"Qviet, everyone. You might be able to hear the thound of the thea beating againtht the bathe of the mountainth."
They listened intently, but only Burton, Nur, and Tai-Peng heard the waves against the rock and that might have been their imagination.
When they came around the shoulder, however, they could see the relatively bright heavens and, looming faintly in the upper regions, the hulk of the mountains that ringed the sea on the far side.
Of the tower, there was no indication, not even a dim bulk. Yet it was in the center of the sea according to Joe's own story and the reports from the airship Parseval.
Joe called, "Here'th vhere I came acrothth a grail thomebody left. Here'th vhere I thaw a thudden blathe of light vhen the Ethical'th aircraft came down to the top of the tower. And here'th vhere I thtumbled over the grail and fell to my death."
He paused.
"It ain't here now."
"What?"
"The grail."
"The Ethicals must've removed it."
"I hope not," Joe said. "If they did, then they knew that people could get here, and they vould've trathed the ledge down to the bottom and found the cave. Let'th hope that thomebody elthe came along and removed it. Maybe the Egyptianth did after I fell."
They moved on the seemingly thread-thin wet-slippery footing. The mists became thicker then, and Burton couldn't see more than twenty feet ahead with the aid of his lantern, which he had to lift from his belt hook when he wanted more visibility.
Presently, Joe stopped.
"What's the matter?" Burton said.
"Thyit! The ledge ninth out. Vait a minute. Lookth—and feelth—like it'th been melted down here. Yeah! It hath! The Ethicalth've cut the ledge out right here! Now vhat do ve do?"
"Can you see how far the melt goes?"
"Yeth. It lookth like it thtopth about forty feet from here. Might ath veil be a mile, though."
"How far up or down does the melt go?"
A minute passed.
"For ath far ath I can reach. Vait a minute. I'll thyine my light."
A few seconds passed.
"There'th thome fiththyureth about four feet above my fingertipth."
Burton removed his pack and got down on his hands and knees. Nur, who'd been just behind, crawled slowly over him. Joe and the Moor did a circus-acrobat balancing act while Nur climbed to the titanthrop's shoulders. Presently, Nur said, "It looks as if there are some fissures on a straight line. Enough for our pitons."
Nur continued standing on the titanthrop's shoulders. Burton handed the steel wedges and a hammer to Joe, who passed them on to the Moor. While Joe held Nur's legs firmly, Nur's hammer drove in two wedges. Burton sent up the end of a rope, thin but heavy enough, to Nur. He passed this through the eyes of the wedges and secured the end at the most remote piton.
The Moor got down onto the ledge by Joe's side where Burton held him from falling off while he put on a harness much like that which parachutists wear. These were made of fish leather and metal and had been part of the launch's stores. On the webbing on the chest were buckles to each of which strong plastic ribbons were attached. At the end of each was secured a small metal device containing a wheel.
Nur climbed back up on Joe. When he stood up on the titanthrop's broad shoulders, he passed one jaw of the wheeled device around the horizontal rope held through the eyes of the pitons. He snapped the device together and locked the jaws with a lever. Now he could slide along the rope attached to, the cliff face. When he got to the first piton, he locked the left-hand wheeled block to the part of the rope beyond the first piton. Then he unhinged the first block and slid along to the second piton.
Bracing his feet against the cliff wall, he leaned outward, supported by the ribbons, and began hammering the third piton into a fissure. This was hard labor and required many rests. The others needed food, but they were too concerned about Nur to have any appetite.
It took five hours for Nur, working patiently, hammering at the pitons, to reach the area above the ledge where it resumed. By then he was too exhausted to drive in another piton. He dropped down along the face of the cliff to the projection. Burton went next, climbing up on the giant's back to his shoulders, no undangerous feat. Without Joe's height and strength, the entire party would have been stopped at this point with no alternative except to go back. They would have starved then, since they did not have enough rations for the return trip.
Burton moved along the cliff face as Nur had and presently was at the other ledge. Nur caught and steadied Burton as he released the block and slid down with his hands extended to slow down his descent by their friction. Fortunately, the ledge here was broader than on the other side of the melt.
Those on that side had another problem. That was getting the heavy packs across. There seemed nothing else to do but to get rid of all except the most essential items. Unpacking was difficult, though, because of the very small space for footing. They helped each other, one clinging with a hand to a roughness in the wall while he or she reached over and opened the pack on the back of his neighbor. The items had to come out one by one and be dropped into the sea or placed on the ledge for repacking.
Everything went except the knives, firearms, the ammunition, some long heavy cloths, some rations, and the canteens. Part of those were placed in their grails. Alice and Aphra, the lightest, were to bring over what was left in Burton's and Nur's packs in their own.
Joe called across the abyss and asked if he should leave the inflatable kayak behind. Burton said that it shouldn't be discarded. But since Joe weighed so much, it'd be best to have de Marbot carry it in his pack. The contents of the Frenchman's pack should be parceled out between Croomes' and Tai-Peng's.
Burton didn't want the titanthrop to bring across anything but himself. So far, the pitons had given no indication of coming loose. But he didn't know what eight hundred pounds would do to them.
One by one, the others came until only Ah Qaaq and Joe Miller were left. When the Mayan made the passage, he used his hammer to drive each wedge in more securely.
Joe reached down gingerly and picked up his huge canteen. He emptied it and placed it back on the ledge. He shouted, "I vant to get acrothth fatht! Tho I ain't going to bother vith my hamethth! I'll thving over, hand over hand."
He leaped up and grabbed the rope by the first piton.
He moved swiftly, his long arms reaching out, grabbing the rope ahead of him and then sliding the other along. He used his knees to brace himself so he could lean outward.
Halfway across, a piton skreeked as it pulled out from its hole.
Joe was motionless for a moment. Then he extended a long arm to the rope on the side nearest him from the next piton.
The loosened piton came free with another screech. Joe dropped down, clinging to the rope, and swung like an almost-stopped pendulum.
"Hang on, Joe!" Burton said.
Then he screamed with the rest of the party as the second wedge tore loose and the others followed.
Bellowing, shrouded in white cloths, Joe Miller dropped for the second time into the dark sea.
SECTION 13
In the Dark Tower
44
BURTON WEPT WITH THE OTHERS. HE'D LIKED THE HUGE MAN, had perhaps loved him. With his death the group had lost much courage, much morale-boosting, much strength.
After a while they turned around, cautiously, and continued the slow still dangerous descent. When six hours passed, they stopped to eat and sleep. The latter was difficult, since they had to lie on one side and make sure they didn't roll over while sleeping. They put their pistols against their backs so these would, they hoped, be so uncomfortable that they'd wake them immediately. Excretion was not easy either. The men could face the outer side of the ledge to urinate, though the updraft sometimes caused the liquid to blow back on their cloths. The women had to hang their posteriors over the ledge and hope for the best, which often didn't happen.