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the Clan," said One Punch.
"Well, now," said the other, "guess I'll mosey up there myself and have a
look at that. Can't remember it ever happening before."
He fell in behind them, but halfway down the street fell out again to answer
the questions of several other bystanders who wanted to know what was going
on. So it was that when Mal alighted from the Bluffer's back at the stone of
Mighty Grappler, there was just he and the Bluffer and One Punch there,
although a few figures could be seen beginning to stream out of the village
toward the stone.
"Go ahead, Law-Twister," said One Punch, nodding at the stone. "Make that
appeal of yours."
"Hadn't I better wait until the rest of the Clan gets here?"
"I suppose you could do that," said One Punch. "I was thinking you might just
want to say your appeal and have it over with and sort of let me tell people
about it. But you're right. Wait until folks get here. Give you a chance to
kind of look over Mighty Grappler's stone, too, and put yourself in the kind
of spirit to make a good appeal . . . Guess you'll want to be remembering this
word for word, to pass on down the line to the other clans, won't you,
Postman?"
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"You could say I've almost a duty to do that, One Punch," responded the
Bluffer. "Lots more to being a government postman than some people think . .
."
The two went on chatting, turning a little away from Mal and the stone to
gaze down the slope at the Clan members on their way up from the village. Mal
turned to gaze at the stone, itself. It was still inconceivable to him that
even a Dilbian could lift and carry such a weight ten paces.
Certainly, it did not look as if anyone had ever moved the stone since it had
been placed here. The two ends of the iron rod sticking out from opposite
sides of it were red with rust, and the grass had grown up thickly around its
base. That is, it had grown up thickly everywhere but just behind it, where it
looked like a handful of grass might have been pulled up, recently. Bending
down to look closer at the grass-free part of the stone, Mal caught sight of
something dark. The edge of some indentation, almost something like the edge
of a large hole in the stone itself
"Law-Twister!" The voice of One Punch brought Mal abruptly upright. He saw
that the vanguard of the Dilbians coming out of the village was almost upon
them.
"How'd you like me to sort of pass the word what this is all about?" asked
One Punch. "Then you could just make your appeal without trying to explain
it?"
"Oh fine," said Mal. He glanced back at the stone. For a moment he felt a
great temptation to take hold of the two rust-red iron handles and see if he
actually could lift it. But there were too many eyes on him now.
The members of the Clan came up and sat down, with their backs straight and
furry legs stuck out before them on the grass. The Bluffer, however, remained
standing near Mal, as did One Punch. Among the last to arrive was Gentle
Maiden, who hurried up to the very front of the crowd and snorted angrily at
Mal before sitting down.
"Got them all upset!" she said, triumphantly. "Knew you would!"
Iron Bender had not put in an appearance.
"Members of Clan Water Gap," said One Punch, when they were all settled on
the grass and quiet, "you all know what this Shorty, Law-Twister here, dropped
in on us to do. He wants to take back with him the orphans Gentle Maiden
adopted according to Clan law, as laid down by Mighty Grappler. Naturally,
Maiden doesn't want him to, and she's got her protector, Iron Bender "
He broke off, peering out over the crowd.
"Where is Iron Bender?" the oldster demanded.
"He says work's work," a voice answered from the crows. "Says to send
somebody for him when you're all ready to have someone's head torn off.
Otherwise, he'll be busy down in the harness shop."
Gentle Maiden snorted.
"Well, well. I guess we'll just have to go on without him," said One Punch.
"As I was saying, here's Iron Bender all ready to do his duty; but as
Law-Twister sees it, it's not all that simple."
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There was a buzz of low-toned, admiring comments from the crowd. One Punch
waited until the noise died before going on.
"One thing Law-Twister wants to do is make an appeal to the Clan, according
to Mighty Grappler's law, before he gets down to tangling with Iron Bender,"
the oldster said. "So, without my bending your ears any further, here's the
Law-Twister himself, with tongue all oiled up and ready to talk you upside
down, and roundabout Go ahead, Law-Twister!"
Mal put his hand on the stone of Mighty Grappler. In fact, he leaned on the
stone and it seemed to him it rocked a little bit, under his weight. It did
not seem to him that One Punch's introductory speech had struck quite the
serious note Mal himself might have liked. But now, in any case, it was up to
him.
"Uh members of Clan Water Gap," he said. "I've been disturbed by a lot of
what I've learned here. For example, here you have something very important at
stake the right of a Clan Water Gap maiden to adopt Shorties as orphans. But
the whole matter has to be settled by what's really an emergency measure that
is, my tangling with Iron Bender just because Clan Water Gap hasn't elected a
new Grandfather lately, and the meeting to elect one is a couple of weeks
away "
"And while it's not for me to say," interrupted the basso voice of the Hill
Bluffer, "not being a Clan Water Gapper myself, and besides being a government
postman who's strictly not concerned in any local affairs I'd guess that's
what a lot of folks are going to be asking me as I ply my route between here
and Wildwood Peak in the next few weeks. `How come they didn't hold a regular
trial to settle the matter, down there in Clan Water Gap?' they'll be asking.
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