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carried ashore, like a package. The priest took charge of it. Mr. Riveter had to make a report to the town's magistrate and Chief Warden, and came back looking pale and scared.
    "They think the dead boy was one of the Diamondcuts," Eliss heard him murmuring to Mrs. Riveter. Mrs. Riveter made a shocked noise, and gestured to ward off evil. Eliss felt like doing the same. The Diamondcuts were one of the great families in Mount Flame, wealthy and powerful, far above the levels of the gangs.
    "They won't come after us?" Mrs. Riveter said.
    "They shouldn't," said Mr. Riveter, but his eyes widened in panic. "We just found the body! We treated it with respect. We took it to the proper authorities. Why would anybody start a vendetta against us?"
    " 'When a great house burns, the neighbors lose their huts too,' " Mrs. Riveter quoted the proverb. Captain Glass, who had appeared to be dozing on his feet by the mast, gave a mirthless laugh.
    "If there's any blood debt, they owe us," he said quietly. "Their dead man killed one of our women."
    By law they were required to remain at Slate's Landing until the dead boy's family came for his body, but the Bird of the River had a job to do, -- so the town magistrate granted them an exception, and the next day they set sail again.

    "DON'T LOOK DOWN," ADVISED SALPIN. Eliss shook her head and took a firmer grip on the shrouds. She climbed steadily, proud of her steadiness. There was only one dizzying moment as she got past the crosstrees, when she had to let go and reach up through the hole in the mast platform, sliding her elbows above her head. Salpin caught her hands and guided them to the gripping bar, but she pulled herself upward and through without assistance.
    "Well, you're obviously born to this," said Salpin, grinning. He was the concertina player among the musicians, a young man, black-bearded and handsome, just the sort around whom Falena would have giggled and nudged Eliss. Eliss was in no hurry for romance and, in any case, didn't approve of people who smoked pinkweed. She only smiled at him politely and accepted the safety line when he handed it to her. She fastened it on herself.
    "Thank you," she said. She turned and looked out at the wide view, catching her breath. The whole world was spread out in an immense circle like a compass rose, and the Bird of the River's mast was the pivot of the compass needle. Ahead of them the river valley stretched out to the east forever, -- to the north were the marshlands and the distant sea, -- to the south were forests, rising to the great black mountain where demons were supposed to live. "Oh, it's beautiful!"
    "It's a good sign that you think so," said Salpin, sitting down and stretching out his legs. "Some people come up here just once. They look around, the way you're doing, and they make a funny little sound and their arms go around the mast, and they can't let go of it. Last time that happened it took three of us to get him down again."
    "Him?" Eliss was gleeful. "It was a man?"
    "It was a man. A big ex-soldier. Wasn't afraid of anything or anybody--and kept telling us so--but he got up here and he turned into a whimpering rag," said Salpin. "We had to rig up a rope chair and lower him down. He didn't stay on board long after that."
    "That's funny," said Eliss. She sat at the edge of the platform, leaning on the rail to look down. The sight was heart-stopping, yes, the deck so far below and the people foreshortened and so small. Eliss spotted Alder sitting at the rail with Wolkin, who was gesturing as he talked. Automatically she began making plans for what she would ever do if she fell. I could grab for that rope there--and if I missed it I could still try to throw myself that way and maybe hit those ropes... .
    Salpin pushed himself forward to the rail. "Well, let's begin. You know what to do if you see a buoy?"
    "Shout out. And say what color, and where it is."
    "That's right. But you use the Calling Voice. It's how you make yourself