[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
BY THE FALLS
Harry Harrison
It was the rich damp grass, slippery as soap, covering the
path, that caused .Carter to keep slipping and falling, not
the steepness of the hill. The front of his raincoat was wet
'and his knees were muddy long before be reached the
summit. And with each step forward and upward the
continuous roar of sound grew louder. He was hot and
tired by the time he reached the top of the ridge--yet he
instantly forgot his discomfort as he looked out across
the wide bay.
Like everyone else he had heard about The Falls since
childhood 'and had seen countless photographs and films
of them 'on television. AU this preparation had not readied
him for the impact of reality.
He saw a falling ocean, a vertical river--how many
millions of gallons a second did people say came down?
The Falls stretched out across the bay, their farthest
reaches obscured by the clouds of floating spray. The 'bay
seethed and boiled with the impact of that falling weight,
Page 1
 raising foam-capped waves that crashed against the rocks
below. Carter could feel the impact of the water on the
solid 'stone as a vibration in ~he ground but all sound
was swallowed up in the greater roar of The Falls. This
was a reverberation so outrageous and overpowering that
his ears could not become accustomed to it. They soon
felt numbed from the ceaseless impact but the very bones
of the skull carried the sound to his brain, shivering and
battering it. When he put his bands over 'his ears he was
horrified to discover that The Falls were still as loud as
ever. As he stood swaying and wide-eyed one of the con-
stantly changing air currents that formed 'about the base
of The Falls shifted suddenly and swept a wall of spray
down upon him. The inundation lasted scant seconds but
was heavier than any rainfall he bad ever experienced,
had ever believed possible. When it passed he was gasping
for air, so dense had been the falling water.
Quivering with sensations he had never before expe-
rienced, Canter turned and looked along the ridge toward
the gray and waiter-blackened granite of the cliff and the
house that huddled at its base like a stony blister. It was
built of the same granite as the cliff and appeared no less
solid. Running and slipping, 'his hands still over 'his ears,
Carter hurried toward the house.
For a short 'time the spray was blown across the bay
and out to sea, so that golden afternoon sunlight poured
Page 2
 down 'on the house, starting streamers of vapor from its
sharply sloping roof. It was a no-nonsense building, as
solid as the rock against which it pressed. Only two win-
dows penetrated the blankness of 'the front that faced
The Falls--tiny and deep, they were like little suspicious
eyes. No door existed here but Carter saw that a path of
stone flags led around the corner.
He followed it and found set into the wall 'on the far
side, away from The Falls--a small and deep-set entry. It
had no arch but was shielded by a great stone lintel a
good two feet in diameter. Carter stepped into the opening
that framed the door and looked in vain for a knocker on
the heavy, iron-bolted timbers. The unceasing, world-
filling, thunder of The Falls made thinking almost impos-
sible and it was only after he had pressed uselessly against
the sealed portal that he realized that no knocker, even
one 'as loud as cannon, could be heard within 'these walls
above that sound. He lowered his bands and tried to force
his mind to coherence.
There had to be some way of announcing his presence.
When be stepped back out of 'the alcove he noticed that
a rusty iron knob was set into the wall a few feet away.
He seized and twisted it but it would not turn. However,
when he pulled on it, although it resisted, 'he was able
to draw it slowly away from the wall to disclose a length
Page 3
 of chain. The chain was heavily greased and in good
conditional fair omen. He continued to pull until a yard
of chain emerged from the opening and then, no matter
how hard he pulled, no more would come. He released
the handle and it bounced against the rough stone of the
wall. For some instants it hung there. Then with a jerky
mechanical motion, the chain was drawn back into the
wall until the knob once more rested in place.
5r
Whatever device this odd mechanism activated seemed
to perform its desired function. In less than a minute the
heavy door swung open and a man appeared in the open-
ing. He examined his visitor wordlessly.
The man was much like the building and the cliffs be-
hind it solid, no-nonsense, worn, lined and graying. But
he had resisted the years even as he showed 'their marks
upon him. His back was as straight as any young man's
and his knob-knuckled hands bad a look of determined
strength. Blue were his eyes and very much the color of
the water falling endlessly, thunderously, on the far side
of the building. He wore knee-high fisherman's boots,
plain corduroy pants and a soiled gray sweater. His face
did not change expression as he waved Carter into the
building.
When the thick door had 'been swung shut and the
many sealing bars shoved back into place the silence in
Page 4
 the house took on a quality of its own. Carter had known
absence of sound elsewhere here was a positive state-
ment of no-sound, a bubble of peace pushed right up
against the very base of the all-sound of The Falls. He
was momentarily deafened and he knew it. But he was
not so deaf that he did not know that the hammering
thunder of The Falls bad 'been shut 'outside. The other
man must have sensed how 'his visitor felt. He nodded in
a reassuring manner as he took Carter's coat, then painted
to a comfortable chair set by the deal table near the fire.
Carter sank gratefully into the cushions. His host turned
away and vanished, to return a moment later with a tray
bearing a decanter and two glasses. He poured a measure
of wine into each glass and set one down before Carter,
who nodded and seized it 'in both hands to steady their
shaking. After a first large gulp he sipped at it while the
tremors died and his hearing slowly returned. His host
moved about the room on various tasks and presently
Carter found himself much recovered. He looked up.
"I must thank you for your hospitality. When I came
in I was shaken."
"How are you now? Has the wine helped?" the man
said loudly, almost shouting, and Carter realized that his
own words bad not 'been heard. Of course, the man must
be hard of hearing. It was a wonder he was not stone deaf.
Page 5
  [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]