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 Get the Java skills and know-how that you’ll need
to learn and write successful Android apps

Learn
Java for Android
Development
Jeff “JavaJeff” Friesen
This book was purchased by harshamv@variable3.com
 Learn Java for Android
Development

■■■

Jeff “JavaJeff” Friesen

i
 Learn Java for Android Development
Copyright © 2010 by Jeff “JavaJeff” Friesen
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information
storage or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner and the
publisher.
ISBN-13 (pbk): 978-1-4302-3156-1
ISBN-13 (electronic): 978-1-4302-3157-8
Printed and bound in the United States of America 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Trademarked names, logos, and images may appear in this book. Rather than use a trademark
symbol with every occurrence of a trademarked name, logo, or image we use the names, logos,
and images only in an editorial fashion and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no
intention of infringement of the trademark.
The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if
they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not
they are subject to proprietary rights.
President and Publisher: Paul Manning
Lead Editor: Steve Anglin
Development Editor: Tom Welsh
Technical Reviewer: Paul Connolly
Editorial Board: Clay Andres, Steve Anglin, Mark Beckner, Ewan Buckingham, Gary Cornell,
Jonathan Gennick, Jonathan Hassell, Michelle Lowman, Matthew Moodie, Duncan
Parkes, Jeffrey Pepper, Frank Pohlmann, Douglas Pundick, Ben Renow-Clarke, Dominic
Shakeshaft, Matt Wade, Tom Welsh
Coordinating Editor: Debra Kelly
Copy Editor: Bill McManus
Compositor: MacPS, LLC
Indexer: John Collin
Artist: April Milne
Cover Designer: Anna Ishchenko
Distributed to the book trade worldwide by Springer Science+Business Media, LLC., 233 Spring
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The source code for this book is available to readers at www.apress.com/book/view/1430231564.

ii
To my best friend

iii
 Contents at a Glance

■Contents .......................................................................................................... v
■About the Author ............................................................................................. x
■About the Technical Reviewer........................................................................ xi
■Acknowledgments......................................................................................... xii
■Introduction.................................................................................................. xiii

■Chapter 1: Getting Started with Java .............................................................. 1

■Chapter 2: Learning Language Fundamentals ............................................... 43

■Chapter 3: Learning Object-Oriented Language Features.............................. 97

■Chapter 4: Mastering Advanced Language Features Part 1 ........................ 139

■Chapter 5: Mastering Advanced Language Features Part 2 ........................ 181

■Chapter 6: Exploring the Basic APIs Part 1 ................................................. 227

■Chapter 7: Exploring the Basic APIs Part 2 ................................................. 269

■Chapter 8: Discovering the Collections Framework .................................... 315

■Chapter 9: Discovering Additional Utility APIs ............................................ 381

■Chapter 10: Performing I/O ......................................................................... 449

■Appendix: Solutions to Exercises ................................................................ 533
■Index............................................................................................................ 595

iv
Contents

■Contents at a Glance....................................................................................... iv

■About the Author ............................................................................................. x

■About the Technical Reviewer........................................................................ xi

■Acknowledgments......................................................................................... xii

■Introduction.................................................................................................. xiii

■Chapter 1: Getting Started with Java .............................................................. 1

What Is Java?..........................................................................................................................................................1

Java Is a Language ............................................................................................................................................2

Java Is a Platform ..............................................................................................................................................3

Java SE, Java EE, Java ME, and Android...........................................................................................................5

Installing and Exploring the JDK .............................................................................................................................6

Installing and Exploring Two Popular IDEs............................................................................................................12

NetBeans IDE ...................................................................................................................................................13

Eclipse IDE .......................................................................................................................................................17

Four of a Kind........................................................................................................................................................20

Understanding Four of a Kind ..........................................................................................................................21

Modeling Four of a Kind in Pseudocode ..........................................................................................................21

Converting Pseudocode to Java Code..............................................................................................................23

Compiling, Running, and Distributing FourOfAKind .........................................................................................37

Summary ..............................................................................................................................................................41

■Chapter 2: Learning Language Fundamentals ............................................... 43

Classes..................................................................................................................................................................43

Declaring Classes ............................................................................................................................................44

Introducing Fields ............................................................................................................................................45

Introducing Methods........................................................................................................................................58

Introducing Constructors .................................................................................................................................75

Introducing Other Initializers............................................................................................................................76

Interface Versus Implementation.....................................................................................................................82

v
■ CONTENTS

Objects..................................................................................................................................................................85

Creating Objects and Arrays ............................................................................................................................85

Accessing Fields ..............................................................................................................................................87

Calling Methods ...............................................................................................................................................89

Garbage Collection...........................................................................................................................................92

Summary ..............................................................................................................................................................94

■Chapter 3: Learning Object-Oriented Language Features.............................. 97

Inheritance............................................................................................................................................................97

Extending Classes............................................................................................................................................98

The Ultimate Superclass ................................................................................................................................103

Composition ...................................................................................................................................................112

The Trouble with Implementation Inheritance ...............................................................................................112

Polymorphism .....................................................................................................................................................116

Upcasting and Late Binding ...........................................................................................................................117

Abstract Classes and Abstract Methods ........................................................................................................120

Downcasting and Runtime Type Identification ..............................................................................................121

Covariant Return Types..................................................................................................................................123

Interfaces............................................................................................................................................................125

Declaring Interfaces.......................................................................................................................................125

Implementing Interfaces................................................................................................................................127

Extending Interfaces ......................................................................................................................................130

Why Use Interfaces? ......................................................................................................................................131

Summary ............................................................................................................................................................137

■Chapter 4: Mastering Advanced Language Features Part 1 ........................ 139

Nested Types ......................................................................................................................................................139

Static Member Classes ..................................................................................................................................139

Nonstatic Member Classes ............................................................................................................................142

Anonymous Classes.......................................................................................................................................146

Local Classes .................................................................................................................................................148

Interfaces Within Classes ..............................................................................................................................150

Packages ............................................................................................................................................................151

What Are Packages?......................................................................................................................................151

The Package Statement.................................................................................................................................152

The Import Statement ....................................................................................................................................153

Searching for Packages and Types................................................................................................................154

Playing with Packages...................................................................................................................................155

Packages and JAR Files.................................................................................................................................159

Static Imports .....................................................................................................................................................160

Exceptions ..........................................................................................................................................................161

What Are Exceptions? ....................................................................................................................................162

Representing Exceptions in Source Code ......................................................................................................162

Throwing Exceptions......................................................................................................................................166

Handling Exceptions ......................................................................................................................................168

Performing Cleanup .......................................................................................................................................172

Summary ............................................................................................................................................................178

■Chapter 5: Mastering Advanced Language Features Part 2 ........................ 181

Assertions ...........................................................................................................................................................181

vi
 ■ CONTENTS

Declaring Assertions......................................................................................................................................182

Using Assertions ............................................................................................................................................183

Avoiding Assertions .......................................................................................................................................188

Enabling and Disabling Assertions.................................................................................................................189

Annotations.........................................................................................................................................................190

