Van Rijn says, "'Horse maneuvers!'" (p. 597) again. It seems to mean, "That won't work!" In this case, recalibrating the instruments to test the intelligence of each species in turn will take too long. The Hebe G.B. will run out of supplies and/or be overtaken by the pursuing Adderkops. Only logic applied to already known facts will solve the problem and only van Rijn, sitting, drinking and cigar-smoking, is equipped to do this.
He theatrically turns the tables, claiming that everyone else loafs, plays, dances and sings while he alone bears all the work and worry whereas the reality, as he knows, is that everyone is working flat out in different ways to solve a life or death problem. Of course, he solves it this time but this is a van Rijn story.
The last three of the eleven installments in Volume I are all about van Rijn with different supporting casts and the first of these three is a novel. The first of the seven installments in Volume II is also about van Rijn but, if you don't like him, just keep reading. He will not last beyond the first installment in Volume III.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Well, *** I *** like Old Nick and will gladly reread the stories about him! And "Hiding Place" (along with "The Master Key") again makes me think of van Rijn as being like Rex Stout's equally massive detective, Nero Wolfe, using deduction and logic in analyzing the facts presented to him to find the answer to a problem or mystery.
Poul Anderson has written that he enjoyed writing the Trygvi Yamamura mysteries and would have liked writing more detective stories, but that science fiction and fantasy was more profitable to write.
Sean
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