Lee Scoresby looked do to  and to , and so searc he Yenisei.

    quot;And t; he said.

    quot;Neo t born in it,quot; said Stanislaus Grumman. quot;As old as yours or mine, ot Asriels done  more profoundly ts ever been s I spoke of—ted places now.

    Its o navigate, but t;

    quot;Nes a strange ; said Lee.

    quot;Yes,quot; said Stanislaus Grumman. quot;It is a strange  some feel at ;

    quot;It looks empty,quot; said Lee.

    quot;Not so. Beyond t y t s still ined by ts of ts and nobles , ts fallen on imes in t t;

    A fees later, as ted on, Lee sa a ligone breaker, toiful city around a uous building like an opera  els, and little streets wrees hung over shaded balconies.

    And Grumman ed closer, Lee o see t t an adult in sigo see t t of cafes, or eating and drinking, or gathering bags full of goods from houses and shops.

    And ting, and a red-tle boy tones to smas y,  a teac; it was a world of children.

    But t to rub , but t about it: columns of mist—or sometenuous t—a tever ty ed along tered ered in tyards. them unseeing.

    But not unseen. ted over ty, t  some of terest to t tain celescope) all transparent beings t line seemed to s. And t, time to time o clear his vision.

    quot; t; said Lee.

    ters.quot;

    quot; do tly?quot;

    quot;Youve ;

    quot;Oales.quot;

    quot;ters feast as vampires feast on blood, but ters food is attention. A conscious and informed interest in turity of ctractive to t;

    quot;te of t Bolvangar, t;

    quot;On trary. Botion Board and ters of Indifference are becrut  innocence is different from experience. tion Board fears and es Dust, and ters feast on it, but its Dust bot;

    quot;tered around t kid do;

    quot;tack  misery. ;

    quot;For Petes sake! Cant we rescue ;

    quot;No. ters  once. t toucc;

    quot;But  tell me t;

    quot;ter-orp living on s flee. And ty to find, as you can see.

    t starve. It looks as if a multitude of Specters y, and ts o safety. You notice s to no ;

    quot;Except for t poor kid do;

    quot;Mr. Scoresby, t is t to put an end to cruelty and injustice, you must take me farto do.quot;

    quot;Seems to me—quot; Lee said, feeling for t;seems to me t cruelty is  needed. Or is t wrong, Dr.

    Grumman? Im only an ignorant aeronaut. Im so damn ignorant I believed it  s of flig .quot;

    quot;O I ;

    quot; out?quot;

    ting loone toly in t seem to iced.

    quot;I needed to fly,quot; said Grumman, quot;so I summoned you, and ;

    ly a  t . And in perfect time, Lee Scoresby leaned over t and pulled t. t, and ted gently to clear to or so. A dozen crourbed, rose cahem.

    quot;I guess you are,quot; said Lee. quot;You range  you, Dr. Grumman. You ever spend any time among tc;

    quot;Yes,quot; said Grumman. quot;And among academicians, and among spirits. I found folly everyream of it. No doubt t I failed to recognize. Life is  o it all t;

    quot;And t folly or ;

    quot;test ;

    tell me again o find tle knife, and ;

    quot;tell  ask is.quot;

    quot;And ts a task t includes protecting Lyra,quot; t reminded him.

    quot;It ect all of us.quot;

    ty  of sighem.

    Lee cruments. till gyrating loosely, but timeter ioning accurately, as far as o be floating about a t above t. Some y of ballast.

    But tle c . er felt it too, and flicked up urned  one gold-ed on his face.

    ucked  of , and opened telescope again.

    No,  mistaken. Far to t ion ting in t sance made it impossible to see any details, but ther balloon was larger, and flying higher.

    Grumman  too.

    quot;Enemies, Mr. Scoresby?quot; o peer into t.

    quot;t be a doubt. Im uncertain  and go o catcay lo t a zeppelin; t, Dr. Grumman, Im going  balloon Id  t.quot;

    er do to jettison t. t once, and Lee kept telescope to his eye.

    And a minute later ain ted, for tir of movement in tself into a line of smoke streaking up and a an angle from t ance up, it burst into a flare. It blazed deep red for a moment and to a patc it ocsin in t.

    quot;Can you summon a stiffer breeze, Dr. Grumman?quot; said Lee. quot;Id like to make tfall.quot;

    For taking t over a y or forty miles across. A range of  , Lee sa t more trutains.

    urned to Grumman, but found rance. t stood out on ly back and fort, and , equally entranced.

    And  of gaining  or ir to c sohe hills.

    But t moved tly oo. It  neit it beurned telescope on it again,  in tance. te.

    quot;Zeppelins,quot; ;ell, t ;

    ried to make an estimate of tance, and a similar calculation about toe tips off the waves far below.

    Grumman sat resting in a corner of t w Lee knew he was awake.

    quot;tuations like t; ;I do not  to be caug by t no defense; te. Nor do I  to land in ter, by free c;  for a h grenades as easy as fishing.

    quot;So I  to reac noime.

    quot;And meano sunset, by my calculation.

    And its o say, but I t time, and en to this bay.

    quot;Noand o take us up into tain deation no co say  our  on ter.

    quot;So sometime tonigs gonna be over. You ever landed in a balloon?quot;

    quot;No,quot; said t;But I trust your skill.quot; quot;Ill try and get as  range as I can. Its a question of balance, because too close beo see ake us dooo early,  find ter of trees. Eito be some sing before long.quot;

    Grumman sat impassively, moving a magical token of feato ttern t Lee could see  the pursuing zeppelins.

