THE MAGIC LABYRINTH by Philip Jose Farmer

Joe then cast Nur’s lantern at the end of a rope. Nur caught it though he staggered back a little.

Nur came back out of the fog a few minutes later.

“I found a big boulder to tie the rope to, but I can’t move it by myself! We’ll need about five strong men!”

“Over you go!” Joe said, and he swung Burton back and forth. Though Burton wanted to shout that he was much heavier than Nur, he refrained. The gap looked twice as broad as it had up to that moment. Then he was shot up and outward while Joe yelled, “Vatch your athth, Dick!” and his laughter bellowed. The many-thousands-feet abyss was beneath him for a frightening second, and then Burton struck on his feet and was propelled forward. He rolled, but even so the rock thumped him hard.

A moment later, his pack followed. Joe then threw all the packs across, and he lifted Frigate and hurled him on over.

One by one, they followed until Ah Qaaq and Joe were the only ones left. Shouting, “Tho long, fatty!” the titanthrop hurled the May an. He hit closer to the edge than anyone but had a foot to spare.

“Now vhat?” Joe yelled.

Burton said, “There’s a big boulder that must weigh almost as much as you, Joe. Go roll it up here, and then tie the end of the rope around it.”

“That’th half a mile back,” Joe said. “Vhy didn’t you all thtay here and help me before you vent over?”

“Didn’t want you to be too tired from moving the rock to throw us across.”

“Jethuth H. Chritht! I do all the hard vork.”

He disappeared with his lantern into the fog.

Some of them were bruised, and with torn skin, but all were able to do their share. They followed Nur to the boulder and, after a long rest, they began rolling it over the flat stone surface of the plateau. It wasn’t easy since the rock was irregularly shaped and probably weighed more than all of them together.

Rests were frequent because of the thin air. They finally got it near the edge and then collapsed for a while.

A minute later, Joe rolled the boulder from the mists.

“I vath hoping I could beat you runtth to it,” he shouted. “I vould’ve, too, if my boulder had been ath near am yourth.” He sat down to pant.

Blessed Croomes complained that she had been cheated out of the chance to jump and so demonstrate her faith in the Lord.

“Nobody stopped you,” Frigate said. “Although, to tell the truth, I was disappointed, too. The only thing that kept me back was that, if I did miss, the group would be just that much weaker. Maybe I’ll try it anyway just to show I can do it.”

He looked at Tai-Peng, and they both burst out laughing.

“You ain’t fooling me none,” Croomes said in English. “You two men was skeered to do what a woman wasn’t afraid to do.”

“That’s the difference between you and us,” Frigate said. “We’re not crazy.”

When they all were restored, they tied the ends of the long heavy rope around the boulders and chocked them with smaller stones. Joe let himself down over the edge backward, grabbed the sagging rope, and hand-over-handed across it. His friends seized the rope to insure that the boulder wasn’t moved by his enormous weight, though it wasn’t necessary. When he got quickly to the edge, some left the rope and helped him get up over the edge.

“Boy, I hope I never have to do that again!” he gasped. “I never told you guyth before, but vhen I get on a real high plathe, I alvayth have an urge to jump off.”

43

GETTING TO THE LEDGE THAT LED ALONG THE MOUNTAINSIDE to the sea took them ten hours. .

“Thith ith narrow enough now, but vhen ve get to the plathe vhere thothe two Egyptianth fell, man, that’th thomething!”

Several thousand feet below was a mass of clouds. They spent eight hours sleeping and continued after they’d had their monotonous breakfast. Though the Egyptians had crawled along this trail, the group faced the rock and edged along, their fingers gripping the holes and small outthrusts of the rock.