THE MAGIC LABYRINTH

"Perhaps," de Marbot said. "But what if the entire tu

"Then we try the corner. If X was smart enough, he1 would've figured out that the tu

Burton sca

Joe swung his hammer against the plug. Burton, his ear close to the rock, said, "It's hollow!"

"Jutht great," Joe said. He removed several tungsten-steel alloy chisels from his backpack and began hammering. When he'd cut out enough of the quartz to make six holes, he and Burton inserted plastic explosive into them. Burton would have liked to daub clay over the plastic, but there wasn't any.

He stuck the ends of wires into the plastic and retreated along the face of the cliff, rolling out the wires. When the group was far enough away, he pressed one wire of his small battery against another. The explosions deafened them, and pieces of quartz flew out.

"Veil," Joe said, "at least my burden'll be lighter now. I von't have to carry thothe canth of plathtik and the battery anymore. That'th the end of them."

They went back into the fissure. Burton shot his light across it. The holes made by Joe had been enlarged. Several of them were big enough for him to see the tu

He said, "We've got about twelve hours more work, Joe."

"Oh, thyit! Veil, here goeth nothing."

Shortly after breakfast, the titanthrop hacked out the last piece of rock, and the plug fell out.

"Now cometh the hard part," Joe said, wiping the sweat off his face and his grotesquely long nose.

The tu

"Wrap clothth around your kneeth and handth," Joe said. "Othervithe, you're going to rub them bloody. You'll probably do tho anyvay."

Frigate, Alice, Behn, and Croomes returned just then with canteens refilled at The River. Joe half-emptied his.

"Now," he said, "ve thyould vait avhile until everybody'th taken a good healthy thyit. Vhen I vath vith thothe Egyptianths, ve neglected that precauthyon. Halfvay up, I couldn't thtand it no longer, tho I emptied my bowelth."

He laughed thunderously.

"You thyould have heard thothe nothelethth little fellowth cuthth! They carried on thomething terrible. They vath hopping mad with no room to hop! Haw, haw!"

He wiped the tears from his eyes. "Jethuth! Did they thmell bad vhen they finally crawled out! Then they got even madder when they had to vath themthelveth off in The River. That vater'th ath cold ath a velldigger'th athth, ath Tham uthed to thay."

More tears flowed as he thought about Clemens. He snuffled, and he wiped off his proboscis on his sleeve.

Joe hadn't exaggerated the hardships. The tu

Their joy at finding that the tu

The wind was stronger and colder here despite its thi

"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."