Discovering Annotations ................................................................................................................................190

Declaring Annotation Types and Annotating Source Code.............................................................................193

Processing Annotations .................................................................................................................................198

Generics..............................................................................................................................................................200

Collections and the Need for Type Safety......................................................................................................200

Generic Types ................................................................................................................................................202

Generic Methods............................................................................................................................................212

Enums .................................................................................................................................................................214

The Trouble with Traditional Enumerated Types ...........................................................................................214

The Enum Alternative.....................................................................................................................................215

The Enum Class .............................................................................................................................................220

Summary ............................................................................................................................................................225

■Chapter 6: Exploring the Basic APIs Part 1 ................................................. 227

Math APIs............................................................................................................................................................227

Math and StrictMath ......................................................................................................................................227

BigDecimal.....................................................................................................................................................234

BigInteger ......................................................................................................................................................239

Package Information...........................................................................................................................................243

Primitive Wrapper Classes..................................................................................................................................247

Boolean ..........................................................................................................................................................248

Character .......................................................................................................................................................250

Float and Double............................................................................................................................................251

Integer, Long, Short, and Byte .......................................................................................................................255

Number ..........................................................................................................................................................257

References API....................................................................................................................................................257

Basic Terminology .........................................................................................................................................257

Reference and ReferenceQueue ....................................................................................................................259

SoftReference ................................................................................................................................................260

WeakReference..............................................................................................................................................263

PhantomReference ........................................................................................................................................263

Summary ............................................................................................................................................................268

■Chapter 7: Exploring the Basic APIs Part 2 ................................................. 269

Reflection API......................................................................................................................................................269

String Management ............................................................................................................................................277

String .............................................................................................................................................................278

StringBuffer ...................................................................................................................................................281

System ................................................................................................................................................................284

Threading API......................................................................................................................................................287

Runnable and Thread.....................................................................................................................................288

Thread Synchronization .................................................................................................................................296

Summary ............................................................................................................................................................313

■Chapter 8: Discovering the Collections Framework .................................... 315

vii
■ CONTENTS

Framework Overview..........................................................................................................................................315

Comparable Versus Comparator ....................................................................................................................316

Iterable and Collection ........................................................................................................................................318

Iterator and the Enhanced For Loop Statement .............................................................................................321

Autoboxing and Unboxing ..............................................................................................................................323

List ......................................................................................................................................................................325

ArrayList.........................................................................................................................................................329

LinkedList ......................................................................................................................................................330

Set.......................................................................................................................................................................332

TreeSet ..........................................................................................................................................................332

HashSet..........................................................................................................................................................333

EnumSet ........................................................................................................................................................337

SortedSet ............................................................................................................................................................339

Queue..................................................................................................................................................................346

PriorityQueue .................................................................................................................................................348

Map.....................................................................................................................................................................351

TreeMap.........................................................................................................................................................355

HashMap........................................................................................................................................................356

IdentityHashMap ............................................................................................................................................362

WeakHashMap ...............................................................................................................................................364

EnumMap.......................................................................................................................................................366

SortedMap ..........................................................................................................................................................367

Utilities................................................................................................................................................................369

Classic Collections Classes.................................................................................................................................372

Summary ............................................................................................................................................................379

■Chapter 9: Discovering Additional Utility APIs ............................................ 381

Concurrency Utilities...........................................................................................................................................381

Executors .......................................................................................................................................................381

Synchronizers ................................................................................................................................................390

Concurrent Collections...................................................................................................................................392

Locks .............................................................................................................................................................394

Atomic Variables ............................................................................................................................................397

Internationalization APIs .....................................................................................................................................397

Locales...........................................................................................................................................................398

Resource Bundles ..........................................................................................................................................400

Break Iterators ...............................................................................................................................................409

Collators.........................................................................................................................................................413

Dates, Time Zones, and Calendars ................................................................................................................415

Formatters .....................................................................................................................................................421

Preferences API ..................................................................................................................................................428

Random Number Generation...............................................................................................................................432

Regular Expressions API .....................................................................................................................................434

Summary ............................................................................................................................................................447

■Chapter 10: Performing I/O ......................................................................... 449

File ......................................................................................................................................................................449

RandomAccessFile..............................................................................................................................................462

Streams ..............................................................................................................................................................473

viii
 ■ CONTENTS

Stream Classes Overview ..............................................................................................................................473

OutputStream and InputStream .....................................................................................................................475

ByteArrayOutputStream and ByteArrayInputStream......................................................................................477

FileOutputStream and FileInputStream..........................................................................................................479

PipedOutputStream and PipedInputStream ...................................................................................................481

FilterOutputStream and FilterInputStream.....................................................................................................485

BufferedOutputStream and BufferedInputStream..........................................................................................492

DataOutputStream and DataInputStream ......................................................................................................493

Object Serialization and Deserialization ........................................................................................................496

PrintStream....................................................................................................................................................508

Writers and Readers ...........................................................................................................................................511

Writer and Reader Classes Overview.............................................................................................................512

Writer and Reader..........................................................................................................................................513

OutputStreamWriter and InputStreamReader ................................................................................................514

FileWriter and FileReader ..............................................................................................................................518

Summary ............................................................................................................................................................530

The Road Goes Ever On..................................................................................................................................530

■Appendix: Solutions to Exercises ................................................................ 533

Chapter 1: Getting Started with Java..................................................................................................................533

Chapter 2: Learning Language Fundamentals ....................................................................................................539

Chapter 3: Learning Object-Oriented Language Features...................................................................................542

Chapter 4: Mastering Advanced Language Features Part 1................................................................................549

Chapter 5: Mastering Advanced Language Features Part 2................................................................................555

Chapter 6: Exploring the Basic APIs Part 1 .........................................................................................................560

Chapter 7: Exploring the Basic APIs Part 2 .........................................................................................................563

Chapter 8: Discovering the Collections Framework............................................................................................569

Chapter 9: Discovering Additional Utility APIs.....................................................................................................575

Chapter 10: Performing I/O .................................................................................................................................581

■Index............................................................................................................ 595

ix
 ■ CONTENTS

About the Author

Jeff “JavaJeff” Friesen has been actively involved with Java since the late
1990s. Jeff has worked with Java in various companies, including a
healthcare-oriented consulting firm, where he created his own Java/C++
This book was purchased by harshamv@variable3.com

software for working with smart cards. Jeff has written about Java in
numerous articles for JavaWorld (www.javaworld.com), informIT
(www.informit.com), and java.net (http://java.net), and has authored
several books on Java, including Beginning Java SE 6 Platform: From Novice
to Professional (Apress, 2007; ISBN: 159059830X), which focuses exclusively
on Java version 6’s new and improved features. Jeff has also taught Java in
university and college continuing education classes. He has a Bachelor of
Science degree in mathematics and computer science from Brandon
University in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada, and currently freelances in Java
and other software technologies.

x
 ■ CONTENTS

About the Technical

Reviewer

Paul Connolly is the Director of Engineering for Atypon Systems'

