all devil above the shoulder line, half cutting, half
snapping its tender neck, so that it bounded aimlessly on to crash
against the wall and fall back squirming feebly.

They collected the darts which had killed the others. Dalgard took the
opportunity to study those bands on the forearms of the adults. To his
touch they had the slick smoothness of metal, yet he was unfamiliar
with the material. It possessed the ruddy fire of copper, but through
it ran small black veins. He would have liked to have taken one with
him for investigation, but it was out of the question to pry it off
that scaled limb.

Sssuri straightened up from his last gruesome bit of stage-setting
with a sigh of relief. "Go ahead." He pointed to one of the other
archways. "I will confuse the trail."

Dalgard obeyed, treading as lightly as he could, avoiding all
stretches in which he could leave a clear print. Sssuri ran lightly
back and forth mixing the few impressions to the best of his ability.

They backtracked to the river, retrieved the boat and recrossed, to
leave the city behind and strike into the open country beyond its
sinister walls. Night was falling, and Dalgard was very glad that he
was not to spend the time of darkness within those haunted buildings.
But he knew that it was more than a dislike for being shut up in the
alien dwellings which had brought Sssuri out into the fields. The
second part of their plan must be put into operation.

While Dalgard willed his body motionless, the merman lay relaxed upon
the ground before him as he might have floated upon his beloved waves
in some secluded cove. His brilliant eyes were closed. Yet Dalgard
knew that Sssuri was far from asleep, and with all his own power he
tried to join in the broadcast: that urgency which should send some
hopper, some night runner, on to spread the rumor that there was
trouble in the north, that danger existed and must be investigated.
They had already met one colony of runners ranging southward to
escape. But if they could send another such tribe traveling, arouse
and aim south a hopper exodus, the story would spread until the fringe
would reach the animals who lived in peace within touch of Homeport.

The sun was gone, the dark gathered fast. Dalgard could not even see
the clustered buildings of the city now. And since he lacked Sssuri's
range and staying power, he had no idea whether their efforts had met
with even a shadow of success. He shivered in the bite o