“Sit down a minute, Chuba. I want to ask you some questions.”
“Shoots. Chuba will make with the answers.”
Biff frowned. “Tell me, just how tough would it be to slip across the border into China?”
“For Chuba, easy. Very easy. I do it many times.”
“How about me? Think I could get across?”
“Not by yourself. But with Chuba for Number One guide—” The native boy shrugged his shoulders. “I know all trails. I know just where Red border patrol guards strong, and where they guard weak. Afraid to guard some places.”
“Why is that?”
“Wild animals. Black bears—fierce, big, kill a man with one big swipe with paw. Also tigers and leopards. Snakes, too. All kinds. They hang from trees. Big python slide off tree, wrap around man’s neck and—urgle gurgle—” Chuba made a rattling noise in his throat. “No more man.”
Biff swallowed hard. “And you go over the border in a place where all the wild animals are?”
“Sure,” Chuba boasted. “Chuba smell and see animals before they see Chuba. Is safer to go into China that way.”