RightSuite product line. RightSuite is an enterprise access-control and
commerce solution used by many of the world's largest publishing and
media companies. Paul enjoys designing and implementing high-
performance, enterprise-class software systems. He is also an active
contributor in the open-source community.
Prior to joining Atypon Systems, Paul worked as a senior software
engineer at Standard & Poor's where he architected and developed key
communications systems. Paul is a Sun Certified Java Programmer, Sun
Certified Business Component Developer, and a Sun Certified Web
Component Developer. Paul lives in New York City with his wife, Marina.

xi
■ CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

I thank Steve Anglin for contacting me to write this book, Debra Kelly for guiding me through the
various aspects of this project, Tom Welsh for helping me with the development of my chapters,
Paul Connolly for his diligence in catching various flaws that would otherwise have made it into
this book, and Bill McManus and the production team for making the book’s content look good.
It has been many years since I started writing about Java, and I also thank the following
editors who have helped me share my knowledge with others: Chris Adamson, Bridget Collins,
Richard Dal Porto, Sean Dixon, Victoria Elzey, Kevin Farnham, Todd Green, Jennifer Orr, Athen
O’Shea, Esther Schindler, Daniel Steinberg, Jill Steinberg, Dustin Sullivan, and Atlanta Wilson.

xii
Introduction
Smartphones and other touch-based mobile devices are all the rage these days. Their popularity
is largely due to their ability to run apps. Although the iPhone and iPad with their growing
collection of Objective-C-based apps are the leaders of the pack, Android-based smartphones
with their growing collection of Java-based apps are proving to be a strong competitor.
Not only are many iPhone/iPad developers making money by selling their apps, many
Android developers are also making money by selling similar apps. According to tech websites
such as The Register (www.theregister.co.uk/), some Android developers are making lots of
money (www.theregister.co.uk/2010/03/02/android_app_profit/).
In today’s tough economic climate, perhaps you would like to try your hand at becoming an
Android developer and make some money. If you have good ideas, perseverance, and some
artistic talent (or perhaps know some talented individuals), you are already part of the way
toward achieving this goal.

Tip: A good reason to consider Android app development over iPhone/iPad app development is the lower
startup costs that you will incur with Android. For example, you do not need to purchase a Mac on which to
develop Android apps (a Mac is required for developing iPhone/iPad apps); your existing Windows, Linux,
or Unix machine will do nicely.

Most importantly, you will need to possess a solid understanding of the Java language and
foundational application programming interfaces (APIs) before jumping into Android. After all,
Android apps are written in Java and interact with many of the standard Java APIs (such as
threading and input/output APIs).
I wrote Learn Java for Android Development to give you a solid Java foundation that you can
later extend with knowledge of Android architecture, API, and tool specifics. This book will give
you a strong grasp of the Java language and many important APIs that are fundamental to
Android apps and other Java applications. It will also introduce you to key development tools.
Learn Java for Android Development is organized into ten chapters and one appendix. Each
chapter focuses on a collection of related topics and presents a set of exercises that you should
complete to get the most benefit from the chapter’s content. The appendix provides the solutions
to each chapter’s exercises.

xiii
■ INTRODUCTION

Note: You can download this book’s source code by pointing your web browser to
www.apress.com/book/view/1430231564 and clicking the Source Code link under Book Resources.
Although most of this code is compilable with Java version 6, you will need Java version 7 to compile one
of the applications.

Chapter 1 introduces you to Java by first focusing on Java’s dual nature (language and
platform). It then briefly introduces you to Sun’s/Oracle’s Java SE, Java EE, and Java ME editions
of the Java development software, as well as Google’s Android edition. You next learn how to
download and install the Java SE Development Kit (JDK), and learn some Java basics by
developing and playing with a pair of simple Java applications. After receiving a brief
introduction to the NetBeans and Eclipse IDEs, you learn about application development in the
context of Four of a Kind, a console-based card game.
Chapter 2 starts you on an in-depth journey of the Java language by focusing on language
fundamentals (such as types, expressions, variables, and statements) in the contexts of classes
and objects. Because applications are largely based on classes, it is important to learn how to
architect classes correctly, and this chapter shows you how to do so.
Chapter 3 adds to Chapter 2’s pool of object-based knowledge by introducing you to those
language features that take you from object-based applications to object-oriented applications.
Specifically, you learn about features related to inheritance, polymorphism, and interfaces. While
exploring inheritance, you learn about Java’s ultimate superclass. Also, while exploring interfaces,
you discover the real reason for their inclusion in the Java language; interfaces are not merely a
workaround for Java’s lack of support for multiple implementation inheritance, but serve a
higher purpose.
Chapter 4 introduces you to four categories of advanced language features: nested types,
packages, static imports, and exceptions. While discussing nested types, I briefly introduce the
concept of a closure and state that closures will appear in Java version 7 (which many expect to
arrive later this year).

Note: I wrote this book several months before Java version 7’s expected arrival in the fall of 2010.
Although I have tried to present an accurate portrayal of version 7–specific language features, it is possible
that feature syntax may differ somewhat from what is presented in this book. Also, I only discuss closures
briefly because this feature was still in a state of flux while writing this book. For more information about
closures and other functional programming concepts (such as lambdas) being considered for Java version 7, I
recommend that you check out articles such as “Functional Programming Concepts in JDK 7” by Alex Collins
(http://java.dzone.com/articles/lambdas-closures-jdk-7).

Chapter 5 continues to explore advanced language features by focusing on assertions,

annotations, generics, and enums. Although the topic of generics has brought confusion to many
developers, I believe that my discussion of this topic will clear up much of the murkiness. Among
other items, you learn how to interpret type declarations such as Enum<E extends Enum<E>>.
Chapter 6 begins a trend that focuses more on APIs than language features. This chapter first
introduces you to many of Java’s math-oriented types (such as Math, StrictMath, BigDecimal, and
BigInteger), and also introduces you to Java’s strictfp reserved word. It then looks at the
Package class, primitive wrapper classes, and the References API.

