like a crab, he felt his way down
the precarious slope. Odin followed. Once his foot slipped and he sent a
shower of stones down upon the dwarf. Gunnar caught them like a juggler
and held them in place so comically that Jack Odin laughed for the first
time since he had started on this journey.

"And could you do better?" Gunnar grumbled. "Maybe I let you go first and
we all go tumbling into the sea--"

"Oh, Gunnar, you did fine. But you reminded me of a cartoon back home where
the cat's in the kitchen and has upset some pots and pans and is trying to
catch them before they fall and make a clatter."

"And is this a time to talk about cats? A cat's place is in the woods. Tell
me about dogs, maybe, but I have no time for cats. Besides, if you would
throw that gun away you wouldn't be so clumsy. It's no good."

"No. I was here once without a rifle, and I needed it badly. One bullet
between Grim Hagen's eyes and none of this would have happened."

Gunnar retorted: "I doubt if you could have changed one thread of the
Spinners--"

"But didn't I save you back there in the tunnel with this same rifle?"
Jack Odin answered.

"And nearly deafened me, too. Oh, well, I would probably have killed that
thing anyway."

Odin shrugged. Gunnar's philosophy couldn't be shaken.

But the dwarf was serious about the rifle. "One shot would bring the rocks
down upon us, Odin. Throw the thing away. It's no good."

"Not until I find a better weapon." Jack Odin shook his head.

At last they struggled through to the water's edge. It could not be called
a beach, or even a landing, for the rocks came down at a sixty-degree
angle.

"I have a boat over here," Gunnar said, and led the way.

Going parallel to the water was nearly as hard as coming down to it. Then
Gunnar, who by now was a score of yards ahead, stopped and held up his
hand.

When Odin came up he whispered, "We have a visitor."

Peering behind a huge rock Odin saw a tiny motorboat moored in a little
inlet that was barely large enough to fit it. But the boat, curious as it
was in Opal, was not the attraction.

* * * * *

A great sea-serpent had coiled up in it and was taking a nap. The thing was
nearly a foot thick. Though it was coiled closely its tail hung over into
the water. Its head looked very much like the head of an enlarged moccasin,
except that there were long barbels about its mouth. And just below the
throat were two limbs that