"The only b-belt I have is the one I am w-wearing," Hesht told Astra, "and
without it my b-breeches would fall down. There's a rope in my p-pack. B-
but I m-might have something better..." He rummaged in his pack, and drew
out a red silk scarf and a clod of purple clay about the size of a
grapefruit.
"You have some unlikely things in your pack," Astra commented. "I can see that I could use the scarf as an improvised belt - it seems to be long enough - but what is the clay for?" "It is very g-good for sticking things together. I thought you might f- fashion a loop of the scarf into a sort of s-sheath and use a small lump of clay to h-hold it together." "Couldn't I make a sheath out of the clay instead?" "That much clay would be rather h-heavy, so it might work f-free from the scarf and fall off. B-besides, you wouldn't be able t-to use the knife in a hurry if you did that, as some of the clay would be bound to stick to it when you t-tried to draw it." After a little trial and error, Astra managed - rather to her surprise - to produce a satisfactory sheath. The knife seemed to be held in place quite securely, so that it was unlikely to move around sufficiently to pierce either the scarf or Astra herself. They had breakfast using the supplies that Hesht had brought with him, and then resumed their journey.
|
12/14/2004 3:02:23 AM
Extending Enabled
21393177 episodes viewed since 9/30/2002 1:22:06 PM.