xiv
Another Random Scribd Document
with Unrelated Content
"There're many mysteries about the Xurdimur. However, they needn't
concern us. Now, do you know that the Estoryans' Book of Gods
places much more ritual-power in freshly killed and cooked fish than
in smoked fish? However, they've always had to be content with the
dried fish the windrollers brought them. What price would they not
pay for living sea-fish?"
Miran rubbed his palms together. "Indeed it does make one
wonder...?"
Green then outlined his idea. Miran sat stunned. Not at the audacity
or originality of the plan, but because it was so obvious that he
wondered why neither he nor anyone else had ever thought of it. He
said so.
Green drank his wine and said, "I suppose that people wondered the
same when the first wheel or bow and arrow were invented. So
obvious, yet no one thought of them until then."
"Let me get this straight," said Miran. "You want me to buy a
caravan of wagons, build water-tight tanks into them and use them
to transport ocean fish back to here? Then the wagon bodies, with
their contents, will be lifted onto my windroller and fitted into
specially prepared racks—or perhaps, holes—on the middeck? Also,
you will show me how to analyze sea water so that its formula may
be sold to the Estoryans, and they can thus keep the fish alive in
their own tanks?"
"That's right."
"Hmmm." Miran ran his fat, ring-studded finger over his hook nose
and the square gold ornament hanging therefrom. His single eye
glared pale-bluely at Green. The other was covered with a white
patch to hide the emptiness left after a ball from a Ving musket had
struck it.
"It's four weeks until the very last day on which I can set sail from
here and still get to Estorya and back before the rains come. It's just
barely possible to have the tanks built, get them convoyed down to
the seashore, get the fish in and bring them back. Meantime, I can
be having the deck altered. If my men work day and night we can
make it."
"Of course, this is a one-shot proposition. You can't possibly keep a
monopoly on the idea, once the first trip is over. Too many people
are bound to talk, and the other captains will hear of it."
"I know; don't teach an Effenycan to suck eggs. But what if the fish
should die?"
Green shrugged and spread out his palms. "A possibility. You're
taking a tremendous gamble. But every voyage on the Xurdimur is,
isn't it? How many windrollers come back? Or how many can boast
your list of forty successful trips?"
"Not many," said Miran.
He slumped in his seat, brooding over his goblet of wine. His eye,
sunk in ranges of fat, seemed to stare through Green. The Earthman
pretended indifference, though his heart was pounding, and he
controlled his breathing with difficulty.
"You're asking a great deal," Miran finally said. "If the Duke were to
find out that I'd agreed to help a valued slave escape, I'd be
tortured in a most refined way, and the Clan Effenycan would be
stripped of all its rights to sail windrollers and would probably be
exiled to its native hills. Or else would have to take to piracy. And
that, despite all the glamorous stories you hear, is not a very well-
paying profession."
"You'd make a killing in Estorya."
"True, but when I think of what the Duchess will do when she
discovers you've fled the country! Ow, ow, ow!"
"There's no reason why you should be connected with my
disappearance. A dozen craft leave the harbor every day. Besides,
for all she'll know, I've gone the opposite way, over the hills and to
the ocean. Or to the hills themselves, where many runaway slaves
are."
"Yes, but I have to return to Tropat. And my clansmen, though
notoriously tight-lipped when sober, are also, I must confess,
notorious drunkards. Someone'd be sure to babble in the taverns."
"I'll dye my hair black, cut it short, like a Tzatlam tribesman, and
sign on."
"You forget that you have to belong to my clan in order to be a crew
member."
"Hmmm. Well, what about this adoption-by-blood routine?"
"What about it? I can't propose that unless you've done something
spectacular and for the profit of the clan. Wait! Can you play any
musical instrument?"
Promptly, Green lied. "Oh, I am a wonderful harpist. When I play I
can soothe a hungry grass cat into lying down at my feet and licking
my toes with pure affection."
"Excellent! Though it would not be an affection so pure, since it is
well known that the grass cat considers a man's toes a great
delicacy and always eats them first, even before the eyes. Listen
well. Here is what you must do in four weeks' time, for if all goes
well, or all goes ill, we set sail on the Week of the Oak, the Day of
the Sky, the Hour of the Lark, a most propitious time...."
 5
To Green, the next three weeks seemed to have shifted to low gear,
they crept by so slowly. Yet they should have raced by quickly
enough, so full of schemes and plots were they. He had to advise
Miran on the many technical details involved in building tanks for the
fish. He had to keep the Duchess happy, an increasingly difficult job
because it was impossible to pretend a one-hundred-per-cent
absorption in her while his mind desperately looked for flaws in his
plans, found oh, so many, and then as anxiously sought ways of
repairing them. Nevertheless he knew it was vital that he not
displease or bore her. Prison would forever ruin his chances.
Worst of all, Amra was getting suspicious.
"You're trying to conceal something from me," she told Green. "You
ought to know better. I can tell when a man is deceiving me. There's
something about the voice, the eyes, the way he makes love, though
you've been doing very little of that. What are you plotting?"
"I assure you it's simply that I'm very tired," he said sharply. "All I
want is some peace and quiet, a little rest and a little privacy now
and then."
"Don't try to tell me that's all!"
She cocked her head to one side and squinted at him, managing
somehow even in this grotesque attitude to look ravishingly
beautiful.
Suddenly she said, "You wouldn't be thinking of running away, would
you?"
For a second he became pale. Damn the woman anyway!
"Don't be ridiculous," he said, trying hard to keep his voice from
cracking. "I'm too much aware of the penalties if I were caught.
Besides, why should I want to run away? You are the most desirable
woman I've ever known. (This was the truth.) Though you're not the
easiest one in the world to live with. (A master understatement.) I
would have gotten no place without you. (True; but he couldn't
spend the rest of his life on this barbarous world.) And it is
unthinkable that I would want to leave you." (Inexpressible, yes, but
not unthinkable. He couldn't take her with him, for the simple reason
that even if she would go she would never fit in his life on Earth.
She'd be absolutely unhappy. Moreover, she'd not go anyway,
because she'd refuse to abandon her children and would try to take
them along, thus wrecking all his escape plans. He might just as well
hire a brass band and march behind it out of the city and onto the
windroller in the light of high noon.)
Nevertheless his conscience troubled him. If it was painful to leave
Amra it was hell to leave Paxi, his daughter. For days he had
considered taking her along with him, but eventually abandoned the
idea. Trying to steal her from under Amra's fiercely watchful gaze
was almost impossible. Moreover, Paxi would miss her mother
terribly, and he had no business exposing the baby to the risks of
the voyage, which were many. Amra would be doubly hurt. Losing
him would be bad enough, but to lose Paxi also...! No, he couldn't
do that to her.
The outcome of this conversation with her was that she apparently
dropped her suspicions. At least she never spoke of them again. He
was glad of that, for it was impossible to keep entirely hidden his
connection with the mysterious actions of Miran the Merchant. The
whole city knew something was up. There was undoubtedly a lot of
money tied up with this deal of the wagon caravan going to the
seashore. But what did it all mean? Neither Miran nor Green would
say a word, and while the Duke and Duchess might have used their
authority to get the information from their slave, the Duke made no
move. Miran had promised to let him in on a share of the profits,
provided he gave the merchant a free hand and asked no questions.
The Duke was quite content. He planned on spending the money to
increase his collection of glass birds. He had ten large rooms of the
castle glittering with his fantastic aviary: shining, silent and
grotesquely beautiful, all products of the glass-blowers of the
