ng up now to port in the
comparative calm between two wakes was a dark object. In the limited
light Ross could be sure of nothing save that it trailed the ships,
appeared to rest on or only lightly in the water, and that its speed was
less than that of the vessels it doggedly pursued.

"A fish--that?" Ross asked.

"Watch!" Vistur ordered.

But the Hawaikan's sight must have been keener than the Terran's. Had
there been a quick movement back there? Ross could not be sure.

"What happened?" He turned to Vistur for enlightenment.

"As a salkar it leaps now and then above the surface. But that is no
salkar. Unless, Ross, you who say you are from the sea have servants
unlike any finned one we have drawn in by net or line before this day."

The dolphins! Could Tino-rau or Taua or both be in steady pursuit of the
ships? But Karara ... Ross leaned against the rail, stared until his
eyes began to water from the strain of trying to make out the nature of
the black blot. No use, the distance was too great. He brought his fist
down against the wood, trying to control his impatience. More than half
of him wanted to burst into Torgul's quarters, demand that the Captain
bring the ship about to pick up or contact that trailer or trailers.

"Yours?" again Vistur asked.

Ross had tight rein on himself now. "I do not know. It could well be."

It could well be also that the smart thing would be to encourage the
Rovers to believe that he had a force of sea dwellers much larger than
the four Time castaways. The leader of an army--or a navy--had more
prestige in any truce discussion than a member of a lost scouting party.
But the thought that the dolphins could be trailing held both promise
and worry--promise of allies, and worry over what had happened to
Karara. Had she, too, disappeared after Ashe into the hold of the
Foanna?

The day did not continue to lighten. Though there was no cottony mist as
had enclosed them the night before, there was an odd muting of sea and
sky, limiting vision. Shortly Ross was unable to sight the follower or
followers. Even Vistur admitted he had lost visual contact. Had the blot
been hopelessly outdistanced, or was it still dogging the wakes of the
Rover ships?

Ross shared the morning meal with Captain Torgul, a round of leathery
substance with a salty, meaty flavor, and a thick mixture of what might
be native fruit reduced to a tart paste. Once before he had tasted alien
food when in the derelic