mesa, as if the waters had been running at this level for cen-
turies before striking some softer rock-stratum which had per-
mitted them to cut down further to create the gorge. The
stone platform was littered with huge rocks, rounded by long
water erosion, obviously the remains of a washed-out stratum
of conglomerite or a similar sedimentary layer.
Honath looked at the huge pebblesmany of them bigger
than he wasand then back down into the gorge again. The
figure of the demon, foreshortened into a pigmy by distance
and perspective, was still roving back and forth in front of
the waterfall. Having gotten the notion that prey was hiding
behind the sheet of water, the creature might well stay sta-
tioned there until it starved, for all Honath knewit cer-
tainly did not seem to be very brightbut Honath thought
he had a better idea.
“Alaskon, can we hit the demon with one of these rocks?”
The navigator peered cautiously into the gorge. “It wouldn’t
surprise me,” he said at last. “It’s just pacing back and forth
in that .same small arc. And all things fall at the same speed;
if we can make the rock arrive just as it walks under ithmm.
Yes, I think so. Let’s pick a big one to make certain.”
But Alaskon’s ambitions overreached his strength; the rock
he selected would not move, largely because he himself was
still too weak to help much with it. “Never mind,” he said.
“Even a small one will be falling fast by the time it gets
down there. Pick one you and Mathild can roll easily your-
selves; I’ll just have to figure it a little closer, that’s all.”