The Door in the Wall And Other Stories


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of the valley area had a constant angle to the others, and was  
distinguished by a special notch upon its kerbing; all obstacles  
and irregularities of path or meadow had long since been cleared  
away; all their methods and procedure arose naturally from their  
special needs. Their senses had become marvellously acute; they  
could hear and judge the slightest gesture of a man a dozen paces  
away--could hear the very beating of his heart. Intonation had  
long replaced expression with them, and touches gesture, and their  
work with hoe and spade and fork was as free and confident as  
garden work can be. Their sense of smell was extraordinarily fine;  
they could distinguish individual differences as readily as a dog  
can, and they went about the tending of llamas, who lived among  
the rocks above and came to the wall for food and shelter, with  
ease and confidence. It was only when at last Nunez sought to  
assert himself that he found how easy and confident their movements  
could be.  
He rebelled only after he had tried persuasion.  
He tried at first on several occasions to tell them of sight.  
"Look you here, you people," he said. "There are things you do not  
understand in me."  
Once or twice one or two of them attended to him; they sat  
with faces downcast and ears turned intelligently towards him, and  
he did his best to tell them what it was to see. Among his hearers  
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Page
172 173 174 175 176

Quick Jump
1 49 97 146 194