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

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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,
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.

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