'Search me. Didn't you want to?'
She slid down on to the sand and tried to adjust her costume.
At this point they both became aware of the audience.
There was Dibbler. There was Dibbler's nephew. There was the handleman. There were the extras. There were the assorted vicepresidents and other people who are apparently called into existence by the mere presence of moving-picture creation.[12] There was Gaspode the Wonder Dog.
And every one, except for the dog, who was sniggering, had his mouth open.
The handleman's hand was still turning the handle. He looked down at it as if its presence was new to him, and stopped.
Dibbler seemed to come out of whatever trance he was in.
'Whoo-hoo,' he said: 'Blimey.'
'Magic,' breathed Soll. 'Real magic.'
Dibbler nudged the handleman.
'Did you get all that?' he said.
'Get what?' said Ginger and Victor together.
Then Victor noticed Morry sitting on the sand. There was a sizeable chip out of his arm; Rock was trowelling something into it. The troll noticed Victor's expression and gave him a sickly grin.
'Fink you're Cohen the Barbarian, do you?' he said.
'Yeah,' said Rock. 'There was no call to go callin' him wot you called him. An' if you're going to go doin' fancy swordwork, we're applyin' for an extra dollar a day Havin'-Bits-Chopped-Off allowance.'
Victor's sword had several nicks on the blade. For the life of him, he couldn't imagine how they had got there.
'Look,' he said desperately. 'I don't understand. I didn't call anyone anything. Have we started filming yet?'
'One minute I'm sitting in a tent, next minute I'm breathing camel,' said Ginger petulantly. 'Is it too much to ask what is going on?'
But no-one seemed to be listening to them.
'Why can't we find a way of getting sound?' said Dibbler. 'That was damn good dialogue there. Didn't understand a word of it, but I know good dialogue when I hear it.'
'Parrots,' said the handleman flatly. 'Your common Howondaland Green. Amazing bird. Memory like an elephant. Get a couple of dozen in different sizes and you've got a full vocal-'
That launched a detailed technical discussion.
Victor let himself slide off the camel's back and ducked under its neck to reach Ginger.
'Listen,' he said urgently. 'It was just like last time. Only stronger. Like a sort of dream. The handleman started to take pictures and it was just like a dream.'
'Yes, but what did we actually do?' she said.
'What you did,' said Rock, 'was gallop the camel up to the tent, leap off, come at us like a windmill-'
'-leapin' on rocks and laughin'-'said Morry.
'Yeah, you said to Morry, “Have at you, you Foul Black Guard,” ' said Rock. 'And then you caught him a right ding on the arm, cut a hole in the tent-'
'Good sword work, though,' said Morry appraisingly. 'A bit showy, but pretty good.'
'But I don't know how to-' Victor began.