A large, grizzled, and presumably elderly centaur was holding court on one side of the "square." He stood with quiet dignity as single centaurs or groups came in succession before him. Max watched with interest so great that he almost lost his fear. Each case would be the cause of much discussion, then the centaur chieftain would make a single remark and the case would be over. The contestants would leave quietly. The conclusion was inescapable that law or custom was being administered, with the large centaur as arbiter.
There was none of the travesties of men in the clearing but there were underfoot odd animals that looked like flattened-out hogs. Their legs were so short that they seemed more like tractor treads. They were mostly mouth and teeth and snuffling snouts, and whatever they came to, if it was not a centaur's hoof, they devoured. Max understood from watching them how the area, although thickly inhabited, was kept so clean; these scavengers were animated street cleaners.
Their master gradually worked up toward the head of the line. The last case before theirs concerned the only centaur they had seen which did not seem in vibrant health. He was old and skinny, his coat was dull and his bones stuck pitifully through his hide. One eye was blind, a blank white; the other was inflamed and weeping a thick ichor.
The judge, mayor, or top herd leader discussed his case with two younger healthy centaurs who seemed to be attending him almost as nurses. Then the boss centaur moved from his position of honor and walked around the sick one, inspecting him from all sides. Then he spoke to him.
The old sick one responded feebly, a single snorted word. The chief centaur spoke again, got what seemed to Max the same answer. The chief backed into his former position, set up a curious whinnying cry.
From all sides the squatty scavengers converged on the spot. They formed a ring around the sick one and his attendants, dozens of them, snuffling and grunting. The chief bugled once; one attendant reached into its pouch and hauled forth a creature curled into a knot, the centaur stroked it and it unwound. To Max it looked unpleasantly like an eel.
The attendant extended it toward the sick centaur. It made no move to stop him, but waited, watching with his one good eye. The head of the slender thing was suddenly touched to the neck of the sick centaur; he jerked in the characteristic convulsion of electric shock and collapsed.
The chief centaur snorted once--and the scavengers waddled forward with surprising speed, swarming over the body and concealing it. When they backed away, still snuffling, there were not even bones.
Max called out softly, "Steady, Ellie! Get a grip on yourself, kid."
She answered faintly, "I'm all right."
19 A FRIEND IN NEED
For the first time they were turned loose. Their master tickled their bonds, which dropped from their ankles. Max said softly to Ellie, "If you want to run for it, I'll keep them busy."
Ellie shook her head. "No good. They'd have me before I went fifty feet. Besides--I can't find my way back."
Max shut up, knowing that she was right but having felt obliged to offer. The chief centaur inspected them with the characteristic expression of gentle surprise, exchanged bugling comments with their captor. They were under discussion for some time, there appeared to be some matter to be decided. Max got out his knife. He had no plan, other than a determination that no centaur would approach either one of them with that electric-shock creature, or any other menace, without a fight.
The crisis faded away. Their captor flicked their leashes about their ankles and dragged them off. Fifteen minutes later they were again staked out in the clearing they had occupied. Ellie looked around her after the centaur had gone and sighed. "'Be it ever so humble ...' Max, it actually feels good to get back here."
"I know."
The monotony that followed was varied by one thing only: fading hope and mounting despair. They were not treated unkindly; they were simply domestic animals--fed and watered and largely ignored. Once a day they were given water and plenty of the native papayas. After the first night they no longer had the luxury of "artificial" light, nor did the hobgoblin hang over their clearing. But there was no way of escape, short of gnawing off a leg and crawling away.
For two or three days they discussed the possibility of rescue with mounting anxiety, then, having beaten the subject to death they dropped it; it simply added to their distress. Ellie rarely smiled now and she had quit her frivolous back talk; it seemed that it had finally gotten through her armor that this could happen to Eldreth Coburn, only daughter of the rich and almost all-powerful Mr. Commissioner Coburn--a chattel, a barnyard animal of monsters themselves suitable only for zoos.
Max took it a little more philosophically. Never having had much, he did not expect much--not that he enjoyed it. He kept his worst fear secret. Ellie referred to their status as "animals in a zoo" because most of their visitors were small centaurs who came sniffling and bleating around with a curiosity that their elders seemed to lack. He let her description stand because he believed their status worse than that--he thought that they were being fattened for the table.
One week after their capture Eldreth declined to eat breakfast and stayed silent all morning. All that Max could think of to say evoked only monosyllables. In desperation he said, "I'll beat you at three-dee and spot you two starships."
That roused her. "You and who else?" she said scornfully. "And with what?"
"Well, we could play it in our heads. You know-- blindfold."
She shook her head. "No good. You'd claim your memory was better than mine and I wouldn't be able to prove you were cheating."
"Nasty little brat."
She smiled suddenly. "That's better. You've been too gentle with me lately--it depresses me. Max, we could make a set."
"How?"
"With these." She picked up one of many tree cones that littered the clearing. "A big one is a flagship. We can pick various sizes and break the thingamajigs off and such."
They both got interested. The water bowl was moved aside so that it no longer occupied the center of the space marked by the limits of their tethers and the no-man's-land between them was brushed free of needles and marked with scratches as boards. The boards had to be side by side; they must stack them in their minds, but that was a common expedient for players with good visualization when using an unpowered set--it saved time between moves.
Pebbles became robots; torn bits of cloth tied to cones distinguished sides and helped to designate pieces. By midafternoon they were ready. They were still playing their first game when darkness forced them to stop. As they lay down to sleep Max said, "I'd better not take your hand. I'd knock over men in the dark."
"I won't sleep if you don't--I won't feel safe. Besides, that gorilla messed up one board changing the water."
"That's all right. I remember where they were."
"Then you can just remember where they all are, Stretch out your arm."
He groped in the darkness, found her fingers. "Night, Max. Sleep tight."
"Good night, Ellie."
Thereafter they played from sunup to sundown. Their owner came once, watched them for an hour, went away without a snort. Once when Ellie had fought him to a draw Max said, "You know, Ellie, you play this game awfully well--for a girl."
"Thank you too much."
"No, I mean it. I suppose girls are probably as intelligent as men, but most of them don't act like it. I think it's because they don't have to. If a girl is pretty, she doesn't have to think. Of course, if she can't get by on her looks, then--well, take you for example. If you ..."
"_Oh!_ So I'm ugly, Mr. Jones!"
"Wait a minute. I didn't say that. Let's suppose that you were the most beautiful woman since Helen of Troy. In that case, you would ..." He found that he was talking to her back. She had swung round, grabbed her knees, and was ignoring him.