he Nipe came in again--more cautiously, this time.

Stanton punched again with a straight right. The Nipe moved his head
aside, and Stanton's knuckles merely grazed the side of his head, below
the lower right eye. One of the Nipe's hands came in in a chopping right
hook that took Stanton just below the ribs. Stanton leaped back with a
gasp of pain.

The Nipe didn't use fists. He used his open hand, fingers together, like a
judo fighter.

The Nipe came forward once more, and as Stanton danced back, the Nipe made
a grab for his ankle, almost catching it.

There were too many hands to watch! Stanton had two advantages: weight and
reach. His arms were almost half again as long as the Nipe's.

Against that, the Nipe had all those hands; and with his low center of
gravity and four-footed stance, it would be hard to knock him down. If
Stanton lost his footing, the fight would be over fast.

Stanton lunged suddenly forward and planted a left in the Nipe's right
upper eye, then followed it with a right uppercut to the Nipe's jaw as his
head snapped back. The Nipe's four hands cut inward from the sides like
sword blades, but they found no target.

Backing away, Stanton suddenly realized that he had another advantage. The
Nipe couldn't throw a straight jab! His shoulder--if that's what they
should be called--were narrow and the upper armbones weren't articulated
properly for such a blow. He could throw a mean hook, but he had to get in
close to deliver it.

On the other side of the coin was the fact that the Nipe knew plenty about
human anatomy--from the bones out. Stanton's knowledge of Nipe anatomy was
almost totally superficial.

He wished he knew if and where the Nipe had a solar plexus. He would like
to punch something soft for a change.

Instead, he tried for another eye. He danced in, jabbed and danced out
again, The Nipe had ducked again, taking it on the side of his head.

Then the Nipe came in low, at an angle, trying for the groin. For his
troubles, he got a knee in the jaw that staggered him badly. One grasping
hand clutched at Stanton's right thigh and grasped hard. Stanton swung his
fist down like a pendulum and knocked the arm aside.

But there was a slight limp in his movement as he back-pedaled away from
the Nipe. That full-handed pinch had hurt!

Stanton was angry now, with the hot, controlled anger of a fighting man.
He stepped in and slammed two fast, hard jabs into the point of the
Nipe's snout,