o in front to pull, and tried by main
strength to haul him up the five hundred foot rock-face.

Hazily, not hastily, Chet tried to think of a way out. His starved brain
could come up with nothing. That, he finally decided, was only natural;
it was not thinking that was needed, but action.

Still, he wasn't precipitate. Caution reinforced his habitual lassitude
while trying to dispell it. Half a dozen times he tensed for combat,
only to relax hopelessly. But finally he found a place--and the will--to
make a stand.

He passed up a wide shelf, and let them tug him along a narrow ledge
without much objection. He chose a near-vertical pitch about a hundred
feet from the bottom--a mere crack that slanted upward to the right,
offering the shallowest of hand- and foot-holds.

He could only hope that he wasn't in sight from the trail--or else that
the villagers had left. He couldn't see through the treetops to make
sure. But he hadn't the strength to worry.

He froze to the rock, pulling as if in fright. The two witch-doctors in
single file above him jerked on the chains they held. But they needed a
hand apiece to hold on with, and couldn't lift him.

The one below, standing on a six-inch ledge, tried to push. When that
didn't work, he broke off a chunk of rock and beat Chet's left foot with
it.

Spurred by the sudden pain, Chet kicked the witch-doctor in the face.
The Agvar fell, screaming--until he crashed through the treetops and was
still.

* * * * *

To Chet, forgetful of his hearing superiority, it seemed as if that
outcry would be heard on Earth itself. Certainly he expected it to alarm
the countryside. Still, unless the swift foot-thrust had been seen, no
one would be sure the witch-doctor's fall was not an accident....

Chet had tasted victory for the first time in three years! He'd had a
little revenge, and he wanted more. He could take the other two
witch-doctors with him to death!

He put all his weight on the chains they held. But they chose not to
die--let go, instead, to save themselves. The chain-ends rattled past,
dislodging a small avalanche of dust and gravel and bruising
stones--dislodging _him_ when the full weights jerked at neck and waist.

Prepared, he didn't let himself be pulled away from the cliff's face. He
slid down it to the ledge from which the Agvar below him had fallen.
There he teetered a moment, balancing precariously on toes scraped raw
in his slid