nd irritable. Then suddenly, just as they
were edging their way around a gully, a dozen Rumi were swarming down
on them. Terrence cut down two with his carbine but his men were
firing and missing as the incredibly fast catmen hurtled at them. He
had a brief glimpse of O'Shaughnessy spraying submachine gun slugs
wildly about and then there was a hail of spring bolts and two of his
men were down. The whole platoon was thrashing through the grass in
their direction and the Rumi were gone as quickly as they had come.

"Come on!" Terrence shouted, breaking into a run with twenty or thirty
Riflemen after him. A bolt grazed his cheek and another cut down a man
to his right. He emptied his carbine in the general direction of the
Clack, Clack, Clack. Hannigan was roaring a primitive bull-throated
chant and firing at everything that moved. O'Shaughnessy managed to
jam his gun and was beating frantically at it with one webbed fist.
They burst into a clearing filled with Rumi and both sides blazed away
at point blank range. It was hard for even a Narakan to miss at that
close range and the Rumi broke and ran just as Sergeant O'Toole and
his squad came out of the grass on the other side of the clearing.

The Rumi, trapped, turned and dashed at Terrence and his men. The
lieutenant drove his fist into one cat faced creature and smashed his
empty gun across the head of another. Hannigan grappled with one of
the lithe gray-bodied things and slowly crushed it beneath his 350 odd
pounds. O'Shaughnessy beat another insensible with his jammed Tommy
gun. Several Narakans were down but most of them had taken Rumi with
them.

Terrence was knocked off his feet by a gray ball of fury that leaped
at him wielding a stiletto-thin knife. He caught at the Rumi's arm
with both hands but the creature was not only fast but strong. It
twisted out of his grasp and slashed at him and only a quick sideward
roll saved him. Desperately he brought his fist down on his
assailant's head.

The Rumi's grip relaxed slightly and Terrence drove his fist full into
its face and locked his legs about its waist. The catman couldn't have
weighed more than a hundred and fifty pounds but all of it was wiry
strength. It clawed at him now, ripping his protective clothing and
gashing his legs, meanwhile trying to get its knife into play. He was
vaguely conscious that his men had disposed of the rest of the Rumi
and were dancing around him frantically trying to get a chance