ter  and pressing s face to tered and sried to pull ao fall ing on trument panel. t turned o Lee and put out a  Lee .

    true and living ered weakly and called in a wild  she was dying.

    t t ill alive.  ttle.  not alive;  to everything.

    And Lee sat and cly into a scarp of tains t rose up before them.

    t c rear up in t noterest  t in  noto stop it, and at t of impact ;er!quot;

    And woke.

    ent, safe, and er nibbled ing. tting cross-legged, but a s t t was a bad place, full of ing pasms.

    t by  ant flicker picked out tree trunks and t once   o the hillside.

    quot;Damn, Lee, youre tcs tter ; er grumbled, and flicked her long ears.

    quot;Aint you dreaming too, er?quot; tered.

    quot;You aint dreaming, Lee, youre seeing. If Ida kno out, you ;

    humb, and she shook her ears.

    And  test transition ing in tor to be in ted Lee  and strange pleasure. too urbulent updrafts above t, and Lee looked around t occasionally glared t in treetops ring h silver.

    ttered a  voices too-ingale. Sayan Kotor ,  ing asleep; ttering upumbling air.

    And Lee felt ure o tever  felt trangest of pleasures: t of offering eager obedience to a stronger po  of ty flock, a  species all turning as one in tic  teful dark regularity of a zeppelin.

    tly  do. And treamed toest reac first, but none so sly as Sayan Kotor; tiny s,   t-e t uring it to gain a hold.

    to it and daso pieces by t of t came next seized on to til t only t (noing iny claoo, and truts and cables—every square inco it.

    t  began to sink fart of t and of course quite invisible to t random.

    At t moment Sayan Kotor screamed, and a ts droook off and fle into flames.

    Fire, , flames ... Lee woke up again,  as if  sun.

    Outside tent till t leaves on t torm or been percside.

    t from ter  birdsong. No engines in t it migo liger a struggle  it going and brewed some coffee.

    quot; no; he said.

    quot;Depends. troyed t;

    quot;I mean, y?quot;

    S;Dont remember no contract.quot;

    quot;It aint a contractual ts a moral t;

    quot;e got one more zeppelin to t before you start fretting about morals, Lee. ty, forty men s more. Survival first, morals later.quot;

    S, of course, and as  gradually groronger,   for full daylig, and fly o scan t over a wide area, so he could see when Lee and Grumman broke cover.

    tor aretc ing. er looked up and turned , looking at ty daemon urn, and a moment later t of tent.

    quot;Busy nig; Lee remarked.

    quot;A busy day to come. e must leave t at once, Mr. Scoresby. to burn it.quot;

    Lee looked around incredulously at tation and said, quot;;

    quot;t t a kind of napases oucer. t to use in t is saturated, it c;

    quot;You can see t, can you?quot;

    quot;As clearly as you sa. Pack  to carry, and come a;

    Lee rubbed  valuable t portable—namely, truments from trieved t, sto t, tangled and ted among t no more, unless by some miracle o buy anoto move like an insect along th.

    ting it inland. By time trees the fire, a deep and greedy roar.

    quot; t nig; said Lee. quot;t;

    quot;I guess t to catc; Grumman replied, stripping a brancs leaves so  as a ick, quot;and ting to see ;

    And sure enougs and rocks and fallen tree trunks and stopping only to gator, flying o tell t  long before trees bereaming banner of flame.

    Creatures of t—squirrels, birds,  rose around travelers struggled on toree line, er  t noy feet into trees blazed like torc tc like napo blossom .

    Gasping, Lee and Grumman forced teep slope of rocks and scree.  s ed t soo far a o see through binoculars.

    tainside rose se out of trap t was a narrow defile ahe cuffs.

    Lee pointed, and Grumman said, quot;My ts exactly, Mr. Scoresby.quot;

    ipped o t. t pause, climbing on as quickly as t Lee said, quot;Excuse me for asking ts impertinent, but I never kne c youre no c someto do, or did it come natural?quot;

    quot;For a urally,quot; said Grumman. quot;e o learn everything we do.

    Sayan Kotor is telling me t to a pass. If  t.quot;

    ter preferred to find ones and moving as sly as ime for ttle gulch.

    Lee  Grumman, because thing hard.

    of ion Lee didnt  to face; but rance to tually on the zeppelin.

    quot;t; he said.

    And it ence of deater stumbled, even surefooted, firm-ed er stumbled and faltered. Grumman leaned on tick o look back, and Lee turned to look too.

    t, making for tly belo  tended to capture t kill t of gunfire just tead, t brougo a  above t t point in tream of blue-uniformed men jumped doo climb.

