k her head. "The broadcast there--Tino-rau
rates it as lethal. There are dead fish floating in the bay. He had
warning at the reef entrance. Without a shield, there will be no way of
getting in."

"Might as well wish for a depth bomb," Ross began and then stopped.

"You have thought of something?"

"A shield--" Ross repeated her words. It was so wild this thought of
his, and one which might have no chance of working. He knew almost
nothing about the resources of the invaders. Could that broadcast which
protected the sub and perhaps activated the weapons of the invaders
ashore be destroyed? A wall of fish--sea life herded in there as a
shield ... wild, yes, even so wild it might work. Ross outlined the
idea, speaking more to Karara than to the Rovers.

"I do not know," she said doubtfully. "That would need many fish, too
many to herd and drive----"

"Not fish," Torgul cut in, "salkars!"

"Salkars?"

"You have seen the bow carving on this ship. That is a salkar. Such are
larger than a hundred fish! Salkars driven in ... they might even wreck
this undersea ship with their weight and anger."

"And you can find these salkars near-by?" Ross began to take fire. That
dragon which had hunted him--the bulk of the thing was well above any
other sea life he had seen here. And to its ferocity he could give
testimony.

"At the spawning reefs. We do not hunt at this season which is the time
of the taking of mates. Now, too, they are easily angered so they will
even attack a cruiser. To slay them at present is a loss, for their
skins are not good. But they would be ripe for battle were they to be
disturbed."

"And how would you get them from the spawning reefs to Kyn Add?"

"That is not too difficult; the reef lies here." Torgul drew lines with
the point of his sword on the table top. "And here is Kyn Add. Salkars
have a great hunger at this time. Show them bait and they will follow;
especially will they follow swimming bait."

There were a great many holes in the plan which had only a halfway
chance of working. But the Rovers seized upon it with enthusiasm, and so
it was set up.

Perhaps some two hours later Ross swam toward the land mass of Kyn Add.
Gleams of light pricked on the shore well to his left. Those must mark
the Rover settlement. And again the Terran wondered why the invaders had
remained there. Unless they knew that there had been three cruisers out
on a raid and for some reason they were determined to ma