The Mayan and the Sumerian—if they were such—would come in last, and they’d be disarmed as they entered the cave. They carried long knives and .69-caliber plastic-bullet revolvers. Joe and de Marbot would see that they were relieved of them. He would warn Nur and Frigate about the deed, but he wouldn’t have them in on it. He still wasn’t sure about the American or the Moor. His experience with the agent, the pseudo-Peter Jairus Frigate, had made him very wary of the real Frigate, if he was indeed the original. Nur seemed to be what he claimed he was, but Burton trusted no one. Even the titanthrop might be an agent. Why not? He was intelligent and capable despite his grotesque size and facial features.
Burton had to trust someone, though. There were two, himself, and, after so many years of intimacy, Alice. The others— ah, the others! He’d have to watch them closely but his instincts, whatever that much-abused term meant, and it probably didn’t mean much, told him that all but two were what they said they were.
With their much-reduced packs, Joe still carrying the largest, they let themselves down on the last ledge. Moving sidewise on the toes and front of their feet, their arms extended parallel to their shoulders most of the time, they held on to whatever grip they could find, it wasn’t long before they came around the curve of the mountain, perhaps two hours, though it seemed like a very long time. Then Joe stopped, and he turned his head.’
“Qviet, everyone. You might be able to hear the thound of the thea beating againtht the bathe of the mountainth.”
They listened intently, but only Burton, Nur, and Tai-Peng heard the waves against the rock and that might have been their imagination.
When they came around the shoulder, however, they could see the relatively bright heavens and, looming faintly in the upper regions, the hulk of the mountains that ringed the sea on the far side.
Of the tower, there was no indication, not even a dim bulk. Yet it was in the center of the sea according to Joe’s own story and the reports from the airship Parseval.
Joe called, “Here’th vhere I came acrothth a grail thomebody left. Here’th vhere I thaw a thudden blathe of light vhen the Ethical’th aircraft came down to the top of the tower. And here’th vhere I thtumbled over the grail and fell to my death.”
He paused.
“It ain’t here now.”
“What?”
“The grail.”
“The Ethicals must’ve removed it.”
“I hope not,” Joe said. “If they did, then they knew that people could get here, and they vould’ve trathed the ledge down to the bottom and found the cave. Let’th hope that thomebody elthe came along and removed it. Maybe the Egyptianth did after I fell.”
They moved on the seemingly thread-thin wet-slippery footing. The mists became thicker then, and Burton couldn’t see more than twenty feet ahead with the aid of his lantern, which he had to lift from his belt hook when he wanted more visibility.
Presently, Joe stopped.
“What’s the matter?” Burton said.
“Thyit! The ledge ninth out. Vait a minute. Lookth—and feelth—like it’th been melted down here. Yeah! It hath! The Ethicalth’ve cut the ledge out right here! Now vhat do ve do?”
“Can you see how far the melt goes?”
“Yeth. It lookth like it thtopth about forty feet from here. Might ath veil be a mile, though.”
“How far up or down does the melt go?”
A minute passed.
“For ath far ath I can reach. Vait a minute. I’ll thyine my light.”
A few seconds passed.
“There’th thome fiththyureth about four feet above my fingertipth.”
Burton removed his pack and got down on his hands and knees. Nur, who’d been just behind, crawled slowly over him. Joe and the Moor did a circus-acrobat balancing act while Nur climbed to the titanthrop’s shoulders. Presently, Nur said, “It looks as if there are some fissures on a straight line. Enough for our pitons.”
Nur continued standing on the titanthrop’s shoulders. Burton handed the steel wedges and a hammer to Joe, who passed them on to the Moor. While Joe held Nur’s legs firmly, Nur’s hammer drove in two wedges. Burton sent up the end of a rope, thin but heavy enough, to Nur. He passed this through the eyes of the wedges and secured the end at the most remote piton.