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.It was wonderful to be home.Kelly legged Calypso into a canter down the hill toward town, revelling in the rhythmic gait and the joy of being back in the saddle again.CHAPTER 1DR.BEN ADJEl HADESMAThD ThE DAY this year-and he hadn't been wrong in twenty years-when the great reptiles would migrate from the salt marshes to the low-lying desert fifty kilometers inland to lay their eggs.Only offworlders bet against him, the local population shrewdly inciting them to do so.A Sighter had landed her small copter behind the Reeve ranch house early in the morning to alert Todd that the egg-heavy female snakes were arriving in the desert and beginning to burrow into the dunes.Immediately, Todd called a meeting of leaders of the Hunt at the colony Assembly Hall.They had gathered from all over Doona and had been staying in or around First Village for the last few days, in case Ben Adjei's estimate was off a bit.For the past fifteen years, Todd and Hrriss had been in the first line of Hunters.Their rapport was instinctive: they seemed to read each other's mind.They never took unnecessary chances or risked lives, theirs or others.Their impressive tally of kills and captures of the dangerous reptiloids had reached legendary totals.As they grew to an age when their parents would permit it, they came to lead the Hunt and had done so now for ten years."You could see them in the underbrush, swarming toward the sands,' Lois Unterberger informed the leaders who had congregated at the Reeve residence, the usual Hunt headquarters.Excitement made her brown eyes wide, showing white all around the irises.Her dark hair was intricately braided and pinned tightly to her scalp."Hundreds of them, like a river, pouring onto the dunes and disappearing into burrows.I followed the leading edge all the way from the salt marshes.Hrrel is still in his copter over the dunes, watching until I get back.""This is it,' Todd said excitedly."Lois, you fly back and keep an eye on the snakes.We've got to know the minute they start to leave.Dar,' he instructed another Sighter, "go and check the snake blinds along the way to make sure everyone knows the snakes are coming and to stay inside.Take two of the Lures with you, and drop them at the vulnerable points we discussed.""Gotcha! I'm away,' Dar Kendrath said, dashing for his small craft."And keep in touch!" Todd called after him."We need to know the moment the snakes start to move out!" Dar threw him a salute from the seat of his copter as the vehicle took off."We're ready,' announced Lou Stapley, who was in charge of the Beaters, who helped to keep the snakes in train by thrashing the undergrowth with flails or beating drums and cymbals.Wranglers, very experienced riders, were in charge of each horse platoon.Their main concern was spotting the nervous rider who could panic his mount.Or a horse who suddenly decided he had had quite enough snake hunting in his lifetime.Hrrula, one of the Reeves' oldest friends, was both the leader of Team Two and a Wrangler."Everrryone is prrrepared,' he assured them."Great,' Todd said, checking them off on his list.All the preparations were falling together nicely."We've got the pass blocked toward the Launch Center,' Jesse Dautrish said, scratching his jaw."Let's hope it looks impassable to snake eyes.But it won't take long to clear it after the Hunt's over.The bridges have thorn barricades as well as mines, just in case the snakes try to cross the easy way." Though the snakes could swim, the banks of the rivers upstream were too sheer and deep for them to get a belly-hold."I need another shower,' he added, scratching his waist."Damn dust settles in every pore." Jesse's assistant, Hrrol, brushed at her short, tan fur, sending up clouds of dust."All the charges are laid near rnsidences and rranchess,' she said."Here's your copy back, Hrriss.""Well done,' Hrriss told the attractive Hrrol, and passed the list to Todd."Okay, okay,' Todd said, calling the Hunters to order."Let's go.Spread the word, we gather the Hunt at noon, and we'll ride out as soon as we get the word from the Sighters.Robin, see you at the feast later
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