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.None of them knew that weasel swarms hadleaders. It wasn t just luck! I said before I thought. Brant smother kept bees; he said the way the weasels movedreminded him of the bees, so he looked for something like aqueen bee and shot that. Eh? Professor Torgeson looked at me. And how do youknow that, Miss Rothmer? Brant Wilson married my sister Rennie, I said. Lateron, I mean.He and Dr.McNeil came to our house after theexpedition got back.My brothers were mad after storiesabout what they d seen, so they told us all about it. Pity the whole tale didn t get into the journal accounts,the professor said. Maybe Dr.McNeil thought it would mislead people, Isaid. Swarming weasels aren t really that much likeswarming bees, and the swarm leaders certainly aren tqueens. Yes, but the similarity in movement may be important.Someone should look into the reason why, but if no oneknows about it, no one will think to investigate. It s kind of hard to investigate a mob of critters that aretrying to eat you, Wash pointed out. Which is why the first thing we need to learn is how tokeep them from getting interested in eating us, the professorreplied. So that we can watch and learn.The magicians inNew Asante have proven it can be done; if we apply theirmethods   I can t rightly claim to be up-to-date on exactly what theNew Asante conjurefolk are doing, but Aphrikan ways ofspell working don t generally mix well or easily withAvrupan-style magic, Wash said in a very dry tone. I m sure that if   Professor Torgeson broke off, lookingat Wash as if it had only just occurred to her that he mightknow a bit more about Aphrikan magic than she did. Itnever hurts to consider new methods, she said after amoment. Now, that s a true thing, Wash said. Though west of theGreat Barrier, it s best to be cautious about when you stopconsidering and start practicing.What will turn away oneanimal may call up a worse one.I speak from experience. Oh?Wash shook his head ruefully. During the war, when Iwas in the army, we had a little spell for keeping the flies offin summer.One of the men in my company said it made somekind of sound, up high where most folks can t hear, thatdrove the bugs away.Professor Torgeson gave him a quizzical look. I ve heardof the spell, but & during the war? You mean the SecessionWar? I do indeed, and I ll take that skeptical tone as acompliment, ma am, Wash said with a grin. I was a largelad, and like a good many others, I lied about my age to joinup.That was the third year of the war, and by then the armywasn t looking too hard at anyone willing to volunteer.I wasseventeen when I was mustered out after the Southern statessurrendered.I did some quick math in my head.The third year of thewar was 1835.Wash must have joined the army at fourteenor fifteen, in order to have been seventeen when it ended in1838.Lan and I had been born in 1838; everything I knewabout the war, I knew from history class.It felt peculiar tothink that Wash had actually fought in it when he wasyounger than I was now. Anyway, after the war, I had a hankering to see someplaces no one else ever had, Wash went on. So I lit out forthe Far West.And naturally, I made use of that neat littlespell for keeping the flies off. What happened? About a week west of the Mammoth, an arrow hawkdove at me.They don t generally have much interest inpeople, but this one sliced a fair-sized hole through my sleeveand a bit of my arm.Next day there was another one, andtwo more the day after that.Took me four days to figure outthat it was the spell for keeping off flies that was bringingthem down on me. Why would it do that? I asked.I d gotten so interested inWash s story that I d forgotten we were only speaking in theway of business. I can t say for sure, Wash told us. But have you everseen a mob of sparrows drive off a hawk that came too closeto where they were all nesting? Those hawks were acting thesame way  like I was something they wanted dead orelsewhere in a right hurry. You think there s a hawk predator that makes the samenoise as your spell for getting rid of flies, Professor Torgesonsaid. Could be, Wash said. Or it could be something elseabout that spell that made them angry.All I know is that assoon as I quit using the spell, the arrow hawks lost interest inme.Professor Torgeson nodded thoughtfully. Another thingthat someone should investigate. She made a frustratednoise. There is so much that we don t know, and all theresearch funds the department has can barely stretch to coverfive months in the field for one junior professor and anuntrained girl.It is very badly arranged.Neither Wash nor I had any argument with that.For therest of the day, the professor alternated between questioningWash about the wildlife he d encountered during his travelsin the West and watching the land around us.I didn t knowwhat she d really been doing until we got to the wagonrest.As soon as we had the horses tied up and watered, Washwent to talk to the other travelers who were sharing thewagonrest with us, to see about setting up a schedule forhandling the protective spells overnight.Professor Torgesonpulled a pencil and a journal out of the supply pack andstarted listing all the different plants and birds and animalsshe d seen on the day s ride.Then she asked me to mark theones I d seen, too, and add any I d seen that she hadn t.Assoon as Wash got back, she asked if he d be willing to do thesame, and he did.When we finished, the list took up twopages, at two columns a page in small, clear printing everything from grasses and wild-flowers to birds and insectsand even a white-tailed deer we d startled out of a little copseof serviceberry bushes.I d only added five names at the end of the list, andmarked less than half of the things the professor had putdown.Wash had seen all but three of the things the professorlisted, all of mine, and he still had a dozen more to add.Professor Torgeson stopped him when he started to writethem. I ve seen the notes you ve sent Professor Jeffries,she said,  and I d rather have no confusion.Let MissRothmer copy the names down for you. Whatever you say, Professor, Wash replied, but hedidn t grin the way he usually did [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]