m upward, detouring swiftly once
to avoid the darting attack of a rock hornet, harmless as soon as they
moved out of the reach of its questing stinger, for it was anchored
for its short life to the rough hollow in which it had been hatched.

Dalgard's head broke water as he rolled through the surf onto a scrap
of beach in the lee of a row of tooth-pointed outcrops. It was late
evening by the light, and he clawed the mask off his face to draw
thankful lungfuls of the good outer air. Sssuri, his fur sleeked tight
to his body, waded ashore, shook himself free of excess water, and
turned immediately to study the wall of the cliff which guarded the
interior of the island.

This was one of a chain of such isles, Dalgard noted, now that he had
had time to look about him. And with their many-creviced walls they
were just the type of habitations which appealed most strongly to the
merpeople. Here could be found the dry inner caves with underwater
entrances, which they favored for their group homes. And in the sea
were kelp beds for harvesting.

The cliffs did not present too much of a climbing problem. Dalgard
divested himself of the diving equipment, tucking it into a hollow
which he walled up with stones that he thought the waves would not
scour out in a hurry. He might need it again. Then, hitching his belt
tighter, pressing what water he could out of his clothing, and
settling his bow and quiver to the best advantage at his back, he
crossed to where Sssuri was already marking claw holds.

"We may be seen--" Dalgard craned his neck, trying to make out details
of what might be waiting above.

The merman shook his head with a quick jerk of negation. "_They_ are
gone. Behind them remains only death--much death--" And the bleakness
of his thoughts reached the scout.

Dalgard had known Sssuri since he was a toddler and the other a cub
coming to see the wonders of dry land for the first time. Never,
during all their years of close association since, had he felt in the
other a desolation so great. And to that emotional blast he could make
no answer.

In the twilight, with the last red banners across the sky at their
back, they made the climb. And it was as if the merman had closed off
his mind to his companion. Flesh fingers touched scaled ones as they
moved from one hold to the next, but Sssuri might have been half a
world away for all the communication between them. Never had Dalgard
been so shut out and with that his sen