Lee Scoresby looked do to and to , and so searc he Yenisei.
quot;And t; he said.
quot;Neo t born in it,quot; said Stanislaus Grumman. quot;As old as yours or mine, ot Asriels done more profoundly ts ever been s I spoke of—ted places now.
Its o navigate, but t;
quot;Nes a strange ; said Lee.
quot;Yes,quot; said Stanislaus Grumman. quot;It is a strange some feel at ;
quot;It looks empty,quot; said Lee.
quot;Not so. Beyond t y t s still ined by ts of ts and nobles , ts fallen on imes in t t;
A fees later, as ted on, Lee sa a ligone breaker, toiful city around a uous building like an opera els, and little streets wrees hung over shaded balconies.
And Grumman ed closer, Lee o see t t an adult in sigo see t t of cafes, or eating and drinking, or gathering bags full of goods from houses and shops.
And ting, and a red-tle boy tones to smas y, a teac; it was a world of children.
But t to rub , but t about it: columns of mist—or sometenuous t—a tever ty ed along tered ered in tyards. them unseeing.
But not unseen. ted over ty, t some of terest to t tain celescope) all transparent beings t line seemed to s. And t, time to time o clear his vision.
quot; t; said Lee.
ters.quot;
quot; do tly?quot;
quot;Youve ;
quot;Oales.quot;
quot;ters feast as vampires feast on blood, but ters food is attention. A conscious and informed interest in turity of ctractive to t;
quot;te of t Bolvangar, t;
quot;On trary. Botion Board and ters of Indifference are becrut innocence is different from experience. tion Board fears and es Dust, and ters feast on it, but its Dust bot;
quot;tered around t kid do;
quot;tack misery. ;
quot;For Petes sake! Cant we rescue ;
quot;No. ters once. t toucc;
quot;But tell me t;
quot;ter-orp living on s flee. And ty to find, as you can see.
t starve. It looks as if a multitude of Specters y, and ts o safety. You notice s to no ;
quot;Except for t poor kid do;
quot;Mr. Scoresby, t is t to put an end to cruelty and injustice, you must take me farto do.quot;
quot;Seems to me—quot; Lee said, feeling for t;seems to me t cruelty is needed. Or is t wrong, Dr.
Grumman? Im only an ignorant aeronaut. Im so damn ignorant I believed it s of flig .quot;
quot;O I ;
quot; out?quot;
ting loone toly in t seem to iced.
quot;I needed to fly,quot; said Grumman, quot;so I summoned you, and ;
ly a t . And in perfect time, Lee Scoresby leaned over t and pulled t. t, and ted gently to clear to or so. A dozen crourbed, rose cahem.
quot;I guess you are,quot; said Lee. quot;You range you, Dr. Grumman. You ever spend any time among tc;
quot;Yes,quot; said Grumman. quot;And among academicians, and among spirits. I found folly everyream of it. No doubt t I failed to recognize. Life is o it all t;
quot;And t folly or ;
quot;test ;
tell me again o find tle knife, and ;
quot;tell ask is.quot;
quot;And ts a task t includes protecting Lyra,quot; t reminded him.
quot;It ect all of us.quot;
ty of sighem.
Lee cruments. till gyrating loosely, but timeter ioning accurately, as far as o be floating about a t above t. Some y of ballast.
But tle c . er felt it too, and flicked up urned one gold-ed on his face.
ucked of , and opened telescope again.
No, mistaken. Far to t ion ting in t sance made it impossible to see any details, but ther balloon was larger, and flying higher.
Grumman too.
quot;Enemies, Mr. Scoresby?quot; o peer into t.
quot;t be a doubt. Im uncertain and go o catcay lo t a zeppelin; t, Dr. Grumman, Im going balloon Id t.quot;
er do to jettison t. t once, and Lee kept telescope to his eye.
And a minute later ain ted, for tir of movement in tself into a line of smoke streaking up and a an angle from t ance up, it burst into a flare. It blazed deep red for a moment and to a patc it ocsin in t.
quot;Can you summon a stiffer breeze, Dr. Grumman?quot; said Lee. quot;Id like to make tfall.quot;
For taking t over a y or forty miles across. A range of , Lee sa t more trutains.
urned to Grumman, but found rance. t stood out on ly back and fort, and , equally entranced.
And of gaining or ir to c sohe hills.
But t moved tly oo. It neit it beurned telescope on it again, in tance. te.
quot;Zeppelins,quot; ;ell, t ;
ried to make an estimate of tance, and a similar calculation about toe tips off the waves far below.
Grumman sat resting in a corner of t w Lee knew he was awake.
quot;tuations like t; ;I do not to be caug by t no defense; te. Nor do I to land in ter, by free c; for a h grenades as easy as fishing.
quot;So I to reac noime.
quot;And meano sunset, by my calculation.
And its o say, but I t time, and en to this bay.
quot;Noand o take us up into tain deation no co say our on ter.
quot;So sometime tonigs gonna be over. You ever landed in a balloon?quot;
quot;No,quot; said t;But I trust your skill.quot; quot;Ill try and get as range as I can. Its a question of balance, because too close beo see ake us dooo early, find ter of trees. Eito be some sing before long.quot;
Grumman sat impassively, moving a magical token of feato ttern t Lee could see the pursuing zeppelins.
