"The man who's walking
behind it has a hand-bellows." He raised his voice. "Fix bayonets!
These people don't know anything about rifles, but they know what
spears are. They have some of their own."
So they had. The six who walked in the lead were unarmed, unless
the thing one of them carried was a spear. So, it seemed, were the
horn-bearers. Behind them, however, in an open-order skirmish-line,
came fifty-odd with weapons. Most of them had spears, the points
glinting redly. Bronze, with a high copper content. A few had bows.
They came slowly; details became more plainly visible.
The leader wore a long yellow robe; the thing in his hand was a
bronze-headed staff. Three of his companions also wore robes; the
other two were bare-legged in short tunics. The horn-bearers wore
either robes or tunics; the spearmen and bowmen behind either wore
tunics or were naked except for breechclouts. All wore sandals. They
were red-brown in color, completely hairless; they had long necks,
almost chinless lower jaws, and fleshy, beaklike noses that gave
them an avian appearance which was heightened by red crests, like
roosters' combs, on the tops of their heads.
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