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On board, he issued an order to this effect, and the cutters were once more picked up; but Dondragmer interrupted.
„I’m glad to see that this work wasn’t wasted time,” he said.
„What?” asked the captain. „I knew you were at some stunt of your own for the last forty or fifty days, but was too busy to find out what it was. We were able to handle the trading without you. What have you been doing?”
„It was an idea that struck me just after we were first caught here; something you said to the Flyers about a machine to pull out the stakes gave it to me. I asked them later if there was such a machine that was not too complicated for us to understand, and after some thinking one of them said there was. He told me how to make it, and that’s what I’ve been doing. If we rig a tripod by one of the stakes, I’ll see how it works.”
„But what is the machine? I thought all the Flyer’s machines were made of metal, which we couldn’t fashion because the kinds that are hard enough need too much heat.”
„This.” The mate displayed two objects on which he had been working. One was supply a pulley of the most elementary design, quite broad, with a hook attached. The other was rather similar but double, with peglike teeth projecting from the circumference of both wheels. The wheels themselves were carved from a solid block of hardwood, and turned together. Like the first pulley, this was equipped with a hook; in addition there was a strap of leather threaded through the guards of both wheels, with holes punched in it to match the peg teeth, and the ends buckled together so that it formed a continuous double loop. The whole arrangement seemed pointless to the Mesklinites — including Don-dragmer, who did not yet understand why the device worked, or even whether it actually would. He took it over in front of one of the radios and spread it out on the deck.
„Is this now assembled correctly?” he asked.
„Yes, it should work if your strap is strong enough,” came the answer. „You must attach the hook of the single pulley to the stake you want to extract; I am sure you have methods of doing that with rope. The other pulley must be fastened to the top of the tripod. I’ve told you what to do from then on.”
„Yes, I know. It occurred to me that instead of taking much time to reverse the machine after it was wound up tightly, however, I could unfasten the buckle and rethread it.”
„That would work, provided you were not lifting a load that had to be supported in the meantime,” replied the Earthman. „Good for you, Don.”
The crew immediately headed for the original group of Stakes, but Barle
„There aren’t so many blocking the canal we were digging. Don, did the Flyer say how long it would take to pull them Out with that contraption?”
„He wasn’t sure, since he didn’t know how deeply they were buried or how fast we could operate it; but he guessed at a day or so each — faster than we could cut through them.”
„But not so fast we wouldn’t gain time by having some of us finish that canal while you take however many men you need to pull the stakes in it. Incidentally, did he have any name for the thing?”
„He called it a differential hoist The second word is plain enough, but I don’t see how to translate the first — it’s just a noise to me.”
„Me too. Differential it is. Let’s get to work; your watch to the hoist, and mine to the canal.” The crew buckled down with a will.
The canal was finished first, since it quickly became evident that most of the crew would be free to dig; two sailors, taking turns on the hoist at intervals of a few minutes, proved enough to start the spear shafts sliding very slowly out of the hard ground. To Barle
Once through the barrier, the distance to the lake was relatively short; and there tfyey stopped to reassemble the Bree in her natural form. This was quickly accomplished — indeed, the crew might now be considered expert at the task — and once more the ship floated in relatively deep water. The Earthmen above heaved a collective sigh of relief. This proved to be premature.
The gliders had been passing back and forth throughout the journey from the trading site. If their crews had been at all surprised at the method used to extract the spears, no evidence had appeared of the fact. Barle
Reejaaren was the first to greet them as the Bree anchored a few yards offshore. „So your ship is seaworthy again, eh? I’d try to meet any more storms a long way from land, if I were you.”
„Right,” Barle
„Our charts of these islands, of course, are secret,” the interpreter replied. „You should be out of the group in forty or fifty days, however, and then there is no land for some thousands of days’ sail to the south. I do not know your ship’s speed, so I ca
keep straight south you will encounter it at about — ” He gave an expression which referred to a spring-balance reading, and corresponded to about forty-five Earth gravities of latitude. „I could tell you about many of the countries along that coast, but it would take a long time. I can sum it up by saying that they will probably trade rather than fight-though some will undoubtedly do their best not to pay for what they get.”
„Will any of them assume we are spies?” Barle
„There is that risk, naturally, though few have secrets worth stealing. Actually they will probably try to steal yours, if they know you have any. I should not advise your discussing the matter of flying while there.”
„We did not plan to,” Barle
„I should have noticed that before,” the interpreter said. Then I would never have doubted your story of coming from the south. How did you get that from the natives?” In the answer to this question Barle
„Oh, we brought that with us; we frequently use them for carrying extra supplies. You will notice that its shape makes it easy to tow.” He had picked up his elementary notions of streamlining from Lackland not too long after acquiring the canoe.
„Oh, you developed that craft in your country too?” the interpreter asked curiously. „That is interesting; I had never seen one in the south. May I examine it, or do you not have time? We have never bothered to use them ourselves.” Barle