n of returning, that he was again on his
own with only his wits and strength to keep him alive--alive and somehow
free of this water-washed prison.

10. A TRAP FOR A TRAPPER

Shann took up the piece of soft chalklike stone he had found and drew
another short white mark on the rust-red of a boulder well above tide
level. That made three such marks, three days since Thorvald had
marooned him. And he was no nearer the shore now than he had been on
that first morning! He sat where he was by the boulder, aware that he
should be up, trying to climb to the less accessible nests of the sea
birds. The prisoners, man and wolverines, had cleaned out all those they
had discovered on beach and cliffs. But at the thought of more eggs,
Shann's stomach knotted in pain and he began to retch.

There had been no sign of Thorvald since Shann had watched him steer
between the two westward islands. And the younger Terran's faint hope
that the officer would return had died. On the shore a few feet away lay
his own pitiful attempt to solve the problem of escape.

The force ax had vanished with Thorvald, along with all the rest of the
meager supplies which had been the officer's original contribution to
their joint equipment. Shann had used his knife on brush and small
trees, trying to put together some kind of a raft. But he had not been
able to discover here any of those vines necessary for binding, and his
best efforts had all come to grief when he tried them in a lagoon
launching. So far he had achieved no form of raft which would keep him
afloat longer than five minutes, let alone support three of them as far
as the next island.

Shann pulled listlessly at the framework of his latest try, fully
disheartened. He tried not to think of the unescapable fact that the
water in the rain tank had sunk to only an inch or so of muddy scum.
Last night he had dug in the heart of the interior valley where the
rankness of the vegetation was a promise of moisture, to uncover damp
clay and then a brackish ooze. Far too little to satisfy both him and
the animals.

There were surely fish somewhere in the lagoon. Shann wondered if the
raw flesh of sea dwellers could supply the water they needed. But
lacking net, line, or hooks, how did one fish? Yesterday, using his
stunner, he had brought down a bird, to discover the carcass so rank
even the wolverines, never dainty eaters, refused to gnaw it.

The animals prowled the two beaches, and Shann