“I am here, naturally, keeping a keen look-out.”
“What of these ‘wind-stick devils’? Have you noticed them?”
“In all candour, and with due respect to Cugel, I must say that I have not seen them.”
Varmous chose his words carefully. “Cugel, I am obliged to you for your alert warning, but this time I think that we will go forward. Shilko, continue the good work!”
The caravan proceeded along the road. Shilko yawned and prepared to resume his rest. “Wait!” cried Cugel in frustration. “Notice that gap in the hills yonder? If the devils choose to follow us, they must jump across the gap, and you will be sure to see them.”
Shilko grudgingly resigned himself to the wait. “These fancies, Cugel, are a most unhealthy sign. Consider to what sorry extremes they may lead! For your own sake you must curb the affliction … Now: there is the gap! We are coming abreast. Look with great attention and tell me when you see devils jumping across.”
The caravan drew abreast of the gap. In a flurry of great smoky shapes, the wind-stick devils leapt over the hill and down upon the caravan.
“Now!” said Cugel.
For a frozen instant Shilko stood with a trembling jaw, then he bawled down to Varmous: “Beware! Wind-stick devils are on the attack!”
Varmous failed to hear properly and looked up toward the boat. He discovered a blur of hurtling dark shapes, but now defense was impossible. The devils tramped back and forth among the wagons while teamsters and passengers fled into the chilly waters of the pond.
The devils wreaked all convenient damage upon the caravan, overturning wagons and carriages, kicking off wheels, scattering stores and baggage. Next, they turned their attention to the Avventura, but Cugel caused the rope to lengthen and the vessel floated high. The devils jumped up and clawed at the hull, but fell short by fifty feet. Giving up the attack, they seized all the farlocks, tucking them one under each arm, then jumped over the hill and were gone.
Cugel lowered the boat, while teamsters and passengers emerged from the pond. Varmous had been trapped under his overturned carriage and all hands were required to extricate him.
With difficulty Varmous raised himself to stand upon his bruised legs. He surveyed the damage and gave a despondent groan. “This is beyond understanding! Why are we so cursed?” He looked around the bedraggled company. “Where are the look-outs? … Cugel? Shilko? Be good enough to stand forward!”
Cugel and Shilko diffidently showed themselves. Shilko licked his lips and spoke earnestly: “I called out the alarm; all can testify to this! Otherwise the disaster might have been far worse!”
“You were dilatory; the devils were already upon us! What is your explanation?”
Shilko looked all around the sky. “It may sound strange but Cugel wanted to wait until the devils jumped across the gap.”
Varmous turned to Cugel. “I am absolutely bewildered! Why would you not warn us of the danger?”
“I did so, if you will recall! When I first saw the devils, I considered calling the alarm, but —”
“This is most confusing,” said Varmous. “You saw the devils previous to the occasion of your warning?”
“Certainly, but —”
Varmous, grimacing in pain, held up his hand. “I have heard enough. Cugel, your conduct has been unwise, to say the very least.”
“That is not a sound judgment!” cried Cugel hotly.
Varmous made a weary gesture. “Is it not immaterial? The caravan is destroyed! We are left helpless out on the Ildish Waste! In another month the wind will blow sand over our bones.”
Cugel looked down to his boots. They were scuffed and dull, but magic might still reside in them. He pitched his voice in tones of dignity. “The caravan can still proceed, through the courtesy of the excoriated and savagely denounced Cugel.”
Varmous spoke sharply: “Please convey your exact meaning!”
“It is possible that magic still remains in my boots. Make ready your wagons and carriages. I will raise them into the air and we will continue as before.”
Varmous at once became energetic. He instructed his teamsters, who brought as much order as possible to their wagons and carriages. Ropes were tied to each and the passengers took their places. Cugel, walking from vehicle to vehicle, kicked to apply that levitational force still clinging to his boots. The wagons and carriages drifted into the air; the teamsters took the ropes and waited for the signal. Varmous, whose bruised muscles and sprained joints prevented him from walking, elected to ride aboard the Avventura. Cugel started to follow, but Varmous stopped him.
“We need only a single look-out, a man of proved judgment, who will be Shilko. If I were not crippled, I would gladly tow the ship, but that duty must now devolve upon you. Take up the rope, Cugel, and lead the caravan along the road at your best speed.”
Recognizing the futility of protest, Cugel seized the rope and marched off down the road, towing the Avventura behind him.
At sunset, the wagons and carriages were brought down and camp was made for the night. Slavoy, the chief teamster, under the supervision of Varmous, set out the guard-fence; a fire was built and wine was served to defeat the gloom of the company.
Varmous made a terse address. “We have suffered a serious set-back and much damage has been done. Still, it serves no purpose to point the finger of blame. I have made calculations and taken advice from Doctor Lalanke, and I believe that four days of travel will bring us to Kaspara Vitatus, where repairs can be made. Until then, I hope that no one suffers undue inconvenience. A final remark! The events of today are now in the past, but two mysteries still oppress us: the disappearances of Ivanello and Ermaulde. Until these matters are clarified, all must be careful! Wander nowhere alone! At any suspicious circumstance, be sure to notify me.”
The evening meal was served and a mood of almost frenetic gaiety overcame the company. Sush, Skasja and Rlys performed a set of bounding, hopping exercises and presently it became clear that they were mimicking the wind-stick devils.
Clissum became elevated by wine. “Is it not wonderful?” he cried out. “This excellent vintage has stimulated all three segments of my mind, so that while one observes this fire and the Ildish Waste beyond, another composes exquisitely beautiful odes, while the third weaves festoons of imaginary flowers to cover the nudity of passing nymphs, also imaginary!”
The ecclesiarch Gaulph Rabi listened to Clissum with disapproval and put four drops of aspergantium, rather than the customary three, into his own wine. “Is it necessary to go to such inordinate extremes?”
Clissum raised a wavering finger. “For the freshest flowers and the most supple nymphs, the answer is: emphatically yes!”
Gaulph Rabi spoke severely: “At the Collegium we feel that contemplation of even a few infinities is stimulation enough, at least for persons of taste and culture.” He turned away to continue a conversation with Perruquil. Clissum mischievously sprinkled the back of Gaulph Rabi’s gown with a pervasively odorous sachet, which caused the austere ecclesiarch great perplexity to the end of the evening.
With the dying of the embers, the mood of the company again became subdued, and only reluctantly did they go off to their beds.
Aboard the Avventura Varmous and Shilko now occupied the berths which had been those of Ivanello and Ermaulde, while Cugel kept to his tent on the bow.
The night was quiet. Cugel, for all his fatigue, was unable to sleep. Midnight was marked by a muffled chime of the ship’s clock.
