`` but i suppose , '' temeraire continued , `` that we might try beginning without the assumption , or the contrary one - `` and they put their heads together over temeraire 's sand-table , and began to work out their own geometry , discarding those principles which seemed to them incorrect , and made a game of developing the theory ; which entertained them a good deal more than most amusements laurence had ever seen dragons engage in , with those listening applauding particularly inventive notions as if they were performances .