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."Adobe, what else?""Our ship isn't made of adobe," Haakon reminded him.Villa shrugged."What do gringos know about building ships?"They went into a room with a low ceiling supported by wooden poles, the endsof which apparently were the mysterious logs protruding through the outersurface of the ship.The room was furnished with a number of rickety tablesand chairs.One wall bore a paper poster of a man in a tight-fitting, colorfulsuit doing battle with a hideous, multihorned beast, armed only with a redcape and a thin sword.They sat, and a man in an apron began setting bottleson the tables.Jemal tried a beer."Not bad," he commented.Haakon sniffed at a larger bottle."Tequila," he said, surprised."The best," said Fierro.He pushed a plate in front of Haakon.On the platewere wedges of lime and glass saltshakers.Haakon wasn't sure what he was expected to do with them but Fierrodemonstrated- He sprinkled salt on the back of his hand, took a drink of thetequila, licked off the sail, and bit into the lime.Haakon gave it a try.Itwas raw stuff, but not bad at all.He noticed that Villa was not partaking ofthe beverages.His men made up for him handsomely.160THE SWORD, THE JEWEL, AND THE MIRROR"Now, you want to tell me why you're hanging around my territory?" Villaasked."We're looking for some friends," Haakon said."A couple in space suits, somein a little ship, a few more in a ship about half the size of ours.They'vebeen sent this way over the last few months.We were sent to look for them.Have you seen any strangers answering such a description?"Villa pushed back his wide hat."I tell you, gringo, times being what theyare, we get strange people straying into Aztlan all the time.We stop themevery day: smugglers, filibusteros, Mormons, observers for the goddamn Kaiser,all kinds of cabrones." It seemed that some of these words had no convenienttranslation."The ones we're looking for," Jemal said, "would have been really confused.""Foreigners always act a little crazy," Fierro said."Sometimes it's just nouse talking to them, and we got to shoot them.""You'll find us perfectly reasonable," Haakon said."We just want to get incontact with our friends.If you don't have any information for us, we'll justbe on our way."Villa tilted his chair back and propped his boots on the table, carefully sothat his spurs would not snag the edge."Let's not be hasty, gringo.We'rejust barely getting acquainted, and we ain't yet seen the inside of your ship,or what you're carrying.You're over Aztlan space, so we got a right tocollect toll.You plan to do any trading, we can collect duty."161John Made/ox Roberts"We're just passing through," Haakon said, "No need to get into tediousbusiness arrangements.You might say we've made a career of avoiding customsregulations.""Hey, Rodolfo," said a gap-toothed man in a gold-braided hat, "tell 'em howyou save ammunition when you get rid of prisoners.""It's real simple," Fierro explained."When we get a lot of Carranzistas andwe're low on ammo, I tie 'em up in groups of three, front to back.One bulletgoes through all three.I tried four, but a forty-five won't always go throughfour."Haakon drew his beamer and swept it in a tight circle.A half-meter chunk ofPage 66 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmladobe fell from a wall and thunked to the floor, smoking and glowing aroundthe edges.There were a lot of clicks as the mechanical pistols were drawn,but most of the men were preoccupied with studying the hot adobe."I never tried to see how many people I could shoot through," Haakon said,"but it'll keep on going farther than you can line them up.""That's a fancy pistol," said Villa, who had not drawn his own."You got someof those for sale?""No, we're not gunrunning this time," Haakon said, "just looking for ourfriends.""Well," Villa said, "maybe you got fancy pistols, but I'U bet my ship's betterarmed than yours.We got French seventy-fives, installed by Felipe Angeleshimself.Show 'em, boys."Two of the men went to a humped shape in a corner of the room.Hauling off atarpaulin, they exposed a steel-162THE SWORD, THE JEWEL, AND THE MIRRORwheeled artillery piece with a short barrel and a big, square shield betweenbreech and barrel.They threw open the shutters of the window in front of thepiece and, lifting the rail, ran the barrel out through the window
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Tematy
IndexLumley.Brian. .[Psychomech.03]. .Psychoamok
Roberts Nora Więzy krwi (Prawo krwi)
Jeffries Sabrina Lord 03 Niebezpieczny lord
Coulter Catherine Gwiazda 03 Gwiazda z nefrytu
Łajkowska Anna Wrzosowisko 03 Cienie na wrzosowisku
Coulter Catherine Baron 03 Szalony baron
Fiora 03 Fiora i papież Benzoni Juliette
Marlowe Mia Dotyk 03 Dotyk oszustaS303
Joachim Jacek Sztylet wenecki
Phillips Susan Elisabeth Pierwsza Dama