fabulous city of Metzva Moosh, far, far away across the grassy sea of
the Xurdimur.
Green was present when the Duke talked to Miran about it.
"Now, Captain, you must understand just exactly what I do want,"
warned the ruler, lifting a finger to emphasize the seriousness of his
words. His eyes, usually deep-sunk in their fat, had widened to
reveal large, brown and soulful orbs. The passion for his hobby
shone forth. Nothing: good Chalousma wine, his wife, the torture of
a heretic or runaway slave, could make him quiver and glitter with
delight as much as the thought of the exquisitely wrought image of
a Metzva Moosh bird.
"I want two or three, but no more because I can't afford more. All
made by Izan Yushwa, the greatest of the glass-blowers. I'd
particularly like any modeled after the bird-of-terror...."
"But when I was last in Estorya I heard that Izan Yushwa was
dying," said Miran.
"Excellent, excellent!" cried the Duke. "That will make everything
recently created by him even more valuable! If he is dead now it is
probable that the Estoryans, who control the export of the
Mooshans, will be putting a high price on anything of his that comes
their way. That means that bidding will be high during the festival
and that you must outbid any prospective buyers. By all means do
so. Pay any price, for I must have something created by him in his
last days!"
The Duke, Green realized, was so eager because of the belief that a
part of a dying artist's soul entered into his latest creations when he
died. These were called "soul-works" and brought ten times as much
as anything else, even if the conception and execution were inferior
to previous works.
Sourly Miran said, "But you have given me no money to buy your
birds."
"Of course not. You will lend me the sum, buy them yourself, and
when you come back with them I will raise the money to repay you."
Miran didn't seem too happy, but Green knew that the fat merchant
was already planning to charge the Duke double the purchase price.
As for Green, he liked to see a man interested in a hobby, but he
was disgusted because taxes would now be raised in order to allow
the Duke to add to his collection.
The Duchess, bored as usual by her husband's conversation,
suddenly said, "Honey, let's go hunting next weekend. I've been so
restless lately, so unable to sleep nights. I think I've been cooped up
too long in this dismal old place. My digestion has been so sluggish
lately. I think I need the exercise and the fresh air." And she went
into vivid detail about certain aspects of her gastrointestinal
troubles. The Earthman, who'd thought he was hardened to this
people's custom of dwelling on such matters, turned green.
At the suggestion of a hunt the Duke didn't exactly groan, but his
eyes rolled upward in supplication to the gods. Until he had reached
the age of thirty he had enjoyed a good hunt. But like most upper-
class men of his culture, he rapidly put on flesh after thirty and
became as sedentary as possible. The belief was that fat increased a
man's life span. Also, a big belly and double chin were signs of
aristocratic blood and a full purse. Unfortunately, along with this
came an inevitable decline in vigor, which, coupled with the
December-May marriages that their society expected of them, had
given birth to another institution: the slave male companion of the
rich man's young wife.
It was toward Green that the Duke looked. "Why not let him conduct
the hunt?" he suggested hopefully. "I've so much business to take
care of."
"Like sitting on your fat cushion and contemplating your glass birds,"
she said. "No!"
"Very well," he said, resignedly. "I've a slave in the work-pens who's
to be executed for striking a foreman. We'll use him as the quarry.
But I think we ought to give him two weeks to build up his wind and
legs. Otherwise it would hardly be sporting, you know."
The Duchess frowned. "No. I'm getting bored; I can't stand this
inaction any longer."
She shot a glance at Green. He felt his stomach muscles contracting.
Evidently she'd noticed his lukewarm interest in her. This hunt was
partly to suggest to him that he'd be meeting a like fate unless he
perked up and began to be more entertaining.
It wasn't that thought that made his heart sink. It was that next
weekend was when Miran's windroller raised sail and when he
planned to be aboard it. Now, he'd be gone conducting the hunting
party up in the hills.
Green looked appealingly at Miran, but the merchant's shoulders
rose beneath the yellow robe as if to say, "What can I do?"
He was right. Miran couldn't suggest that he too go along on the
hunt, and thus give Green a chance to slip aboard afterward. The
day on which the Bird of Fortune was scheduled to leave the
windbreak was absolutely the last date on which it could set sail. He
couldn't afford to take the chance of being caught in the rains in the
middle of the vast plains.
 6
All the next day Green was too busy setting up the schedule of the
hunting party to have time to be gloomy. But when night came he
seemed to fold up inside himself. Could he pretend to be sick, too,
and be left behind when the party set out?
No, for they would at once assume that he had been possessed by a
demon and would pack him off to the Temple of Apoquoz, God of
Healing. There he'd be under lock and key until he proved himself
healthy. The terrible part about going to the Temple of Apoquoz was
that it made death almost inevitable. If you didn't die of your own
disease you caught somebody else's.
Green wasn't worried about catching any of the many diseases he'd
be exposed to in the Temple. Like all men of terrestrial descent, he
carried in his body a surgically implanted protoplasmic entity which
automatically analyzed any invading microscopic organisms and/or
viruses and manufactured antibodies to combat them. It lived in the
space created by the removal of his appendix; when working to fulfill
its mission it demanded food and radiated a heat that assured its
host of its heartening presence. An increased appetite plus a slight
fever indicated that it was killing off the disease and that within
several hours it would successfully repel any boarders. In the two
years Green had been on the planet it had had to attack at least
forty times; Green calculated that he would have been dead each
and every time if it had not been for his symbiote.
Knowing this didn't help him. If he played sick he'd be locked up and
couldn't get on the 'roller. If he went on the hunting party he missed
the boat, too.
Suppose he were to disappear the night before the party, to hide on
the windroller while the castle vainly looked for him?
Not very likely. The first thing that would occur to Zuni would be to
order the windbreak closed and all 'rollers searched for a possible
stowaway. And if that happened Miran would be so delayed that it
was unlikely he'd sail. Even if he, Green, hid in Miran's cabin, where
he would probably be safe, there would still be the inevitable and
totally frustrating delay.
Then why not disappear several days earlier, so that Miran could
have time to reload his cargo? He'd see the merchant tomorrow. If
Miran fell in with his plans, Green would disappear four nights from
this very night, which would leave three days for the windroller to be
emptied and reloaded. Fortunately the tanks wouldn't have to be
taken off, because any fool could see that the runaway wasn't hiding
at the bottom among the fish.
Much relieved that he at least had a way open, if a very perilous
one, Green relaxed. He was sitting on a bench along a walk on top
of one of the castle walls. The sky was blazingly beautiful with stars
larger than any seen from Earth. The great moon and the small
moon had risen. The larger had just cleared the eastern horizon and
the lesser one was just past the zenith. Mingled moonwash and
starwash softened the grimness and ugliness of the city below him
and laved it in a flood of romance and glamour. Most of Quotz was
unlighted, for the streets had no lamps and the windows were shut
up tight against thieves, vampires and demons. Occasionally the
torchflares of the servants of a drunken noble or rich man moved
down the dark canyons between the towering overhanging houses.
Beyond the city was the amphitheater formed by the hills curving
out to the north and the great brick wall built to continue the natural
windbreak. A wide opening had been left so that the 'rollers, their
sails furled, could be towed in or out. Past this the great plain
suddenly began, as if the hand of some immense landscaper had
pressed the hills flat and declared that from here on there would be
no unevennesses.
