weird machinery from its bed to
the wheeled trolley they had brought. There was to be no lingering on
this job--that was certain.

11

ESPIONAGE

Intent upon joining Sssuri, Dalgard left the lock, forgetting his
earlier unwillingness, stepping from the small chamber down to the sea
bottom, or endeavoring to, although instinctively he had begun to swim
and so forged ahead at a different rate of speed.

Waving fronds of giant water plants, such as were found only in the
coastal shallows, grew forest fashion but did not hide rocks which
stretched up in a sharp rise not too far ahead. The scout could not
see the merman, but as he held onto one of those fronds he caught the
other's summons:

"Here--by the rocks--!"

Pushing his way through the drifting foliage, Dalgard swam ahead to
the foot of the rocky escarpment. And there he saw what had so excited
his companion.

Sssuri had just driven away an encircling collection of sand-dwelling
scavengers, and what he was on his knees studying intently was an
almost clean-picked skeleton of one of his own race. But there was
something odd--Dalgard brushed aside a tendril of weed which cut his
line of vision and so was able to see clearly.

White and clean most of those bones were, but the skull was blackened,
and similar charring existed down one arm and shoulder. That merman
had not died from any mishap in the sea!

"It is so," Sssuri replied to his thought. "_They_ have come once more
to give the flaming death--"

Dalgard, startled, looked up that slope which must lead to the island
top above the waves.

"Long dead?" he asked tentatively, already guessing what the other's
answer would be.

"The pickers move fast," Sssuri indicated the sand dwellers. "Perhaps
yesterday, perhaps the day before--but no longer than that."

"And _they_ are up there now?"

"Who can tell? However, _they_ do not know the sea, nor the islands--"

It was plain that the merman intended to climb to investigate what
might be happening above. Dalgard had no choice but to follow. And it
was true that the merpeople had no peers or equals when it came to
finding their ways about the sea and the coasts. He was confident that
Sssuri could get to the island top and discover just what he wished to
learn without a single sentry above, if they had stationed sentries,
being the wiser. Whether he himself could operate as efficiently was
another matter.

In the end they half climbed, half swa