one of the now-familiar
gestures.

The boat heaved, wallowed, and sank.

Farmer thought desperately again that he couldn't swim, and then he
thought wildly of the Judge, who hadn't regained full consciousness. He
went under once, and came up choking and sputtering. He decided his end
had come--and he didn't even know the identity of the enemy who had done
him in. It was ironic. He should have asked Dor to tell him more about
Garf--was he a traitor, or a Tamdivarian gangster, or what? John Andrew
gasped and started sinking again....

To find himself hauled out of the water unceremoniously by the scruff of
his neck. As he rose, ropy tentacles twined about him, and he saw what
had saved him. He was being cradled, gently but firmly, by the nonapus,
which had Judge Ray in another set of tentacles. And the nonapus, it
became apparent, was not only a water-creature.

It could also fly.

* * * * *

Garf paddled idly around Dor's apartment, pretending interest in the
shell-paintings that decorated the walls. He had presented her a bouquet
in which rare blossoms hid slimy, smelly weeds, and she was sore at
him--again. As she finished her conversation and switched off the
two-way radio, he turned to her. "Dor," he said softly.

She looked at him haughtily. "Don't speak to me!" she said. "I told you
you'd have to stop your irresponsible practical joking and settle down.
Some hard work wouldn't hurt you even if you did inherit a fortune. I
don't mind so much when you pull these stunts on me, but when I think of
how you practically drowned those poor, defenseless Earth-creatures...."

His mouth twisted. "Poor, defenseless Earth-creatures! How was I to know
they couldn't swim? Just imagine--beings that live on a world with
almost as much water as ours, who can't use their natural abilities any
more than that! It's ridiculous. I never saw such morons--the big, ugly
one especially!"

He had intended that to sting, and it did. Dor raised her nose another
notch. "I think he's cute, and I'm learning he's pretty intelligent,
too. He catches on fast to everything I tell him. He and his little
friend will have their spaceship finished soon now, and...."

"That's another thing!" Garf snapped, keeping her on the defensive.
"Maybe I violated Security by going to Earth when they accidentally
opened the gate, but what are you doing? What would the Fed say if they
knew you were giving out information the