ship rolled Ross away from his fellow prisoner toward
the opposite side of the hold. There was a roar of voice, bull strong
above the noise on deck, then the sound of feet back and forth there.

"The fire ... ahhh--" Loketh's voice rose to a scream.

Ross was now wedged between two abutments he could not see and from
which his best efforts could not free him. The pitching of the ship was
more pronounced. Remembering the two vessels he had seen pounded to bits
on the reef, Ross wondered if the same doom loomed for this one. But
that disaster had occurred during a storm. And, save for the fog, this
had been a calm night, the sea untroubled.

Unless--maybe the shaking his body had received during the past few
moments had sharpened his thinking--unless the Foanna had their own
means of protection at the sea gate and this was the result. The
dolphins.... What had made Tino-rau and Taua react as they did? And if
the Rover ship was out of control, it would be a good time to attempt
escape.

"Loketh!" Ross dared to call louder. "Loketh!" He struggled against the
drying strands which bound him from shoulder to mid thigh. There was no
give in them.

More sounds from the upper deck. Now the ship was answering to direction
again. The Terran heard sounds he could not identify, and the ship no
longer rocked so violently. Loketh moaned.

As far as Ross could judge, they were heading out to sea.

"Loketh!" He wanted information; he must have it! To be so ignorant of
what was going on was unbearable frustration. If they were now prisoners
in a ship leaving the island behind.... The threat of that was enough to
set Ross struggling with his bonds until he lay panting with exhaustion.

"Rossss?" Only a Hawaikan could make that name a hiss.

"Here! Loketh?" But of course it was Loketh.

"I am here." The other's voice sounded oddly weak as if it issued from a
man drained by a long illness.

"What happened to you?" Ross demanded.

"The fire ... the fire in my head--eating ... eating...." Loketh's reply
came with long pauses between the words.

The Terran was puzzled. What fire? Loketh had certainly reacted to
something beyond the unceremonious handling they had received as
captives. This whole ship had reacted. And the dolphins.... But what
fire was Loketh talking about?

"I did not feel anything," he stated to himself as well as to the
Hawaikan.

"Nothing burning in your head? So you could not think--"

"No."

"It must