Now she was the woman of all ages who just has to get her hands on new clothes. I felt that dressing Star was like putting a paint job on the crown jewels—but I was forced to admit that, if we were not to do the "Me Tarzan, you Jane" bit right in that dell from then on till death do us part, then clothes of some sort, if only to keep her perfect skin from getting scratched by brambles, were needed.
Rufo's baggage turned out to be a little black box about the size and shape of a portable typewriter. He opened it.
And opened it again.
And kept on opening it—And kept right on unfolding its sides and letting them down until the durn thing was the size of a small moving van and even more packed. Since I was nicknamed "Truthful James" as soon as I learned to talk and am widely known to have won the hatchet every February 22nd all through school, you must now conclude that I was the victim of an illusion caused by hypnosis and/or drugs.
Me, I'm not sure. Anyone who has studied math knows that the inside does not have to be smaller than the outside, in theory, and anyone who has had the doubtful privilege of seeing a fat woman get in or out of a tight girdle knows that this is true in practice, too. Rufo's baggage just carried the principle further.
The first thing he dragged out was a big teakwood chest. Star opened it and started pulling out filmy lovelies.
"Oscar, what do you think of this one?" She was holding a long, green dress against her with the skirt draped over one hip to display it. "Like it?"
Of course I liked it. If it was an original—and somehow I knew that Star never wore copies—I didn't want to think about what it must have cost. "It's a mighty pretty gown," I told her. "But—Look, are we going to be traveling?"
"Right away."
"I don't see any taxicabs. Aren't you likely to get that torn?"
"It doesn't tear. However, I didn't mean to wear it; I just meant to show it to you. Isn't it lovely? Shall I model it for you? Rufo, I want those high-heeled sandals with the emeralds."
Rufo answered in that language he had been cursing in when he arrived. Star shrugged and said, "Don't be impatient, Rufo; Igli will wait. Anyhow, we can't talk to Igli earlier than tomorrow morning; milord Oscar must learn the language first." But she put the green gorgeousness back in the chest.
"Now here is a little number," she went on, holding it up, "which is just plain naughty: it has no other purpose."
I could see why. It was mostly skirt, with a little bodice that supported without concealing—a style favored in ancient Crete, I hear, and still popular in the Overseas Weekly, Playboy, and many night clubs. A style that turns droopers into bulgers. Not that Star needed it.
Rufo tapped me on the shoulder. "Boss? Want to look over the ordnance and pick out what you need?"
Star said reprovingly, "Rufo, life is to be savored, not hurried."
"We'll have a lot more life to savor if Oscar picks out what he can use best."
"He won't need weapons until after we reach a settlement with Igli." But she didn't insist on showing more clothes and, while I enjoyed looking at Star, I like to check over weapons, too, especially when I might have to use them, as apparently the job called for.
While I had been watching Star's style show, Rufo had laid out a collection that looked like a cross between an army-surplus store and a museum—swords, pistols, a lance that must have been twenty feet long, a flame-thrower, two bazookas flanking a Tommy gun, brass knucks, a machete, grenades, bows and arrows, a misericorde—
"You didn't bring a slingshot," I said accusingly.
He looked smug. "Which kind do you like, Oscar? The forked sort? Or a real sling?"
"Sorry I mentioned it. I can't hit the floor with either sort." I picked up the Tommy chopper, checked that it was empty, started stripping it. It seemed almost new, just fired enough to let the moving parts work in. A Tommy isn't much more accurate than a pitched baseball and hasn't much greater effective range. But it does have virtues—you hit a man with it, he goes down and stays down. It is short and not too heavy and has a lot of firepower for a short time. It is a bush weapon, or for any other sort of close-quarters work.
But I like something with a bayonet on the end, in case the party gets intimate—and I like that something to be accurate at long range in case the neighbors get unfriendly from a distance. I put it down and picked up a Springfield—Rock Island Arsenal, as I saw by its serial number, but still a Springfield. I feel the way about a Springfield that I do about a Gooney Bird; some pieces of machinery are ultimate perfection of their sort, the only possible improvement is a radical change in design.
I opened the bolt, stuck my thumbnail in the chamber, looked down the muzzle. The barrel was bright and the lands were unworn—and the muzzle had that tiny star on it; it was a match weapon!
"Rufo, what sort of country will we be going through? Like this around us?"
"Today, yes. But—" He apologetically took the rifle out of my hands. "It is forbidden to use firearms here. Swords, Knives, arrows—anything that cuts or stabs or mauls by your own muscle power. No guns."
"Who says so?"
He shivered. "Better ask Her."
"If we can't use them, why bring them? And I don't see any ammunition around anyhow."
"Plenty of ammunition. Later on we will be at—another place—where guns may be used. If we live that long. I was just showing you what we have. What do you like of the lawful weapons? Are you a bowman?"
"I don't know. Show me how." He started to say something, then shrugged and selected a bow, slipped a leather guard over his left forearm, picked out an arrow. "That tree," he said, "the one with the white rock at the foot of it. I'll try for about as high off the ground as a man's heart."
He nocked the shaft, raised and bent and let fly, all in one smooth motion.
The arrow quivered in the tree trunk about four feet off the ground.
Rufo grinned. "Care to match that?"
I didn't answer. I knew I could not, except by accident. I had once owned a bow, a birthday present. I hadn't hit much with it and soon the arrows were lost. Nevertheless I made a production out of selecting a bow, and picked the longest and heaviest.
Rufo cleared his throat apologetically. "If I may make a suggestion, that one will pull quite hard—for a beginner."
I strung it. "Find me a leather."
The leather slipped on as if it had been made for me and perhaps it had. I picked an arrow to match, barely looked at it as they all seemed straight and true. I didn't have any hope of hitting that bloody tree; it was fifty yards away and not over a foot thick. I simply intended to sight a bit high up on the trunk and hope that so heavy a bow would give me a flattish trajectory. Mostly I wanted to nock, bend, and loose all in one motion as Rufo had done—to look like Robin Hood even though I was not.
But as I raised and bent that bow and felt the power of it, I felt a surge of exultance—this tool was right for me! We fitted.
I let fly without thinking.
My shaft thudded a hand's breadth from his.
"Well shot!" Star called out.
Rufo looked at the tree and blinked, then looked reproachfully at Star. She looked haughtily back. "I did not," she stated. "You know I would not do that. It was a fair trial...and a credit to you both."
Rufo looked thoughtfully at me. "Hmm—Would you care to make a small bet—you name the odds—that you can do that again?"
"I won't bet," I said. "I'm chicken." But I picked up another arrow and nocked it. I liked that bow, I even liked the way the string whanged at the guard on my forearm; I wanted to try it, feel married to it, again.