[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
now.
"I'll show you a spot!" said Maigra, getting to her feet rather spryly.
Sorpil stayed where he was, merely rumbling something that sounded like "good
night" intermixed with a dragon-sized belch. Jim followed Maigra off. She led
him through a number of corridors and up and down several staircases, all in
almost complete darkness. But with his nose and ears telling him where she
was, Jim followed her without any worry of making a misstep or going astray.
She brought him at last to what Jim had expected, a bedroom of one of the
original inhabitants of the castle. She left him there, and he curled up among
the ruins of its original, rather sparse furniture. His last thought before
falling asleep was that castles inFrance seemed to have more individual rooms
than castles inEngland .
He slept, as all dragons normally did, dreamlessly and soundly. When he awoke
the room was bright with daylight. It had only one slit of a window, but the
sun seemed to be beaming directly throughit , so that the room was probably as
Page 135
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
bright as it ever got. The difference from the darkness of the night before
was a little startling to Jim, to whom the hours between the moment when he
fell asleep and this moment of waking seemed hardly more than an instant.
Heyawned, his long red tongue flickering out is the dusty air of the room as
his great jaws gaped. Then he uncoiled himself, stretched all but his wings,
there wasn t room enough to stretch them and by using his nose and memory
together, followed back down the path he had been brought up the night before.
He found his way back to the room where they had eaten, drunk, and talked.
Neither Maigra nor Sorpil was around. There was nothing left of the sheep,
except a few bones cracked open, the marrow licked out of them. The keg Sorpil
had opened the night before was four-fifths empty.
Jim treated himself to a pitcher of the wine, poured down at a gulp, and
found it wonderfully revivifying. He had another, just on general principles.
It was probably time he got started. There would be nothing more to gain from
his two hosts. Maigra, under the mellowing influence of the wine, had
evidently given him the best advice he was likely to get from either one of
them.
About to go out the double front doors, he turned for a last time and shouted
a farewell to his hosts, since neither had bothered to show up to see him off.
"This is James!" Jim shouted. "I'm leaving now. Thank you for your
hospitality, and I'll be back to pick up the passport before too long.
Farewell!"
His voice went off, echoing and reechoing fromdistant, and more distant yet,
corners of the castle. No sound came back in return.
He turned and went out.
It was another hot, cloudless day. He started off on foot according to the
directions that Maigra had given him. He was getting started at a later hour
today due to the food and wine of the previous evening. He had slept well into
midmorning.
Two hours later he sighted a patch of blue that was evidently one end of
thelakeMaigra had mentioned. He paused to concentrate on his panting.
He had been panting so heavily that anyone within fifty feet would have been
able to hear him sounding like a steam locomotive on its way uphill. His jaws
were wide open and his red tongue lolled limply from between his front teeth
like a dispirited flag.
He had forgotten the plain and simple fact that dragons were not really built
for foot travel. By nature they were creatures of the air if traveling had to
be done. And the day was hot.
Something Jim had never had to consider before was the feet that dragons,
with their nearly-impenetrable hide, had no sweat glands over the outer
surface of their body, like a human or some animals. They got rid of excess
heat by panting, the way a dog does. Unfortunately, they had a great deal more
size and body weight than a dog, and therefore more mass. Movement like this
on foot accumulated heat in the body rather quickly; and this particular day
was not one in which heat dissipated easily. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl wyciskamy.pev.pl
now.
"I'll show you a spot!" said Maigra, getting to her feet rather spryly.
Sorpil stayed where he was, merely rumbling something that sounded like "good
night" intermixed with a dragon-sized belch. Jim followed Maigra off. She led
him through a number of corridors and up and down several staircases, all in
almost complete darkness. But with his nose and ears telling him where she
was, Jim followed her without any worry of making a misstep or going astray.
She brought him at last to what Jim had expected, a bedroom of one of the
original inhabitants of the castle. She left him there, and he curled up among
the ruins of its original, rather sparse furniture. His last thought before
falling asleep was that castles inFrance seemed to have more individual rooms
than castles inEngland .
He slept, as all dragons normally did, dreamlessly and soundly. When he awoke
the room was bright with daylight. It had only one slit of a window, but the
sun seemed to be beaming directly throughit , so that the room was probably as
Page 135
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
bright as it ever got. The difference from the darkness of the night before
was a little startling to Jim, to whom the hours between the moment when he
fell asleep and this moment of waking seemed hardly more than an instant.
Heyawned, his long red tongue flickering out is the dusty air of the room as
his great jaws gaped. Then he uncoiled himself, stretched all but his wings,
there wasn t room enough to stretch them and by using his nose and memory
together, followed back down the path he had been brought up the night before.
He found his way back to the room where they had eaten, drunk, and talked.
Neither Maigra nor Sorpil was around. There was nothing left of the sheep,
except a few bones cracked open, the marrow licked out of them. The keg Sorpil
had opened the night before was four-fifths empty.
Jim treated himself to a pitcher of the wine, poured down at a gulp, and
found it wonderfully revivifying. He had another, just on general principles.
It was probably time he got started. There would be nothing more to gain from
his two hosts. Maigra, under the mellowing influence of the wine, had
evidently given him the best advice he was likely to get from either one of
them.
About to go out the double front doors, he turned for a last time and shouted
a farewell to his hosts, since neither had bothered to show up to see him off.
"This is James!" Jim shouted. "I'm leaving now. Thank you for your
hospitality, and I'll be back to pick up the passport before too long.
Farewell!"
His voice went off, echoing and reechoing fromdistant, and more distant yet,
corners of the castle. No sound came back in return.
He turned and went out.
It was another hot, cloudless day. He started off on foot according to the
directions that Maigra had given him. He was getting started at a later hour
today due to the food and wine of the previous evening. He had slept well into
midmorning.
Two hours later he sighted a patch of blue that was evidently one end of
thelakeMaigra had mentioned. He paused to concentrate on his panting.
He had been panting so heavily that anyone within fifty feet would have been
able to hear him sounding like a steam locomotive on its way uphill. His jaws
were wide open and his red tongue lolled limply from between his front teeth
like a dispirited flag.
He had forgotten the plain and simple fact that dragons were not really built
for foot travel. By nature they were creatures of the air if traveling had to
be done. And the day was hot.
Something Jim had never had to consider before was the feet that dragons,
with their nearly-impenetrable hide, had no sweat glands over the outer
surface of their body, like a human or some animals. They got rid of excess
heat by panting, the way a dog does. Unfortunately, they had a great deal more
size and body weight than a dog, and therefore more mass. Movement like this
on foot accumulated heat in the body rather quickly; and this particular day
was not one in which heat dissipated easily. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]