bald star rovers had been able to command?

He fell beside a stream and slept. There was sunshine about him as he
arose to stagger on. What day was this? How long had he sat in the tower
chamber? He was not sure of time any more. He only knew that he must
reach the rancheria, tell his story, somehow win over Deklay and the
other reactionaries to prove the necessity for invading the north in
force.

A rocky point which was a familiar landmark came into focus. He padded
on, his chest heaving, his breath whistling through parched, sun-cracked
lips. He did not know that his face was now a mask of driven resolution.

"Hahhhhhh--"

The cry reached his dulled ears. Travis lifted his head, saw the men
before him and tried to think what that show of weapons turned toward
him could mean.

A stone thudded to earth only inches before his feet, to be followed by
another. He wavered to a stop.

"_Ni'ilgac_--!"

Witch? Where was a witch? Travis shook his head. There was no witch.

"_Do ne'ilka da_'!"

The old death threat, but why--for whom?

Another stone, this one hitting him in the ribs with force enough to
send him reeling back and down. He tried to get up again, saw Deklay
grin widely and take aim--and at last Travis realized what was
happening.

Then there was a bursting pain in his head and he was falling--falling
into a well of black, this time with no pillar of blue to guide him.

13

The rasp of something wet and rough, persistent against his cheek;
Travis tried to turn his head to avoid the contact and was answered by a
burst of pain which trailed off into a giddiness, making him fear
another move, no matter how minor. He opened his eyes and saw the
pointed ears, the outline of a coyote head between him and a dull gray
sky, was able to recognize Nalik'ideyu.

A wetness other than that from the coyote's tongue slid down his
forehead now. The dull clouds overhead had released the first heavy rain
Travis had experienced since their landing on Topaz. He shivered as the
chill damp of his clothes made him aware that he must have been lying
out in the full force of the downpour for some time.

It was a struggle to get to his knees, but Nalik'ideyu mouthed a hold on
his shirt, tugging and pulling so that somehow he crept into a hollow
beneath the branches of a tree where the spouting water was lessened to
a few pattering drops.

There the Apache's strength deserted him again and he could only hunch
ov