"068 (B023) - Fortress of Solitude (1938-10) - Lester Dent" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robeson Kenneth)

He then dragged the Eskimo back to the others, along with the large chunk of walrus meat. There was not enough walrus meat for everyone, so John Sunlight divided it among not the weakest, this time - but the strongest. He wanted to make them stronger, so they could overcome the colony of Eskimos. They cooked up the walrus meat, and the weak sat back in shaking silence and watched the strong eat, although they were starving.



John Sunlight did not eat any himself. He was a strange man.



Meantime, the Eskimo regained consciousness. He rolled his little black grape eyes and said nothing.



He still had said nothing, even after John Sunlight had kicked in half of his ribs. He only lay silent, coughing a little scarlet when he could not help it.



The Eskimo had not even admitted that he could see the Strange Blue Dome.



They had saved rifles off the ice-breaker. They took those and went to capture the rest of the Eskimos.





THE capture was easy enough. They merely walked in and presented the rifle snouts for the Eskimos' inspection, and the Eskimos, after first laughing heartily as if they thought it was one huge joke, realized it wasn't, and became silent and beady-eyed with wonder.



There were four igloos, very large and fashioned with picture-book perfection from blocks of frozen snow. Each igloo had a long tunnel for an entrance, and along these tunnels were smaller igloos used to store food. There were also other very small igloos scattered around, in which the dogs slept. There were not many dogs.



"What is that blue dome?" John Sunlight asked.



They stared at him wonderingly. "What blue dome?"



"Don't you see it?"



The Eskimos all talked like that, and it made John Sunlight more gaunt and grim, until finally, to satisfy himself of his own rationality, he broke down his order that no white person but himself should go near the Strange Blue Dome. He took Civan and Giantia and Titania and some of the others to the dome and made them feel of it, made them kick the sledge hammer out of the snow, pick it up and each strike a great ringing blow on the mysterious sides of the dome.