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.AAYYBBYYBBr r1 THE SEVENTEEN VIRGINSTHE CHASE went far and long, and led into that dismal tract of bone-colored hillsknown as the Pale Rugates.Cugel finally used a clever trick to baffle pursuit, slidingfrom his steed and hiding among the rocks while his enemies pounded past in chase ofthe riderless mount.Cugel lay in hiding until the angry band returned toward Kaspara Vitatus, bickeringamong themselves.He emerged into the open; then, after shaking his fist and shoutingcurses after the now distant figures, he turned and continued south through the PaleRugates.The region was as stark and grim as the surface of a dead sun, and thus avoided bysuch creatures as sindics, shambs, erbs and visps, for Cugel a single and melancholysource of satisfaction.Step after step marched Cugel, one leg in front of the other: up slope to overlook anendless succession of barren swells, down again into the hollow where at rare intervals aseep of water nourished a sickly vegetation.Here Cugel found ramp, burdock, squallixand an occasional newt, which sufficed against starvation.Day followed day.The sun rising cool and dim swam up into the dark-blue sky, fromtime to time seeming to flicker with a film of blue-black luster, finally to settle like anenormous purple pearl into the west.When dark made further progress impractical,Cugel wrapped himself in his cloak and slept as best he could.On the afternoon of the seventh day Cugel limped down a slope into an ancientorchard.Cugel found and devoured a few withered hag-apples, then set off along thetrace of an old road.The track proceeded a mile, to lead out upon a bluff overlooking a broad plain.Directly below a river skirted a small town, curved away to the southwest and finallydisappeared into the haze.Cugel surveyed the landscape with keen attention.Out upon the plain he sawcarefully tended garden plots, each precisely square and of identical size; along the riverdrifted a fisherman's punt.A placid scene, thought Cugel.On the other hand, the townwas built to a strange and archaic architecture, and the scrupulous precision with whichthe houses surrounded the square suggested a like inflexibility in the inhabitants.Thehouses themselves were no less uniform, each a construction of two, or three, or evenfour squat bulbs of diminishing size, one on the other, the lowest always painted blue,the second dark red, the third and fourth respectively a dull mustard ocher and black;and each house terminated in a spire of fancifully twisted iron rods, of greater or lesserheight.An inn on the riverbank showed a style somewhat looser and easier, with apleasant garden surrounding.Along the river road to the east Cugel now noticed theapproach of a caravan of six high-wheeled wagons, and his uncertainty dissolved; thetown was evidently tolerant of strangers, and Cugel confidently set off down the hill.At the outskirts to town he halted and drew forth his old purse, which he yet retainedthough it hung loose and limp.Cugel examined the contents: five terces, a sum hardlyadequate to his needs.Cugel reflected a moment, then collected a handful of pebbles165aaTTnnssFFffooDDrrPPmmYYeeYYrrBB22.BBAAClick here to buyClick here to buywwmmwwoowwcc.AAYYBBYYBBr rwhich he dropped into the purse, to create a reassuring rotundity.He dusted hisbreeches, adjusted his green hunter's cap, and proceeded.He entered the town without challenge or even attention.Crossing the square, hehalted to inspect a contrivance even more peculiar than the quaint architecture: a stonefire-pit in which several logs blazed high, rimmed by five lamps on iron stands, eachwith five wicks, and above an intricate linkage of mirrors and lenses, the purpose ofwhich surpassed Cugel's comprehension [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]