The Dragon of the Ishtar Gate

"It is the nyuki."

"The what?"

Dzaka indicated a creature the length of a finger joint. "Bz-z-z-z! Bz-z-z-z!" he said, moving his index finger in circles. Then he touched himself and cried: "Eh! Eh!"

"I think he means a bee or wasp," said Myron.

"Bees?" said Bessas. "Aye, it might be. With all the other beasts, one can fight, bluff, run, hide, or climb, but none of these acts avails against a swarm of angry bees. Mithra grant that we stumble not upon such! Now tell me, Master Dzaka, where the Astasobas—the River as these folk call it—comes from."

When this had been translated, Dzaka said: Yes, the Astasobas did indeed flow out of a great lake, the Lutta Nzigé, or Shining Slayer of Locusts. Many other streams flowed into this lake and others in the region, so no man could say just where the Astasobas started, as the water from all these streams mingled into one.

"I see," said Myron. "We dispute over the question of where some river rises. But the question really means nothing, because a river rises in as many places as it has tributaries."

"Well, we can truthfully say we have been to the head-waters of the Nile," said Bessas, "even if we do not trace every tributary back to its source. Master Dzaka, have you heard of the stone castle of King Takarta?"

Yes, said Dzaka; he knew of the castle and its guardian demon. But the Tikki-Tikki had not looked into the matter, because they had no reason to- think they could slay the demon or, even if they could, that it would prove edible.

Bessas said: "A practical-minded race—Myron, my jravashi tells me we are followed. Now, I could run five leagues with this little fellow on my shoulders and not tire. But the shaykh and the girls are near exhaustion. So what in the seven Babylonian hells shall we do?"

"Keep on walking, I suppose," said Myron. "They haven't caught us yet. In fact, we don't even know that they are pursuing us."

"Let us hope—" began Bessas, but then Dzaka spoke:

"I hear the barking of dogs behind us."

Nobody else could hear the sound. They straggled on for another hour. Then Bessas said:

"I hear it, too. You were too quick with your hopes, O Myron."

Myron asked: "Could it be a pack of these piebald wild dogs that we have seen pursuing antelope?"

"Nay," said Dzaka. "Wild dogs do not bark like that."

When they climbed a rise, Bessas sent Merqetek up a tree to spy. The Dankala stood in a crotch, shading his eyes against the sun. At last he called down: "I see them, far away. There are at least a hundred, with dogs ... Now they are out of sight again."

"Come down," said Bessas. The Bactrian stamped and swore in a fury of frustration. "May worms eat their guts! May the Corpse Fiend gnaw their bones! May they all be kinless! If there were a few more of us, or less of them, or if we had horses, I would chance a fight. Or, in a barren mountainous land, like Gandara, it were easy to find some rocky point that a handful could hold against a multitude struggling up from below. In thick jungle, such as I have seen in Hind, one can ofttimes give the pursuer the slip, as by walking in a stream bed. But here ..." He helplessly waved towards the gently rolling, parklike landscape. "One can neither fight, nor hide, nor fly. By myself I could outrun them, but of this company only Ajang could keep up with me, and I cannot abandon my comrades."