flash. I haven't gone to all this trouble to lose any of them, now. So, don't
you try anything while you're inside there, Law-Twister!"
Mal went up the three wooden steps to the rough plank door and lifted a latch
that was, from the standpoint of a human-sized individual, like a heavy bar
locking the door shut. The door yawned open before him, and he stepped through
into the dimness. The door swung shut behind him, and he heard the latch being
relocked.
"Holler when you want out, Law-Twister!" One Punch's voice boomed through the
closed door. Mal looked around him.
He crossed the room and tried the right-hand door at random. It gave him a
view of an empty, kitchenlike room with what looked like a side of beef
hanging from a hook in a far corner. A chopping block and a wash trough of
hollowed-out stone furnished the rest of the room.
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