Victims of Nimbo

S
arah Collingwood was ordinarily a most mild-mannered girl. At fourteen she even seemed to have a special ability for peacemaking. Whenever any of the Seven Sleepers fell into arguments, it was Sarah who managed to step between and pour oil on the troubled waters.

But right now Sarah’s eyes glinted with anger.

She was small and graceful, with large brown eyes and black hair drawn back into a ponytail. The sun had given her a nice tan. She wore a light blue shirt, a skirt of darker blue that came down below her knees, and half-boots made of soft leather.

But there was nothing soft about Sarah’s voice as she yelled, “Josh, I’ve told you a thousand times to leave my things alone!”

Josh Adams, at fifteen, was tall and awkward and unsure of himself, especially where girls were concerned. He had known Sarah even back in OldWorld—before the earth had been practically destroyed by a nuclear war. Ever since their adventures in NuWorld had started, he’d felt that Sarah was the steadiest of all of the Sleepers.

So now, bewildered, he stared at her and stammered, “But … but … what are you talking about, Sarah?
”

“I’m talking about what have you done with my bow.”

“Your bow?” She had to see that he was puzzled. “I
don’t know what you’re talking about! I haven’t touched your bow!”

“Don’t tell me that! You borrowed it last week without asking permission! That means you took it again.”

“I didn’t think you’d mind my borrowing it last week!”

“Well, I did mind!” Sarah put her hands on her hips, and her voice rose in anger. “Haven’t you ever thought that it might be more polite to ask before you take people’s things?”

By now Josh was speechless. The previous week he
had
taken Sarah’s bow without asking her, but she had not seemed to mind at the time. As he blinked at her in surprise, he found himself growing a little angry. He found his voice.

“Anyway, I didn’t take your old bow! And that’s all there is to it!” he said defiantly.

Always before, Sarah would have taken Josh at his word, but her nerves were likely tense. The Sleepers had been involved in a very difficult and dangerous assignment. It was for Goél, leader of the forces in NuWorld doing battle against the Dark Lord, who sought to enslave everyone. Josh realized that the strain of the mission had taken a toll on all of them.

She shoved her face close to his. “You have no more manners than a pig!” she said.

“A pig! You’re calling me a pig?”

“That’s what I said! No. You’re worse than a pig. Pigs don’t take people’s things without asking.”

“I didn’t take your old bow!” Josh’s nerves were also tight, and he suddenly found himself angrier than he had ever been at Sarah. “I don’t have to take this! If you can’t keep up with your things, don’t blame me for it!”

Their voices rose as they shouted at each other.

They were interrupted by a newcomer. A tall boy about their age appeared. Bob Lee Jackson, always called Reb by his friends, had light blue eyes, tow-colored hair, and a heavy Southern accent. He wore a fawn colored shirt, blue pants, and boots, but the most striking of his clothing was his high-crowned Stetson hat with a feather in its red band. He had been a rodeo rider before coming to NuWorld and probably was the strongest and toughest of the Sleepers.

“What y’all fussing about?” he asked with puzzlement in his eyes. “I could hear you a mile away. What’s the shouting about?”

Sarah turned to him. “He stole my bow!”

“I didn’t do any such thing!” Josh snapped. “I haven’t even seen your old bow!”

Reb said, “Uh … isn’t that it right over there, leaning against the tree?”

Sarah whirled. Sure enough, there was the bow she had accused Josh of stealing. It was a beautifully constructed weapon made of yew, and she had made it herself. It was smoothly polished and had a sixty-pound pull. Sarah was the most expert in the use of the bow of all the Sleepers, and her bow was as precious to her as Reb’s cowboy hat was to him.

A moment’s silence reigned, and then Sarah muttered, “I didn’t see it!” She walked away without an apology, her back stiff. Picking up the bow, she disappeared into the woods that surrounded their small house.

“What’s biting her?” Reb marveled. “Never heard her carry on like that before.”

“She’s getting impossible to work with,” Josh murmured. “I don’t know what’s the matter with her.”

“Well, mostly she’s just a girl. And you know how girls are. Not nice and steady like us guys.”

Josh could not hold back a smile. Reb was always cheerful. He knew also that Reb did not mean that. “I guess you’re right,” he said. “Have to make allowances for girls.”

Dave Cooper walked into the house and went at once to the kitchen. A pot bubbled over the fire in the fireplace, and he lifted the lid and sniffed. “Smells good!” he said.