    An  by, and anot cigar and sipped cold coffee from a tin flask.

    ttled loself, and taintops, hed in gold.

    And be lost  glare, ttle dots of taken t. And across tiny but clear, an insistent mosquito whine.

    ill a fees from making t t of ticed somet up into till-brigo notice? If a storm ter.

    And tain of rain drifted doo be c along toy flaser a cras sime from tains.

    tning, and time truck do from t one of t t. A brig t drifted doed, still blazing, on ter.

    Lee let out tanding beside ion deep in his face.

    quot;Did you bring t storm?quot; said Lee.

    Grumman nodded.

    tiger; bands of gold alternated cripes of deepest   brotern ce, for t. tcer and p foam, and t of to not sank.

    ted  keeping to tning flasorm came closer, Lee began to fear for trike could  tumbling to eart suppose trol torm so finely as to avoid t.

    quot;Rig; ;Im going to ignore trate on getting us safe into tains and on t I  you to do is sit tigo jump ry to make it as gentle as I can, but landing in tions is a matter of luck as muc;

    quot;I trust you, Mr. Scoresby,quot; said the shaman.

    back in a corner of t wher binding.

    t gasbag ss. trained, but Lee  go some more ballast and cimeter closely. In a storm,  t drop against timetric reading, and very often it ion. Lee ran t of . trol  go higher; he could only descend.

    ently tormy air and made out t bulk of t tony beac  earing trees. So far, already! ter t.

    And  leave it too long before  too cool by nature to rage at fate; o raise an eyebro it laconically. But  orm and let it bloself out—eed to get t down.

    er and tucked o , buttoning t up close to keep  steady and quiet; orn, clung firmly alons deep in t rim and .

    quot;Im going to take us do; Lee sed above t;You sand and be ready to jump clear. ;

    Grumman obeyed. Lee gazed do, and blinking t of   to til Lee could hunder.

    quot;; ed. quot;You cooked up a fine storm, Mr. S;

    t around a cleat to keep it open. As treamed out of top, invisible far above, to itself, and a fold, and te before.

    t ossing and lurcly it ell if ts  t easily o t kno after a minute or so Lee felt a sudden snag and kne on a branc emporary c it shey were.

    ed, quot;Fifty feet above trees—quot;

    the shaman nodded.

    t, and t t. Lee o it and found  once, but took Grumman by surprise.

    lose o swing himself clear.

    A moment later came t jolting s  fast.

    t tilted at once and a second later reetops, and amid t leaves and tormented branc jolted to a precarious .

    quot;Still t; Lee called, for it o see anything.

    quot;Still ;

    quot;Better keep still for a minute till uation clearly,quot; said Lee, for t settling tle jerks against wever was hem up.

    till a strong sidey, but c crossed Lees mind to cut it loose, but if it didnt fly aoget ops like a banner and give tion aer to take it in, if they could.

    tning flaser torm   torn only partially, for t ing on it near t ill attaco trunk.

    quot;Im going to t a rope and climb do; ed. quot;As soon as our feet touc plan.quot;

    quot;Ill follo; said Grumman. quot;My daemon tells me ty feet do;

    And Lee ter of s as ttled again on t rim.

    quot;S far?quot;  put t out of  to to t even if t did fall, it  fall far.

    ter secure in ,  of till  solid ground beneat. trunk; tree, a giant of an oak, and Lee muttered a to it as ugged on to signal to Grumman t he could descend.

    as tumult? ened  o tell ion it  te or so, and t was gone.

    the ground.

    quot;Did you ?quot; said Lee.

    quot;Yes. Going o tains, I tulations on landing us safely, Mr. Scoresby.quot;

    quot;e aint finis. I  to git t gasbag under tll sion from miles ao some manual labor, Dr. Grumman?quot;

    tell me o do.quot;

    quot;All rigo you. One of tent.

    You can git t set up o ;

    time, and in peril at one point,  finally broke and pitc; but  fall far, since till trailed among treetops and  suspended.

    t made concealing t of it ning, tugging and  of sight.

    till beating treetops back and fort t of time  t only pitcent but o being, and was brewing some coffee.

    quot;t; said Lee, soaked and stiff, easing o tent and taking the mug Grumman handed him.

    quot;No, you can ts for t; said Grumman. quot;Do ts in your arting a fire, t is dry matcravel  te, Mr. Scoresby.quot;

    quot;You ;

    Grumman ened, and sure enoug engine sound, easier to make out no ttle.

    quot;t; said Grumman. quot;t kno;

    And a minute later a flickering glo  it ent, and Lee kne for a flare.

    quot;Best put out t; ;sorry as I am to do  it. I t canopys t you never knoo sleep no t.quot;

    quot;You ; said the shaman.

    ook a  eart doruggled to lie dotle tent and closed his eyes.

    range and po one point o see tting cross-legged, o leave only a on beill seated in a mound of glole and vulnerable, rangeness of it, and  really asleep, and ime.

    Anotoo. Lee seemed to see trimmed rattle and commanding someto obey oucer, like t all and nearly invisible, and it invoked suc-c error. But Grumman ing it fearlessly, and coming to no ened closely to ed upil it  in the canopy.

    ting nigook anoturn, for  of a zeppelin, c. In fact, ting in ts seat, and t, looking do tossing treetops, a er hem.

    Pinioned in , and error of t   as t was o him.