d snapping jaws on him.

It was for their protection that he returned to digging, though he no
longer tried to pry up the shell. Taggi leaped to the top of that dome,
sweeping paws downward to clear its surface, while Togi prowled around
its circumference, pausing now and then to send dirt and gravel
spattering, but treading warily as might one alert for a sudden attack.

They had the creature almost clear now, though the shell still rested
firmly on the ground, and they had no notion of what it might protect.
It was smaller, perhaps two thirds the size of the one which Thorvald
had fashioned into a seagoing craft. But it could provide them with
transportation to the mainland if Shann was able to repeat the feat of
turning it into an outrigger canoe.

Taggi joined his mate on the ground and both wolverines padded about the
dome, obviously baffled. Now and then they assaulted the shell with a
testing paw. Claws raked and did not leave any marks but shallow
scratches. They could continue that forever, as far as Shann could see,
without solving the problem in the least.

He sat back on his heels and studied the scene in detail. The excavation
holding the shelled creature was some three yards above the high-water
mark, with a few more feet separating that from the point where lazy
waves now washed the finer sand. Shann watched the slow inward slip of
those waves with growing interest. Where their combined efforts had
failed to win this odd battle, perhaps the sea itself could now be
pressed into service.

Shann began his own excavation, a trough to lead from the waterline to
the pit occupied by the obstinate shell. Of course the thing living in
or under that covering might be only too familiar with salt water. But
it had placed its burrow, or hiding place, above the reach of the waves
and so might be disconcerted by the sudden appearance of water in its
bed. However, the scheme was worth trying, and he went to work doggedly,
wishing he could make the wolverines understand so they would help him.

They still prowled about their captive, scrapping at the sand about the
shell casing. At least their efforts would keep the half-prisoner
occupied and prevent its escape. Shann put another piece of his raft to
work as a shovel, throwing up a shower of sand and gravel while sweat
dampened his tattered blouse and was salt and sticky on his arms and
face.

He finished his trench, one which ran at an angle he hoped would feed
w