"Harry Harrison - By the Falls (2)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Harrison Harry)

He thrust a splint into the fire and lit a lamp from it.
Then, picking up the lamp, he waved Carter after ham.
They crossed tube room and he held the light to a large
glass 'bell jar.
"Must be twenty years ago it washed up 'on the .shore.
Every bone in its body 'broke too. Stuffed and mounted
it myself."
Carter pressed close, looking at the staring shoe-button
eyes and the gaping jaws 'and pointed teeth. The .limbs
were 'stiff and unnatural, the body under 'the fur 'bulging
in the wrong places. Bodum was by no means a skillful
taxidermist. Yet, perhaps 'by accident, he had captured a
look of terror in the animal's expression and stance.
"It's a dog," Carter said. "Very much Ike other dogs."
Bodum was offended, his voice as cold as shout can
be. "Like them, perhaps, but not of them. 'Every 'bone
broken I told you. How else could a dog have appeared
here in this bay?"
"I'm sorry, I did not mean to suggest for an instant
Down The Falls, of course. I just meant it is so much
like the dogs we have that perhaps there is a whole new
world up there. Dogs and everything, just like ours."
"I never speculate," Bodum said, mollified. "I'll make
some coffee."
He took the lamp to the stove and Carter, left 'alone in
the partial darkness went back to 'the window. It drew
him. "I must ask you some questions for my article," he
said but did not speak loudly enough for Bodum to hear.
Everything he bad meant to do here seemed irrelevant as
he looked out at The Falls. The wind shifted. The spray
was briefly blown clear and The Falls were once more a
mighty river coming down from the sky. When he canted
his head he .saw exactly as if he were looking across a
river.
And there, upstream, a ship appeared, a large liner with

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rows of portholes. It sailed the surface of .the river faster
than ship had ever sailed before and he had to jerk his
bead to follow its motion. When it passed, no more than
a few hundred yards away, for one instant he could see
it clearly. The people aboard it were banging to the rails,
some with their mouths open as though shouting in fear.
Then it was gone and there was only the water, rushing
endlessly by.
"Did you see it?" Carter shouted, spinning about.
"The coffee will be ready soon."
"There, out there," Carter cried, taking Bodum by the