et the others climb on while he stepped quickly
behind a projecting rock over which he could look.

Again there was silence; again the leaves unfolded their thorny
wrappings while vermiform tendrils crept across the ground or reached
tentatively into the air. And then, while the silence was unbroken,
while no evidence came through his feeble, human senses, something
approached.

Neither sight nor sound betrayed it--this something, that came
noiselessly after--but a tell-tale plant whipped its leaves into their
former wrapping; a vine drew its hanging clusters of flowers sharply
into the air. The unseeing watchers of the forest had sensed what was
unheard and unseen, and Chet knew that his own inner warning had been
true.

He waited to see this mysterious pursuer come into view; and after
waiting in vain he realized the folly of thinking himself concealed. He
glanced about him; every plant was drawn tightly upon itself. With
silent voices they were proclaiming his hiding place, warning this other
to wait, telling him that someone was hidden here.

Chet's face, despite his apprehension, drew into a whimsical, silent
grin. "No chance to ambush him, whoever he is or whatever it is," he
told himself. "But that works two ways: he can't jump us when we're
prepared; not in daylight, anyway."

And he asked himself a question he could not answer: "I wonder," he
whispered softly, "--I wonder what these plants will do at night!"

* * * * *

Almost they could see the swift descent of the sun. Each flashing glint
of light through the dense growth came from lower down toward the
invisible horizon. It shone at last where Chet cast anxious glances
about upon a mound of rocks.

Rough blocks of tremendous size had been left here from some seismic
disturbance. Like the ruins of a castle they were heaped high in air.
Even the tree growths stopped at their base, and above them was an
opening in the roof of tangled branches and leaves--a rough circle of
clear, blue sky.

"How about making camp?" Chet asked. "This place looks good to me. I
would just as soon be up off the ground a bit."

Harkness looked at the pile of rocks; glanced once toward the sun.
"Right!" he agreed. "This will do for our first camp."

"You've named it," Chet told him as he scrambled to the top of a great
block. He extended a hand to Diane, standing tired and breathless at its
side.

"Welcome to First Camp!" he told her. "Ta