Johnny woke with a start. The monkey was pulling on one of his ears; they had reached the settlement. Johnny glanced down at his watch. He had slept six hours.
The rhinosaur had stopped right at the edge of the meat tree grove that bordered the settlement. Through the screen of trees Johnny could see the high grey walls. It was about half a mile to the gate. Johnny wiped the sleep out of his eyes and puzzled as to the best way of making his appearance.
"Go that way," Johnny clicked, and pointed. "But stay where you can't be seen from the walls." At a slow trot, the rhinosaur carried them to a place directly in front of the gate to the settlement wall. Johnny saw that the gate had been repaired. Beside it was a steel door through which a single man could be admitted.
"You wait here for me," he said to the animals. "Let me down, friend rhinosaur." He tied his bag of claws to the rhinosaur's horn and then walked down the huge head to the ground. The arrow-bird flew over and lit on his shoulder. It had not understood. "Wait," Johnny repeated. "Wait, I will come back."
The rhinosaur wandered a few yards away and began to munch on some bushes. The leopard growled to her cubs and began to climb a meat tree in search of food. Johnny smiled. They were good friends to have.
Johnny slipped through the bushes and trees until only one antelope berry bush was between him and the wall. The guard tower was directly in front of him. The men in the tower must have noticed the swaying of the bushes, for they were looking directly toward the spot where Johnny stood.
Johnny slipped from behind the bush and stepped into full view. He smiled and waved jauntily to the guards. As casually as he could he started toward the door. Halfway there he began to skip for sheer joy. The guards were staring at him open-mouthed. Obviously he had no armor on. He had had to use his shirt to make the bag for the claws. The only clothes he wore was the baggy pair of shorts Rick had made him.
The steel door at the base of the guard tower opened at his touch. He closed it carefully, opened the inner door and then climbed the stairs to the guard tower, instead of going straight into the colony. There, too, were double doors.
"Hello," he said, as he entered.
The three guards on duty were so surprised they couldn't speak for a second. One of them was Old Jeb. Before they recovered, Johnny went up to Jeb. "Would you call my father, Jeb, and tell him to come to the gate?" It was funny to watch their faces.