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Yet it was only two days later that he remarked to Gribardsun that a man equipped with
firearms would be in a position to change the customs of the tribe.
'That man is not only the archetypal con man,' Rachel said. 'He is the Ur-Napoleon, the
pre-Hitler type.'
The Basic-Napoleon-cum-Confidence-Man, however, was begging Gribardsun a week later to
pull one of his teeth. He was suddenly suffering excruciating pain from an impacted wisdom tooth.
The Englishman used his tiny sonic machine to take pictures, and found that the tooth was deeply
abscessed. Moreover, the other three teeth were rotten and would have to come out. And all three
would fall apart during extractions; they would probably have to be dug out.
Gribardsun explained to Dubhab what he had to do. And he also made sure that Dubhab
understood that he now owed his life to Gribardsun. If the teeth were left to natural processes,
or to the brutal and inadequate oral surgery of Glamug, Dubhab would die. Gribardsun took such
pains to establish Dubhab's debt of gratitude because he wanted to insure bis behavior in the
future.
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The operation was a success, and the patient did not die, although there were times when
he said he would almost rather be dead.
The entire tribe witnessed the operation. The most remarkable thing to them was that
Dubhab slept through it.
Glamug asked for, and received, Dubhab's teeth, which were mainly fragments. He put them
into a little skin pouch, waved his one-eyed baton de commandement over it while he chanted
protective phrases, and then buried them secretly on the side of a mountain under a rock. No one
would be able to use them in magical rites against Dubhab. But Gribardsun suspected that Glamug
kept several small pieces of a wisdom tooth in case Dubhab ever became hostile to him.
Then again, perhaps Glamug was innocent. By custom, Dubhab could kill him and go free if
he caught Glamug using any parts of his body - nails, teeth, hairs, saliva - against him.
Dubhab recovered amazingly fast, helped by the antibiotics and Gribardsun's care. Three
days later, the tribe packed their tents and belongings and moved southward again. Gribardsun
marched at the head. Behind him were his three colleagues. Behind them was Glamug, shaking his
baton or the pebbles in a gourd at the end of a stick. Then Thammash the chief and Angrogrim the
greatest warrior. And then Wazwim, the singer, who was in one sense as much a witch doctor as
Glamug, since most songs were sung for magical purposes. After Wazwim was Shivkaet, the carver and
the painter, who did much of his work under the supervision of Glamug. His products were mostly
used for magical purposes, too. Then came Dubhab, who had lost bis smile and seemed much withdrawn
and grouchy. After him came other males according to their unstated but well-recognized rank in
their society. And then the women and children according to their ranks.
The flanks and the rear were guarded by the lesser warriors and juveniles who had not been
'blooded' as yet. The 'blooding,' in most cases, would consist of a symbolic conflict during a
ceremony. There was very little actual fighting between tribes. The hostilities with the Wotagrub
had taken more casualties in a few minutes than even the oldest man, Kwakamg, remembered having
taken place in his whole life. Occasionally a lone hunter or perhaps a couple of hunters had
accidentally run into alien hunters and there had been some exchange of spears or rocks. And now
and then a man had been killed or a woman or child ambushed. But these incidents were infrequent.
In fact, several days later, while Kwakamg was recounting the largest battle he remembered, which
had taken place during the Winter of the Red Snow, Kwakamg dropped dead. Whether it was the
excitement of the memory coupled with an age-weakened heart, or whether his heart would have given
way at that moment anyway, no one knew. Gribardsun dissected him because he was eager to get data
on the incidence of heart disease among the Magdalenians. Kwakamg was white-haired and wrinkled
and had had a slight palsy. But the dissection convinced Gribardsun that Kwakamg was probably not
more than sixty. His heart was that of an eighty-year-old man. At some time in Kwakamg's life he
had had rheumatic fever. He had also had rheumatism, smallpox, and had lost about twelve teeth.
But six had been knocked out during an encounter with a cave bear. The others had been rotten, and
Glamug had pulled them out without much trouble for himself and only great pain for Kwakamg.
Two days later, Gribardsun delivered the baby of Meena, a sixteen-year-old woman, wife of
Shimkoobt. Both the mother and baby would have died if Gribardsun had not been there, since he was
forced to take the infant by caesarian.
Glamug told him that caesarians were not unknown. But almost always the mother died and
the baby was lucky to survive.
Gribardsun recorded this data. And he wondered when the first caesarian had been
performed. No one would probably ever know, since no time machine could yet go deeper into the
past.
'So you have affected the future materially,' Rachel said. 'Who knows? If it weren't for
you, many of us twenty-first centurians wouldn't exist. Perhaps even you wouldn't exist.'
'Speculation is interesting but essentially useless,' the Englishman said. 'I have changed
nothing. Before I was born, everything I had done in the past had been done.'
'Let's not get involved in any more of these time paradoxes,' Rachel said. 'I always end
up with a dizzy feeling, and slight sickness at the stomach, after trying to untangle the
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metaphysics and supermechanics of Time!'
'Time is something man will never comprehend,' Gribardsun said. 'Partly because Time is
outside man. Man is, of course, partly in Time, but there are elements of Time that are completely
exterior to him. He can't even see those elements and never will because they can't be put under
the microscope or telescope or be detected by radiation-sensitive equipment.'
He and Rachel were walking down the slope of a valley. He had three hares on a rope slung
over his shoulder. The beasts had been caught in traps, and the two were headed for another trap
they had set two days before. The snow covered the ground by about two feet. Tall green snow-laden
firs and pines rose on every side, but presently they came to a clear stretch. A dozen or so large
boulders were scattered around the clearing. Their breaths steamed, and above them a large eagle
swung, running its stiff-winged shadow ahead of them.
Gribardsun had not wished to be alone with Rachel, but she had asked if she could
accompany him. He disliked saying no, because she had behaved toward him for months as if he were
just another scientist. Apparently she and Drummond were now living with no more than the friction
most married couples experienced.
'The thing to do is to enjoy Time as much as you can,' he said. 'Live as the beasts do.
From day to day. If you think of the end of Time, that is, of your own death, accept it as part of
Time. You can do nothing about it, so why worry about it??
'But you, you're the exception -' Rachel said, and then she stopped. Her eyes were wide
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