At sixteen, Dave was the oldest of the Sleepers and a good-looking boy with slightly curly brown hair and gray eyes. He reached for a spoon.

But the girl who was making bread hurried over and slapped his hand. Abbey Roberts was a pretty girl of fourteen with blue eyes and blonde hair.

“Leave that alone!”

“Hey! Don’t go beating on me!” Dave protested. “I’m just hungry!”

“You’ll have to wait until dinner!”

He was irritated by Abbey’s shortness. “You’re sure getting snippy,” he said. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing’s wrong with me!” And she began complaining.

Dave listened for a while, shocked. Then he shook his head, picked up a spoon, lifted the pot lid, and tasted the stew.

“I told you to stay out of that stew! Didn’t you hear me? Have you gone deaf?”

Dave, like the other Sleepers, had not yet recovered from the trying time they had had on their recent adventure. He glared at Abbey and said, “That’s probably
the worst stew I’ve ever eaten!” It was actually very good stew, but by now Dave’s temper was out of order.

“You don’t have to eat it if you don’t like it!”

“Men always are the best cooks, anyway.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I mean back in OldWorld. When you went to a fancy restaurant, all the chefs were men. You never saw a woman chef in a fancy restaurant, did you?”

“Then you can just go to your fancy restaurant!” Abbey said shrilly. Dave held a full spoon in his hand, and she reached out and slapped it. The stew flew onto his shirt. “You can just cook for yourself if you don’t like the way I do it!”

Dave glared at her and then at the stain on his shirt. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“You didn’t have to come in here and complain about the cooking! Now, get out of the kitchen!”

Dave left at once, biting on his lip to keep from retorting. He went across the open clearing to where Jake Garfield and Wash Jones sat with their backs against a big tree.

Gregory Randolph Washington Jones was the smallest of the Sleepers. He was also the best humored. He said, “What’s wrong, Dave? You look like you’ve been stung by a bee.”

“Worse than that,” Dave growled. “I’ve been chewed up by Abbey. What’s
wrong
with her?”

Jake Garfield, a year older than Wash, was short with red hair. He grinned. “She pull you up short, Dave?”

“Yes, she did. Again. And I’m getting tired of it!” He sat down by the two boys. They had just started to talk about their past adventure when Josh came by and joined them. He had a sour look on his face, and Dave asked, “What’s wrong with you, Josh?”

“It’s Sarah. She accused me of stealing her old bow. I hadn’t even touched it. Really bawled me out for no reason at all!”

“You know what I think?” Wash said slowly. “I think those girls are just worn out. That last assignment we had was a stem-winder!”

“It was just as hard on us as it was on them!” Dave said stubbornly.

“Yes, it was,” Josh agreed. “Tell you what,” he said, as if a sudden thought had come to him. “I think they need some time to themselves, and I guess maybe we do, too.”

“What you got on your mind?” Jake asked.

Actually Josh had nothing on his mind. Sarah had hurt his feelings, and he thought it would teach her a lesson if she had to take care of her own things for a while. But he said, “Here’s what I’d like to do. You know that stretch of woods about twenty miles from here—the one that’s got the bayou on it?”

“Sure. Those are nice woods,” Wash said. “What about ’em?”

“I think we ought to go on a little hunting expedition over there. Just us guys.”

“You mean leave the girls behind?” Wash asked. “That might hurt their feelings.”

“It’s better than hurting
my
feelings all the time,” Josh said. “It’ll be good for them. Maybe they’ll appreciate us if they have to do without us for a while.”

“I think he’s right,” Dave promptly said.

“Well, it suits me,” Jake said. “Nothing to do around here while we wait for a new mission, anyhow.”

The four boys talked it over, and when Reb appeared, he too was eager. Reb was always ready to
go on hunting trips, but when Josh told him about leaving the girls behind, he grinned. “I don’t think they’ll like that. You’re not in very good favor, anyhow, Josh. You’d better think it over.”

But Josh’s pride was severely bruised. “Nothing to think over,” he said gruffly. “I’ll go tell them. We can leave in the morning.”

     Sarah was helping Abbey get the noon meal ready when Josh came in.

“I’ve decided that the guys are going out on a hunt,” he told them.

Sarah looked up at him. “A hunt? Where to?”

“Over where that bayou is. About twenty miles north of here.”

Actually Sarah was sorry that she had lashed out at Josh, but something about the way he looked and spoke irritated her. “What time are we leaving?” she asked.

“This is just for us guys,” he said importantly.

“What do you mean, just for guys?” Abbey asked, looking surprised.