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She felt his legs warm but not hot, so no tendon damage. Her hand came away
with swamp mud, the stink apparent even at arm's length.
"Well, clues of sorts,' she said, still trying to reassure herself that
Teddy had merely fallen off. In the swamp - which Teabag would have avoided
on his own - Teddy would at least have had a soft landing.
But WHY didn't the kids call in? Ask for reinforcements. Why were the
communits dead? That was disturbing. Quickly then, she stripped off the
saddle, dropped some feed in his manger and left Teabag in his stable to
recover.
Jilamey and Grizz were booming at each other on the porch as she returned to
the house and she gritted her teeth. The truth was always preferable, wasn't
it, even if it showed her up as a less than careful guardian.
"I am so sorry, Captain. The children have all gone off, on horseback, I
believe, though the last time I looked they were all in the pond,' she said
and managed a smile. "I didn't realize you'd be able to join us or
I'd have kept them about the place."
"Grrgggl. . .
the meeting ended sooner than expected,' Grizz said amiably, glancing towards
the pond.
"And you thought of a swim, no doubt,' Kelly said, managing to act casually.
"Well, while you're indulging yourself in a well earned
relaxing swim, we'll just go back along the trail and hurry the kids in.
Here's Nrrna, too, Captain,' and Kelly, turning her back briefly on the
Gringg, beckoned furiously at the Hrruban to join them.
"How fortunate you came by heli, Jilamey,' and she firmly tucked her arm in
his, elbowing him to fall in with her scenario.
"Easiest way to travel speedily,' Jilamey said on cue.
"This won't take long,' he added as he guided Kelly toward the vehicle where
Barrington awaited.
"Any instructions?" Barrington asked as they began to board.
"Oh, would you please man the communications channels, Barrington?"
Kelly said, scrambling into a window seat. "And keep trying the kids'
frequency." She gave him the code and he bowed politely in acceptance.
The small craft lifted off and Kelly's heart did a flip as she saw
Grizz, dwarfing Nrrna's slight figure, standing in the yard.
"Where do you think they went?" Jilamey called over his shoulder as they
cleared the trees. The heli's engine was reasonably quiet, but no way to
silence the whup-whupwhup of rotors tearing the air had ever been discovered.
"They must have taken a trail ride,' Kelly shouted back and remembered then to
turn off her voder before she damaged her eardrums.
"Then they might just have turned their handsets off?" he asked.
"No, a call alert would get through. Nothing did,' Kelly said, disturbed by
that. "Those units'll even continue broadcasting near high-power sources.
"Think they went mda-watching?" Jilamey asked.
"They wouldn't dare!" Kelly exclaimed, horrified. "Or maybe they would, the
rascals. They were dying to show off the whole planet to Teddy.
"Would they have known to keep the pace slow for Teddy's sake?"
"Alison and Hrruna have more common sense than the three boys but Ourrh isn't
up to much riding either so they'd have kept to a reasonable pace.
Turn towards the swamps, Jilamey. It was swamp mud Teabag had on his legs."
"Swamp? This close to Snake Hunt?"
"Yes, I know." Kelly grimaced. "But Teabag wouldn't spook at any old tiddler'
"What about a Big Mamma?" Kelly shook her head impatiently.
"I'll skin them, so I will, when I find them. Let's backtrack Tea's probable
route home. He came in on the swamp road."
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"No sooner said than done, milady,' said Jilamey.
"Look, where the terrain opens, can we skim to see if I can spot hoof prints?"
Kelly asked, reached for the case that held binoculars.
Jilamey was a deft pilot and, in the soft ground of the track, Kelly could
make out the darker colour of disturbed ground in the even pattern made by a
single-foot. Skimming along as far as they could until the
bushes grew too close, she could also see where the tracks were those of a
gallop stretch.
"Well, he was still running scared here,' she said as Jilamey lifted the heli
above the thick shore growth.
Now she scanned more widely as they passed over the marsh toward the dunes.
"This's getting all too close to snake hatching grounds, isn't it?" he asked.
"It certainly is,' Kelly said, leaning forward with the field glasses.
Jilamey had just angled the heli up and over another line of drifts, and a
wide prospect spread before them. She caught her breath at the oh-so welcome
sight of a handful of small figures crouched on a blanket on a dune ridge.
Slightly below them were five horses, apparently tied to a driftwood log.
"And there they are, the scamps! Teddy's with them." Only then did Kelly
admit to herself how terrified she had been that he'd be missing. "Set down!"
With one eye on the tracer screen and the other looking out for riders,
Walters drove the small flitter around the edge of the dune where Gallup was
waiting. He killed the quiet hum of the motor, and the small vehicle coasted
silently to a halt. Gallup gestured for him to climb out, and pointed up the
hill at the six youngsters. Walters nodded and swung the pack off his back.
"This place is full of snakes,' he whispered. "Damn near stepped on one that
was sleeping! They give me the creeps.
"Shh!" Gallup said, flattening himself on his belly on the hot sand.
Together, they inched up towards the crest of the dune where the children were
waiting.
The whupping of heli blades startled them. Hastily, Gallup and Walters
burrowed into the sand and covered their heads with their arms.
The copter set down on the sand hill between them and the children.
"Aw, hell!" Walters exclaimed, slamming his fist into the hot, dry dust.
"Commander Greene is going to be furious!" Gallup plucked at Walters's collar.
"Come on, we have to get out of here before they spot us." He reached into his
pack and switched off the jammer.
Together, the two men crept backwards down the hill to the ffitter.
"Snakes!" Kelly cried, pointing.
There were only a few, and relative tiddlers at that, but they were gathering
just out of sight of the cluster of children. Kelly knew that the smaller
reptiles wouldn't attack something big by themselves, but when they were
hungry after laying their eggs, and there were a bunch of them, they'd been
known to trap urfa or even small mda and rend the animals apart. Jilamey
whirled the craft around so that the fine sand blew directly into the faces of
the waiting snakes. Most of the snakes fled over the dunes and into the
marshweeds before he landed.
Kelly sprang out, ducking under the still whirring blades. "There you
are! Teddy, you're all right?" and fumbled to turn on her voder.
"You've had us worried half to death,' Kelly said, running a hand down
Teddy's sticky matted fur before she turned on her twins. "Why didn't you let
us know you were in trouble?"
"We tried, Mama,' Alison said, ducking her head in shame. "We tried "We did,
Mom, Alec said stoutly, reinforcing his sister.
"And we made sure the red "charged" light was on before we took them off the
rack. They just wouldn't work when we tried to call you."
"Well, you nearly caused an interplanetary incident, young lady,' Kelly said
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sternly, but she hugged her daughter and ruffled Alec's hair before she
plucked Alison's radio out of the belt clip. She thumbed the switch and then
stared at the unit. "It's working now." she added expressionlessly.
"It wasn't before, Mama, honest!" both twins clamoured, tugging at her arm.
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