Joe hadn't exaggerated the hardships. The tunnel was at least one mile long, every inch forward was an inch upward, and the air became increasingly thinner, though it howled through the shaft, and they had to drag their very heavy packs behind them. Moreover, for all they knew, the other end might have been plugged also. If it were, they would have to return to the base of the cliff.
Their joy at finding that the tunnel wasn't sealed renewed their strength for a while. However, the palms of their hands, their fingers, their knees, and their toes were skinned, bleeding, and hurting. They were unable to walk steadily for some time.
The wind was stronger and colder here despite its thinness. Joe sucked the oxygen-scarce air into his great lungs.
"Vone good thing about it. Ve only need one drink, and ve're loaded out of our thkullth."
They would have liked to make camp there, but the place was too exposed.
"Cheer up," Burton said. "Joe says that it's only .a ten-mile walk to the next cataract."
"The latht vone, the biggetht. You think the otherth vere noithy. Vait until you hear thith vone."
Burton strapped on his pack and staggered on, his knees feeling as if they'd rusted. Joe came close behind him. Fortunately, the tableland was comparatively level and free of rock rubble. However, Burton had only the tremendous thunder of the falls to guide him through the fog. When the sound became stronger, he veered back to the left. When it was weaker, he went back to the right. Nevertheless, he was probably making a fifteen-mile hike out of a ten-miler.
All had to stop often because of the lack of oxygen and to make sure that no one straggled. Every fourth person in the line kept his lamp on until Burton stopped and swore.
"Vhat'th the matter?"
"We're not thinking straight in this air," Burton said, gasping. "We only need one light. We're wasting electricity. We can use a rope for all to hang onto."
With the line tied around his waist and the others grasping it, they went on into the cold grayness.
But after a while they were too weak to go a step more. Despite the wind, they lay down on and under cloths and tried to sleep. Burton awoke from a nightmare and turned his light on his watch. They'd been here ten hours.
He got them up, and they ate more than the rationing schedule allowed for. An hour later, the blackish face of a rock wall loomed out of the mists. They were at the foot of another obstacle.
42
JOE MILLER HADN'T COMPLAINED MUCH THOUGH HE HAD groaned softly for the last half of the hike. He was ten feet tall and weighed eight hundred pounds and was as strong as any ten of Homo sapiens put together. But his giantism had disadvantages. One was mat he suffered from fallen arches. Sam often called him the Great Flatfoot, and with very good reason. It hurt Joe to walk much, and when he was resting his feet still often hurt.
"Tham alvayth thaid that if it hadn't been for our feet, ve vould've conquered the world," Joe said. He was rubbing his right foot. "He claimed that it vath our broken-down dogth that made uth ekthinct. He may have been right."
It was obvious that the titanthrop needed at least two days of rest and therapy. While Burton and Nur, amateur but efficient podiatrists, worked on Joe, the others went out in two parties. They came back several hours later.
Tai-Peng, the leader of one, said, "I couldn't find the place Joe told us about."
Ah Qaaq, the other leader, said, "We found it. At least, it looks as if we could climb up there. It's very near the falls, though."
"In fact, it's so close," Alice said, "that it can't be seen until you're almost on it. It'll be dreadfully dangerous though. Very slippery with the spray.
Joe groaned, and said, "Now I remember! It vath the right thide that ve vent up on. The Egyptianth vent on it becauthe the left vath unlucky. Thith path mutht be one Ekth plathed here in cathe..."
"I wouldn't call it a path," the Mayan said.
"Veil, if it'th like the other plathe, it can be climbed."
It was, and it could be.
Seven days later, they were on top of the mountain. Snow and ice had made the dangers even greater than anticipated, and the air enfeebled them. Nevertheless, they had struggled up to another plateau. The River was far below, covered by fog.
After a few miles, they descended on a far easier slope. The air was thicker at the bottom and warmer, though still cold. They advanced through an ever-increasing and ever-louder wind until they came to another mountain.
"No uthe even thinking about climbing thith vone. Ve're lucky, though. The big cave of the vindth thyould be to our right a few mileth. Veil, maybe not tho lucky. You'll thee vhen ve get there. But that can vait avhile. I got to retht my thon-of-a-bitching feet again."
The River poured out in a vast and thick stream to descend swiftly down a gentle slope. The roar of water and wind was deafening, Jbut at least it was warmer here. Joe, the veteran of the passage through the cave, led the way. A rope was tied to his waist and tied to the wrists of the others.
Warned by Joe to hang on tight, they went around the corner into the Brobdingnagian hole. Alice slipped and fell off the ledge and was pulled, shrieking, back up. Then Nur, even smaller than she, was blown off, but he too was hauled to safety.
The torches of the Egyptians had been extinguished by the wind when Joe had led them through the bellowing cave. Now, he could see, though not very far. Also, he shouted back to Burton, this ledge was broader than the one on the right.
"Boy, ve'd have been thyit out of luck if the Ethicalth had melted down the ledgeth! I guethth they thought that no vone vould ever get thith far after they took the ropeth avay and plugged the tunnel!"
Burton only heard part of what Joe said but filled in the rest.
They had to stop twice to eat and sleep. Meanwhile, The River gradually dropped away and finally disappeared. Burton, curious to know how deep it was, sacrificed a spare lamp. He counted seconds as its beam turned over and over and became a thread of light before it plunged into the blackness. It had fallen at least three thousand feet.
At last, the grayness that heralded the end of the cave appeared. They came out into the open air, misty but brighter. Above them was a sky which blazed with a multitide of giant stars and gas sheets. The thin cloud closed around them but didn't block their view of the mountain wall to their right. They were almost on the lip of the abyss at the bottom of which The River ran.
"Ve're on the wrong thide here," Joe said. "Ahead, on thith thide, a mountain blockth uth. If ve could only get acrothth to the right thide. But then maybe the Ethical left a vay for uth on thith thide."
"I doubt it," Burton said. "If he did, we'd have to circle completely around the inner wall of the mountains ringing the sea to get to the cave at the bottom. Unless..."
"Unlethth vhat?"
"Unless X made two caves and put boats there, too."
Nur said, "One rough ledge they might overlook. But two?"
"Yeah," Joe said. "Tell you yhat. The two thideth of The Valley here get very clothe at the top. The vallth mutht arch over, lean out. There'th only about tventy feet betveen the edgeth at the top. Here. Let me thyow you."
He walked slowly ahead and after about sixty feet stopped.
His beam, added to theirs, clearly showed the other side of the gap.
"God Almighty!" Aphra said. "The Ethical surely didn't expect us to jump across it?"
"The other Ethicals wouldn't think anybody would dare it," Nur said. "But I think X expected us to, yes. I mean, he knew that at least one, maybe more, of any party that got this far would be able to leap across. After all, he picked some very athletic people. Then that person or persons would tie a rope to a rock, and the rest would go over on it."