He pointed to the rusty wire netting, an easy climb for an agile nome.
"Sacco," he said, "you'd better fetch it down."
Miles away, another piece of paper fluttered on the hedge. Spots of rainpattered across its sun-bleached words, soaking the paper until it washeavy and soggy and ...
... it tore.
It flopped onto the grass, free. A breeze made it rustle.
Chapter 2
III. But there came a Sign, and people said, Whatis it that this means?
IV. And it was not good.
-From the Book of Nome, Signs I, v. III-IV
Gurder shuffled on hands and knees across the paper from the gate.
"Of course I can read it," he said. "I know what every word means."
"Well, then?" said Masklin.
Gurder looked embarrassed. "It's what every sentence means that's givingme trouble," he said. "It says here ... where was it ... yes, it sayshere the quarry is going to be reopened. What does that mean? It's openalready, any fool knows that. You can see for miles."
The other nomes crowded around. You certainly could see for miles. Thatwas the terrible part. On three sides the quarry had decently high cliffwalls, but on the fourth side ... well, you got into the habit of notlooking in that direction. There was too much of nothing, which made youfeel even smaller and more vulnerable than you were already.
Even if the meaning of the paper wasn't clear, it certainly lookedunpleasant.
"The quarry's a hole in the ground," said Dorcas. "You can't open ahole unless it's been filled in. Stands to reason."
"A quarry's a place you get stone from," said Grimma. "Humans do it. Theydig a hole and they use the stone for making, well, roads and things."