Westward lay the incredibly level stretch of the grassy ground of the
Xurdimur. Ten thousand miles straight across, flat as a table top,
broken only here and there by clumps of forests, ruins of cities,
waterholes, the tents of the nomadic savages, herds of wild animals,
packs of grass cats and dire dogs, and the mysterious and
undoubtedly imaginary "roaming islands," great clumps of rock and
dirt that legend said slid of their own volition over the plains. How
like this planet, he thought, that the greatest peril to navigation
should be one that existed only in the heads of the inhabitants.
The Xurdimur was a fabulous phenomenon, without parallel. On
none of the many planets that Earthmen had discovered was there
anything similar. How, he wondered, could the plain keep its
smoothness, when there was always dirt running on to it from the
eroding hills and mountains that ringed it? The rains, too, should
have done much to wear it away unevenly. Of course, the grass that
grew all over it was long and had very tough roots. And if what he
had been told was true, beneath the vegetation was one mass of
inextricably tangled roots that held the soil together.
There was another thing to consider, though: the winds that blew all
the way across the Xurdimur and furnished propulsion for the
wheeled sailing craft. To have winds you must have pressure
differentials, which were usually caused by heat differentials.
Although the Xurdimur was ringed by mountains there were no large
eminences on it for ten thousand miles, nothing to replenish the
currents of air. Or so it seemed to his limited knowledge of
meteorology, though he did wonder how the trade winds that swept
Earth's seas managed to keep going for so many thousands of
leagues, just on their original impetus. Or did they get boosts? He
didn't know.
What he did know was that the Xurdimur was a thing that shouldn't
be. Yet, the very presence of men here was just as amazing, just as
preposterous. Homo sapiens was scattered throughout the Galaxy.
Everywhere that the space-traveling Earthmen had gone, they had
found that about every fourth inhabitable planet was populated by
men of their species. The proof lay not just in the outward physical
resemblance of terrestrial and extra-terrestrial; it lay in their ability
to breed. Earthman, Sirian, Albirean, Vegan, it made no difference.
Their men could have children by the women of other planets.
Naturally there had been many theories to account for this fact. All
had as a common basis the assumption that Homo sapiens had
sometime, somewhere, in the very remote past, originated on one
planet and then had spread out over the Galaxy from it. And,
somehow, space travel had been lost and each race had gone back
to savagery, only to begin again the long hard struggle toward
civilization and the re-discovery of spaceships. Why, no one knew.
One could only guess.
There was the problem of language. It might seem that if man had
come from a common birthplace he would at least have kept a trace
of his home language and that the linguists could break down the
development of tongue and link one planet to another through it.
But no. Every world had its own Tower of Babel, its own ten
thousand languages. The terrestrial scientist might trace Russian and
English and Swedish, and Lithuanian and Persian and Hindustani
back to a proto-Indo-European, but he had never found on any
other planet a language which he could say had also derived from
the Aryan Ursprache.
Green's mind wandered to the two Earthmen now imprisoned in the
city of Estorya. He hoped they weren't being treated badly. They
could be in horrible pain at this very moment, if the priests felt like
subjecting them to a little demon-testing.
Thinking of torture led him to sit up a little straighter and to stretch
his arms and legs. In an hour he was supposed to meet the
Duchess. To do that he had to go through the supposedly secret
door in the wall of the turret at the northern end of the walk, up a
stairway through a passage between the walls, and so to the
Duchess's apartments. There one of the maids-of-honor would usher
him into Zuni's presence and then would try to eavesdrop so she
could report to the Duke later on. Zuni and Green weren't supposed
to know about this, but were to pretend that she was their trusted
confidante.
When the great bell of the Temple of the God of Time, Grooza,
struck, Green would rise from his bench and go to what he now
thought of as a wearisome chore. If that woman could only be
interested in talking of something else besides her complexion or
digestion, or idle palace gossip, it wouldn't be so bad. But no, she
chattered on and on, and Green would get increasingly sleepy, yet
would not dare drop off for fear of irreparably offending her. And to
do that....
 7
The lesser moon had touched the western horizon and the greater
was nearing the zenith when Green awoke and jumped to his feet,
swearing in sheer terror. He'd fallen asleep and kept Zuni waiting.
"My God, what'll she say?" he said aloud. "What'll I tell her?"
"You needn't tell me anything," came her angry retort from very
close by. He started, and whirled around and saw that she'd been
standing behind him. She was wrapped in a robe, but her pale face
gleamed from beneath the overhanging hood and her mouth was
opened. White teeth flashed as she began accusing him of not loving
her, of being bored by her, of loving some other woman, probably a
slave girl, a good-for-nothing, lazy, brainless, emptily pretty wench.
If his situation hadn't been so serious Green would have smiled at
her self-portrayal.
He tried to dam the flood, but to no avail. She screeched at him to
shut up, and when he put his fingers to his lips and said, "Shhh!"
she replied by raising her voice even more.
"You know you're not supposed to be out of your rooms after dark
unless the Duke is along," he said, taking her elbow and attempting
to steer her down the walk toward the secret door. "If the guards
see you there'll be trouble, bad trouble. Let's go."
Unfortunately the guards did see them. Torches appeared at the foot
of the steps below the walk, and iron helmets and cuirasses
gleamed. Green tried to urge her on faster, for there was still time to
make it to the door. She jerked her arm loose and shouted, "Take
your filthy hands off me, you Northern slave! The Duchess of Tropat
doesn't allow herself to be pushed around by a blond beast!"
"Damn it," he snarled, and he shoved her. "You stupid kizmaiaz! Get
going! You won't be tortured if they find us together!"
Zuni jerked away. Her face twisted and her mouth worked
soundlessly. "Kizmaiaz!" she finally gasped. "Kizmaiaz yourself!"
Suddenly she began screaming. Before he could clamp his hand over
her mouth, she dashed past him and toward the steps. It was then
that he came out of his paralysis and ran, not after her, which he
knew was useless, but toward the secret door. All was up. It was
absolutely no use trying to explain to the guards. The situation had
now entered a conventional phase. She would tell the guards that he
had come into her room, through some unknown means—which
would be "found out" later—and had dragged her out onto the walk,
apparently with the intention of violating her. Why he should pick a
public place when he already had the privacy of her rooms would
not be asked. And the guards, though they would know what really
had happened, would pretend to believe her and would furiously
seize him and drag him off to the dungeons. The absurd thing about
it was that within a few days the whole city, including Zuni herself,
would believe that her story was true. By the time he'd been
executed they would hate his guts, and the lot of all the slaves
would be miserable for a while because they would share his blame.
Green had no intention of being seized. Flight was an admission of
guilt, but it made no difference now.
He ran through the secret door, shut and bolted it and raced up the
steps that led to her apartments. The guards would have to take the
long way around; he had at least two minutes before they could
unlock the two doors of the ante-rooms to her quarters, explain to
the guards just outside them what had happened and begin a search
for him. As for him, he was running like a rabbit, but he was thinking
like a fox. Having known that just such a situation might arise, he
had long ago planned in detail several possible courses of action.
Now, he chose the likeliest one and began acting efficiently—if not
smoothly.
The staircase was a narrow corkscrew with room for only one person
at a time to go up. He ran up it so fast that he got dizzy with the
