"Edmond Hamilton - The Valley of Creation" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hamilton Edmond)

Nelson looked after him without interest, simply because he was sick of looking at Sloan and Van Voss and
Wister.

Through the open door he watched Li Kin cross the dusty compound to a crumbling mud wall, where another
man sat—a bareheaded man in shapeless quilted garments, sitting motionless in the light of the rising sun. He
did not sit with the patient immobility of peaceful things but with the tight−coiled watchfulness of a crouching
tiger. He rose with a lithe quick movement when Li Kin spoke to him.

Li Kin and the stranger came back across the compound. As they entered the room Li Kin said, “This is Shan
Kar.”

Nelson glanced indifferently. Shan Kar was of his own age and stature but no more like himself than a wildcat
is like a terrier. His bare black head was alertly erect as he studied the white men.

Here was no primitive tribesman The man's handsome olive face and dark eyes had the haughty strength and
fire and pride of a prince of ancient blood.

Eric Nelson sat up.

“You're no Tibetan,” he said sharply, in that language.

“No,” answered Shan Kar quickly. His accent was slurred as though spoken in an obscure dialect of Tibetan.

He pointed through the open door at the gray, sunlit mountains in the distance.

“My people dwell there, in a valley called L'Lan. And we men and woman of L'Lan have—enemies.”


The Valley Of Creation 4
 The Valley Of Creation
There was a flicker of emotion in his eyes as he spoke, fierce as a sword−flash. His eyes were, for that
moment, fiery and intense, the eyes of a fanatic warrior, of a man with a cause.

“Enemies too powerful for us to conquer with our own forces! We have heard of the white men's new,
powerful weapons. So I came to hire such men and weapons to help us in our struggle.”

Nelson felt suddenly certain that Shan Kar referred to no mere petty tribal struggle. This man was not playing
his game of war for horses, women or conquest, but for something bigger.

Shan Kar shrugged. “I heard of the warlord Yu Chi and came here to make an offer to him. But, before I
arrived he was dead in the battle here. But you who remain know the use of such weapons. It you come with
me to L'Lan and use them, we can pay you well.”

“Pay us?” Nick Sloan's face showed his sharp interest. “Pay us with what?”

For answer, Shan Kar reached beneath his quilted cloak and brought forth a curious object which he handed to
them.

“We have heard that this metal is valuable, to you of the outer world.”