    Lee and Grumman rance to t, tion ; but they had only one rifle.

    quot;ter me, Mr. Scoresby,quot; said Grumman, quot;not you. If you give me troops. Youll be a prisoner of ;

    Lee ignored t and said, quot;Git moving. Make t t you t going to sit back and let em catc;

    t and rested. Grumman nodded.

    quot;I rengt to bring t; er of the gulch.

    quot;Just tell me before you go,quot; said Lee, quot;because I  be easy till I knoell, and I dont greatly care. Just te Im a-going to do no going to  little girl Lyra, or ;

    quot;Its going to ; said Grumman.

    quot;And your oat forget o me?quot;

    quot;I  forget.quot;

    quot;Because, Dr. Grumman, or Joever name you take up in  little cer. If Id  love  oatever remains of me  of eternity s ant t oat;

    quot;I understand. And you ;

    quot;ts all I need to kno;

    t . turned and made  place to make and.

    quot;Not t; said er. quot;You caint see to t from take t;

    t o do ion in t belorying to rise again. It o do en  tle, in t, taking turns to be Danes and Frenco ook out t on ter en been a cougar or a tlesnake, but mostly a mockingbird. No;Quit daydreaming and take a sig; s;t play, Lee.quot;

    t and o capture t one man ime. Beo Lees surprise, till laboring to rise. Maybe its buoyancy  eit  taken off yet, and it gave him an idea.

    ed ion and siger until  engine mounting plumb oer t as suddenly seized and died. to one side. Lee could  the airship was grounded now.

    ted and taken cover as  them, and he did:

    ty-five. y bullets.

    er crept up close to  shoulder.

    quot;Ill c; she said.

    Crouc along tle stone  for er y; s as plain and scra bro green. And no t landscape tal tumbled rocks, and beyond it a forest on fire.

    Not a blade of grass, not a speck of green to rest on.

    ly.

    quot;talking,quot; s;I can  I caint understand.quot;

    quot;Russian,quot; ;toget a run. t .quot;

    quot;Aim straig; she said.

    quot;I   like taking lives, er.quot;

    quot;Ours or t;

    quot;No, its more t,quot; ;Its t see  ed to t c.quot;

    quot;t about to s,quot; said er, and as sone fle from  s move a muscle.

    quot;ell, t makes me feel better about doing t; said Lee, and took careful aim.

    co aim at, but  it. ithe man fell back and died.

    And t began. ite ting bullets, tainside and along te, and t came from ts ,  variations on t, until it seemed t the whole world was burning.

    Lees boulder ted, and  ts as t it. Once ers back ripple as t passed over it, but s budge.

    Nor did op firing.

    t first minute er it, in t came, Lee found t   were   red.

    er moved around to look.

    quot;Not; s;A bullet clipped your scalp.quot;

    quot;Did you count er?quot;

    quot;No. too busy ducking. Reload w;

    back and fort   from tiff.  on it carefully, and it loosened.

    to position, and even before  o t, ook a bullet.

    It felt like an explosion in  so  arm numb and useless. t deal of pain ing to spring on  it  raised t, and t t gave rengto focus ing again.

    e ago, and sigolid concentration: one s... ts man.

    quot;; tered.

    quot;Good sing,quot; so ;Dont stop. Over by t black boulder—quot;

    . the figure fell.

    quot;Damn, t; he said.

    quot;Makes no sense,quot; s;Do it any;

    quot;Do you believe ;

    quot;Sure. Plumb a;

    Crack: anot out like a candle.

    t and found some more bullets. As  somet nearly failed;  ers face pressed to   ears.

    quot;Lee, t,quot; she said.

    quot;;

    quot;told you to take  t rouble.quot;

    quot;You t you told me? I took it because tc;

    finis found ime it smaso  leg, and before  poker laid along his skull.

    quot;Not long no; tered, trying to ill.

    quot;tcc;

    Poor er, s croucense and c life.

    And iful gold-brown eyes were growing dull.

    quot;Still beautiful,quot; ;Oer, yeac;

    quot;Sure s;

    quot;In my breast pocket. Fetc, er, I caint move.quot;

    It  sugged out ttle scarlet florong teet by   effort  in  and said, quot;Serafina Pekkala! ;

    A movement beloed, fired. t died.

    er was failing.

    quot;er, dont you go before I do,quot; Lee whispered.

    quot;Lee, I couldnt abide to be anyw; she whispered back.

    quot;You tc;

    quot;Sure s;

    quot;e s of t;

    quot;Maybe so ...quot;

    Anotime t  deep someer of : It  find it ters my center. And rained to bring toil.

    quot;; er breathed.

    Lee found it o pull trigger. Everyto try times, and finally  it. tumbled ahe slope.

    Anots fear of  reading closer, and  leave ill ten him bare.

    quot;t,quot; er muttered. quot;;

    And Lee sa.

    quot;I caint s a man in t; Lee said.

    quot;So die  left, t;

    So ook aim  bullet at tself, still roaring and straining to rise s one engine, and t must , or maybe a burning brand from t beloed to t; for to an orange fireball, and tal skeleton rose a little umbled doly, but full of a fiery death.

    And t of t dared come closer to t fell on them.

    Lee saer saying, quot;ts all of em, Lee.quot;

    , quot;t o come to t;

    S;e . ere a-;

    ttle proud broken self against , and they died.