ever-winding turns. He reeled and had trouble keeping from falling
to his left when he did arrive at its top. Nevertheless he did not
pause to catch breath or balance but pulled the lever that would
make the door swing out. He burst through it. No one there, thank
God. He stopped for a moment, listened to make sure nobody was in
the next room, then pushed on a boss set in a pattern of bronze
protuberances, which was connected with the mechanism that
operated the secret door. The section of wall swung back silently
until it was flush with the rest, and quite indistinguishable. He then
twisted the knob so the door couldn't be opened from the other side.
Green took time to give fervent thanks to the builders of the castle,
who had prepared this device for the owners to hide within in case
of a successful invasion or revolt. If it had not been there he could
not have escaped.
Escaped? He'd only put off his inevitable capture. But he intended to
run as long as he could and then fight until they were forced to kill
him.
The first thing to do was to find a weapon. As a matter of fact, he
was so familiar with Zuni's rooms that he knew exactly where he
could get what he wanted. He walked through two large rooms,
making his way easily even through the feeble duskish light that the
few oil lamps and candles furnished. Hanging from the wall of the
third room was a saber made of the best steel obtainable on this
planet and fashioned by the greatest smiths, the swordwrights of
faraway and almost legendary Talamasko. The blade was a gift from
Zuni's father on the occasion of her wedding to the Duke. It was
supposed to be given by Zuni to her eldest son when he came of
weapon-carrying age. The hilt had a guard on which was inscribed in
gold the motto: Sooner hell than dishonor. He fastened sword and
scabbard to an iron ring on his broad leather belt, went to a
luxurious dressing table, pulled open a drawer and took out a
stiletto. This he stuck through his belt, also a huge flintlock pistol
with a gold-and-ivory-chased butt. He loaded it with powder and an
iron ball he found in a compartment and put ammunition in a bag,
which he also hung from his belt. Then, well armed, he walked out
onto the balcony to take a quick view of the situation.
Three stories below him was the walk which he had left a few
minutes before. Many soldiers, and Zuni, were standing there, all
looking up. As his face came into sight, visible in the moonlight and
the up-reaching flares of their torches, a shout arose. Several of the
musket men raised their long-barreled weapons, but Zuni cried out
for them to hold their fire, she wanted him alive. Green's skin
prickled at the vindictiveness in her voice and at the vision of what
she was probably planning for him. He'd been forced to see too
many tortures and public executions not to know exactly what she
designed for him. Suddenly overcome with rage that she could be so
treacherous and brutal, a rage perhaps flavored with self-disgust
because he had made love to her, he aimed his pistol at her. There
was a click as the hammer struck the flint, a spark, a whoosh as the
powder burnt in the pan, a loud bang and a cloud of black smoke.
When the fumes cleared away, he saw that everybody, including the
Duchess, was running for cover. Naturally, he'd missed, for he'd had
almost no practice with the pistols, being a slave. Even if he'd been
well trained, he probably would not have struck his mark, so
inaccurate were the weapons.
While Green was reloading he heard a shout from above. Looking
up, he saw the Duke's round face, pale in the moonlight, hanging
over the railing of the balcony above. He raised his empty pistol, and
the Duke, squalling with fear, ran back into his quarters. Green
laughed and said to himself that even if he was killed now he would
at least have the satisfaction of knowing that he had shamed the
Duke, who was always boasting about his bravery in battle. Of
course, his action had also made it absolutely necessary for the
Duke to have him killed at once, so that Green could not tell others
that he'd put him to flight.
He grinned crookedly. What would happen when the soldiers
received the Duke's orders, directly contradicting the Duchess's? The
poor fellows would scarcely know what to do. The man's commands
would of course supersede the woman's. But the woman would be
furious and she would later on find some means of punishing those
who did succeed in killing Green.
It was at that moment that he lost his smile and paled with fright. A
loud deep-chested barking nearby. Not outside the apartment's door,
but inside!
He cursed and whirled around just in time to see the large body
launched toward his throat, the white fangs flashing and the green
fire shining from its eyes as the moonlight struck them.
Even in that moment of panic he realized that he'd forgotten the
small door set inside the larger one so that Alzo could have
admittance at any time. And if the big dog could get through, then
soldiers could also crawl through!
Instinctively he thrust out the pistol and squeezed the trigger. It did
not go off, for there was no powder in the pan. But the barrel did
jam into the great mouth and deflect Alzo from his target, Green's
throat. Even so, Green was knocked backward by the impact, and he
felt the sharp teeth clamping down on his wrist. Those jaws were
capable of biting through his arm, and though he felt no pain, he
was sickened by the thought that he'd see a bloody stump when
Alzo danced away from him. However, his arm, though dripping
blood from large gashes, was not hurt badly. The dog had been
deterred by the barrel shoved down his throat, choking him so that
he could think of nothing for the moment but getting clear of it.
The pistol clattered on the iron floor of the balcony. Alzo shook his
head, unaware in his frenzy that he was rid of the weapon. Green
leaped up from the sitting position into which Alzo's charge had
flung him against the railing. Snarling as viciously as the dog, he
braced his feet against the juncture of the floor and railing and
launched himself straight out. At the same time, the canine jumped.
They met head on, Green's skull driving into the open mouth and
knocking the dog backward because his impetus was greater.
Though the huge jaws bit down at his scalp, they snapped on air,
and the animal fell to one side, growling. Green seized hold of the
long tail, rolled away from the teeth now snapping at his ankles, and
jerked at the tail so that the dog would swing away from him. He
rose to one knee, pushed the dog away from him, though still
keeping his frenzied grip with two hands, and jumped to his feet.
Frantically, the animal twisted around and bit at the imprisoning
hands. But he succeeded only in biting his own flank. Howling in
anguish, he tried to lunge away. Green, making a supreme effort,
raised the tail in the air. Naturally, the body came along with it. At
the same time he half-turned from the animal, bent forward and,
with a convulsive motion, using his bowed back as a lever, threw
Alzo over his head.
 8
The terrible growling suddenly changed to a high-pitched howl of
despair as Alzo flew over the railing and out into the air above the
walk. Green, leaning over to watch him, did not feel sorry for him.
He was exultant. He'd hated that dog and had dreamed of just such
a moment.
Alzo's yelping was cut off as he struck the parapet beside the walk,
bounced off, and then dropped from view into the depths beyond.
Green's strength had been greater than he'd suspected, for he had
thought only to toss the one hundred and fifty pound beast over the
railing.
There was no time for savoring triumph. If the dog could get
through that little door, so could soldiers. He ran out into the room,
expecting that at least a dozen men had crawled in. But there was
no one. Why? The only thing he could think of was that they were
afraid, knowing that if he at once dispatched the dog, he could
leisurely knock them over the head in their helpless on-all-fours
position.
The door shook beneath a mighty impact. They'd taken the wiser, if
the less courageous, course of battering rams. Green loaded his
pistol, spilling the powder at his first attempt to prime the pan
because his hands shook so. He fired, and a large hole appeared in
the wood. However, part of the ball also stuck out, for the door was
planked thickly against just such weapons.
The battering ceased and he heard a thud as the ram was dropped
on the floor in hasty retreat. He smiled. As they were still operating
under the Duchess's instructions to take him alive—not yet