An by, and anot cigar and sipped cold coffee from a tin flask.
ttled loself, and taintops, hed in gold.
And be lost glare, ttle dots of taken t. And across tiny but clear, an insistent mosquito whine.
ill a fees from making t t of ticed somet up into till-brigo notice? If a storm ter.
And tain of rain drifted doo be c along toy flaser a cras sime from tains.
tning, and time truck do from t one of t t. A brig t drifted doed, still blazing, on ter.
Lee let out tanding beside ion deep in his face.
quot;Did you bring t storm?quot; said Lee.
Grumman nodded.
tiger; bands of gold alternated cripes of deepest brotern ce, for t. tcer and p foam, and t of to not sank.
ted keeping to tning flasorm came closer, Lee began to fear for trike could tumbling to eart suppose trol torm so finely as to avoid t.
quot;Rig; ;Im going to ignore trate on getting us safe into tains and on t I you to do is sit tigo jump ry to make it as gentle as I can, but landing in tions is a matter of luck as muc;
quot;I trust you, Mr. Scoresby,quot; said the shaman.
back in a corner of t wher binding.
t gasbag ss. trained, but Lee go some more ballast and cimeter closely. In a storm, t drop against timetric reading, and very often it ion. Lee ran t of . trol go higher; he could only descend.
ently tormy air and made out t bulk of t tony beac earing trees. So far, already! ter t.
And leave it too long before too cool by nature to rage at fate; o raise an eyebro it laconically. But orm and let it bloself out—eed to get t down.
er and tucked o , buttoning t up close to keep steady and quiet; orn, clung firmly alons deep in t rim and .
quot;Im going to take us do; Lee sed above t;You sand and be ready to jump clear. ;
Grumman obeyed. Lee gazed do, and blinking t of to til Lee could hunder.
quot;; ed. quot;You cooked up a fine storm, Mr. S;
t around a cleat to keep it open. As treamed out of top, invisible far above, to itself, and a fold, and te before.
t ossing and lurcly it ell if ts t easily o t kno after a minute or so Lee felt a sudden snag and kne on a branc emporary c it shey were.
ed, quot;Fifty feet above trees—quot;
the shaman nodded.
t, and t t. Lee o it and found once, but took Grumman by surprise.
lose o swing himself clear.
A moment later came t jolting s fast.
t tilted at once and a second later reetops, and amid t leaves and tormented branc jolted to a precarious .
quot;Still t; Lee called, for it o see anything.
quot;Still ;
quot;Better keep still for a minute till uation clearly,quot; said Lee, for t settling tle jerks against wever was hem up.
till a strong sidey, but c crossed Lees mind to cut it loose, but if it didnt fly aoget ops like a banner and give tion aer to take it in, if they could.
tning flaser torm torn only partially, for t ing on it near t ill attaco trunk.
quot;Im going to t a rope and climb do; ed. quot;As soon as our feet touc plan.quot;
quot;Ill follo; said Grumman. quot;My daemon tells me ty feet do;
And Lee ter of s as ttled again on t rim.
quot;S far?quot; put t out of to to t even if t did fall, it fall far.
ter secure in , of till solid ground beneat. trunk; tree, a giant of an oak, and Lee muttered a to it as ugged on to signal to Grumman t he could descend.
as tumult? ened o tell ion it te or so, and t was gone.
the ground.
quot;Did you ?quot; said Lee.
quot;Yes. Going o tains, I tulations on landing us safely, Mr. Scoresby.quot;
quot;e aint finis. I to git t gasbag under tll sion from miles ao some manual labor, Dr. Grumman?quot;
tell me o do.quot;
quot;All rigo you. One of tent.
You can git t set up o ;
time, and in peril at one point, finally broke and pitc; but fall far, since till trailed among treetops and suspended.
t made concealing t of it ning, tugging and of sight.
till beating treetops back and fort t of time t only pitcent but o being, and was brewing some coffee.
quot;t; said Lee, soaked and stiff, easing o tent and taking the mug Grumman handed him.
quot;No, you can ts for t; said Grumman. quot;Do ts in your arting a fire, t is dry matcravel te, Mr. Scoresby.quot;
quot;You ;
Grumman ened, and sure enoug engine sound, easier to make out no ttle.
quot;t; said Grumman. quot;t kno;
And a minute later a flickering glo it ent, and Lee kne for a flare.
quot;Best put out t; ;sorry as I am to do it. I t canopys t you never knoo sleep no t.quot;
quot;You ; said the shaman.
ook a eart doruggled to lie dotle tent and closed his eyes.
range and po one point o see tting cross-legged, o leave only a on beill seated in a mound of glole and vulnerable, rangeness of it, and really asleep, and ime.
Anotoo. Lee seemed to see trimmed rattle and commanding someto obey oucer, like t all and nearly invisible, and it invoked suc-c error. But Grumman ing it fearlessly, and coming to no ened closely to ed upil it in the canopy.
ting nigook anoturn, for of a zeppelin, c. In fact, ting in ts seat, and t, looking do tossing treetops, a er hem.
Pinioned in , and error of t as t was o him.