within easy reach. She saw him looking at it.

"I do not think there is any danger," she said with a not very
convincing smile, "but there are _cururus_--water snakes. They grow
very large."

"And I asked you to fish!" said Bell. "Stop it!"

* * * * *

She hauled the line ashore, with a flapping thing on the end of it.
Bell took the fish off and regarded her catch moodily.

"I'd been thinking," he said moodily, "that Ribiera suspects we're
dead. I'd been envisioning ourselves as marooned, yes, but relatively
safe as long as we were thought to be dead. And I'd thought that if we
lived a sort of castaway existence for a few weeks we'd be forgotten,
and would have a faint chance of getting out to civilization without
being noticed. But this...."

"I will stay," she said steadily. "I will stay anywhere or go
anywhere, with you."

Bell's hand closed on her shoulder.

"I believe it," he said heavily. "And--if you noticed--I had been
thinking of letting down the Trade. I'd been thinking of not trying to
fight The Master any longer, but only of getting you to safety. In a
sense, I was thinking of treason to my job and my government. I
suspect"--he smiled rather queerly--"I suspect we love each other
rather much, Paula. I'd never have dreamed for anyone else. Go over to
the plane and don't fish any more. I'll rustle the food for both of
us."

She stood up obediently, smiling at him.

"But kill that _piranha_ before you try to handle it," she advised
seriously.

Bell battered the savage thing until it ceased to move. He picked it
up, then, and sniffed the air. Paula had been in a cloud of acrid
smoke. She could not have detected the taint in the air he discovered.
He went curiously, saw a broken branch overhead, and then saw
something on the ground.

* * * * *

He came back to the plane presently, looking rather sick.

"Give me one of the machetes, Paula," he said quietly. "We brought
them, I think."

"What is the matter?"

He took the wide-bladed woods knife.

"A man," he said, nauseated. "He either fell or was thrown from
somewhere high above. From a plane. He was United States Secret
Service. There's a badge in his clothes. Don't come."

He went heavily over to the spot beyond the smudge fire. He worked
there for half an hour. When he came back there were earth stains on
his hands and clothing, and he carried a very small brown package in
h