countermanded by the Duke's—they would not want to face pistol
fire with only swords in hand. And in the first reflex to the shot
they'd undoubtedly forgotten that a ball couldn't penetrate the
wood.
"This is living!" said Green out loud. And he wondered that his voice
shook as much as his legs did, and yet he felt a wild exultance
shooting through his fear and knew that he was tasting both with a
fine liking. Perhaps, he thought, he really liked this moment—even if
his death was around the corner—because he'd been repressed so
long and violence was a wonderful therapy for releasing his
resentment and clamped-down-on fury. Whatever the reason, he
knew that this was one of the high moments of his life and that if he
survived he'd look back on it with pleasure and pride. And that was
the strangest thing of all, since in his culture the young were taught
to abhor violence. Luckily, they weren't so conditioned against it that
the very thought of it paralyzed them. No hard neural paths had
been set up against the action of violence; it was just that,
philosophically speaking, they loathed the concept. Fortunately,
there was a philosophy of the body, too, a much older and deeper
one. And while it was true that man could no more live without
philosophy of the mind than he could without bread, it had no place
in Green at present. The fiery breath that flooded his body now and
made him so sensitive to what a fine thing it was to be alive while
death was knocking at the door did not rise from any mental
abstraction or profound meditation.
Green rolled back the carpets that led from the room to the balcony,
for he wanted a firm footing if it became necessary to make a
running broad jump from the balcony in an effort to clear the walk
below and drop into the moat. He'd have to have very good timing
and do everything just right the first time, like a parachute jump,
otherwise he'd end up with broken bones on the hard stones below.
Not that he was going to make that leap unless he just had to. But
he was leaving an avenue open if his other measures didn't work.
Again he ran to the bureau and drew out a large bag of gunpowder,
weighing at least five pounds. In the open end of this he inserted a
fuse, and tied the neck around it. While he was doing this, he heard
shouts and cheers as the soldiers returned to the door, picked up
their ram and hurled themselves at the thick planking. He did not
bother shooting again but instead lit the fuse with a candle. Then he
walked to the large door, pushed out the small dog's door and
tossed the bag through it. He jumped back and ran, though there
was little chance that the resultant explosion would harm the door.
There was a silence as the soldiers were probably staring paralyzed
at the smoking fuse. Then—a roar! The room shook, the door fell in,
blasted off its hinges, and black smoke poured in. Green ran into the
cloud, got down on all fours, scuttled through the doorway, cursed
desperately when the hilt of his sword caught on the doorframe, tore
loose and lunged through into the dense smoke that filled the
anteroom. His groping hands felt the ram where it had dropped, and
the wet warm face of a soldier who'd fallen. He coughed sharply
from the biting fumes but went on until his head butted into the
wall. Then he felt to his right, where he imagined the door was,
came to it, passed through and on into the next room, also filled
with a cloud. After he'd scuttled like a bug across its floor, he dared
to open his eyes for a quick look. The smoke was thinner and was
pouring out the door to the hallway, just in front of him. He saw no
feet in the clearer area between the floor and the bottom of the
clouds, so he rose and walked through the door. To his left, he knew,
the hall led to a stairway that was probably now jammed with
soldiers. To his right would be another stairway that went up to the
Duke's apartments. That was the only way he could go.
Luckily the smoke was still so dense in the corridor that those
assembled on the left staircase couldn't see him. They'd think he
was in the Duchess's rooms yet, and he hoped that when they did
rush it and didn't find him there the rolled-back carpets would give
them the idea that he'd taken a running broad jump from the
balcony. In which case, they'd at once search the moat for him. And
if they didn't find him swimming there, as they wouldn't, then they
might presume he'd either drowned or else got to the shore and was
now somewhere in the darkness of the city.
He felt along the wall toward the staircase, his other hand gripping
the stiletto. When his fingers ran across the arm of a man leaning
against the wall, he withdrew them at once, bent his knees and in a
crouching position ran in the general direction of the stairs. The
smoke got even thinner here so that he saw the steps in time to
avoid falling over them. Unfortunately the Duke and another man
were also there. Both saw his figure emerge into the torchlight from
the clouds, but he had the advantage of knowing who he was, so
that he had plunged the thin stiletto into the soldier's throat before
he could act. The Duke tried to leap past Green, but the Earthman
stuck a leg out and tripped him. Then he grabbed the ruler's arm,
twisted it behind his back, forced him up and on his knees and,
using the arm as a cruel lever, raised him. He enjoyed hearing the
Duke moan, though he'd never consciously taken pleasure in pain
before. He had time to think that perhaps he liked this because of
the torture the Duke had inflicted on his many helpless victims. Of
course, he, Green, a highly civilized man, shouldn't be feeling this
way. But the rightness or wrongness of an emotion never kept
anybody from experiencing it.
"Up you go!" he said in a low, harsh voice, directing the Duke toward
his apartments, manipulating the twisted arm as a steering column.
By then the smoke had cleared away so that those at the other end
of the corridor could see that something was wrong. A shout arose,
followed by the slap of running feet on the stone flags. Green
stopped, turned the Duke so he faced the approaching crowd and
said to him, "Tell them that I will kill you unless they go away."
To emphasize his point he stuck the end of the stiletto into the
Duke's back and pressed hard enough to draw blood. The Duke
quivered, then became rigid. Nevertheless he said, "I will not do so.
That would be dishonor."
Green couldn't help admiring such courage, even if it did make his
predicament worse. He refused to kill the Duke just then because
that would throw away the only trump card he held at that moment.
So he stuck the stiletto in his teeth and, still holding with one hand
to the Duke's twisted arm, took the Duke's pistol from his belt and
fired over his shoulder.
There was a whoosh of flame that burned the Duke's ear and made
him give a cry that was almost drowned out in the roar of the
explosion. The nearest man threw up his hands, dropping his spear,
and fell on his face. The others stopped. Doubtless, they were still
operating under the Duchess's orders not to kill Green, for the Duke
must have arrived at the foot of the staircase just in time to witness
the explosion of the gunpowder. And he was in no condition to issue
contrary orders, being deafened and stunned by the report almost
going off in his ear.
Green shouted out, "Go back, or I will kill the Duke! It is his wish
that you go back to the stairs and do not bother us until he sends
word to you!"
By the flickering light of the torches he could see the puzzled
expression on the soldiers' faces. It was only then he realized that in
his extreme excitement he had shouted the orders in English.
Hastily, he translated his demands, and was relieved to see them
turn and retreat, though reluctantly. He then half-dragged the Duke
up the steps to his apartments, where he barred the door and
primed his pistol again.
"So far, so good!" he said, in English. "The question is what now,
little man?"
The ruler's rooms were even more luxurious than his wife's, and
were larger because they had to contain not only the Duke's
hundreds of hunting trophies, including human heads, but his
collection of glass birds. Indeed, one might easily see where his
heart really lay, for the heads had collected dust, whereas each and
every glittering winged creature was immaculate. It would have
gone hard on a servant who'd neglected his cleaning duties in the
great rooms dedicated to the collection.
On seeing them Green smiled slightly.
When you're fighting for your life, hit a man where he's softest....
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