Nah, mate – I′m not going to come at that again. Too risky.

The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass along its gullet and down into its crop.

If, on the other hand, we drifted antarctically, we ran the risk of being hopelessly frozen up, in regions far beyond the haunts of any human creature.

I went into my own version of Ali's rope-a-dope, ducking as many of the heavy blows as I could, and waiting for some kind of idea to come to me.