12
THE UNKNOWN BOAT on the beach, of course, was Brian’s.
A bundle of rags amongst the baskets moved, and revealed itself to be a Pengali youth. He climbed out of the boat and stood, holding the rope attached to the bow, wide eyes roving the opposite river bank. Eddies of water gurgled around his knees, tugging at the hems of his turquoise trouser legs. With his skin patterns covered under a thigh-length tunic, also turquoise, and his hair cut short, he looked almost human. And where was his tail?
Brian stepped in the boat and shoved some crates aside.
“You take this.”
He passed Jessica a small object, which felt cool in the palm of her hand. It looked, for all she could think, like one of those gadgets her father used to clean his telescope: a brush on a tube attached to a rubber bal
