ion. But for the moment it
was good just to be free, to feel the soft winds of summer lick his
skin, to walk slowly under the sun, carrying the little bundle of
things which belonged to the stranger, with a knife once more at his
belt and friends about him.

But within the quarter-hour their peace was broken. Dalgard heard it
first, his landsman's ears serving him where the complicated sense
which gave the sea people warning did not operate. That shrill
keening--he knew it of old. And at his warning the majority of the
mermen plunged into the stream, becoming drifting shadows below the
surface of the water. Only the four who were carrying the hammock
stood their ground. But the scout, having told them to deposit their
burden under the shelter of an overhanging ledge of rock, waved them
to join their fellows. Until that menace in the sky was beaten, they
dare not travel overland.

Was it still after him alone, hunting him by some mysterious built-in
sense as it had overseas? He could see it now, moving in circles back
and forth across the gorge, probably ready to dive on any prey
venturing into the open.

Had it not been for the stranger, Dalgard could have taken to the
water almost as quickly and easily as his companions. But they could
not float the pilot down the stream, thus dissolving the thick coating
of gel which was healing his terrible flash burns. And Those Others,
were they following the trail of their mechanical hound as they had
before?

Dalgard sent out questing tendrils of thought. Nowhere did he
encounter the flashes which announced the proximity of Those Others.
No, it would appear that they had unleashed the hound to do what
damage it could, perhaps to serve them as a marker for a future
counterattack. At present it was alone. And he relayed that
information to the mermen.

If they could knock out the hound--his hand went to the tender scrape
on his own scalp where that box had left its glancing mark--if they
could knock out the hound--But how? As accurate marksmen as the mermen
were with their spears, he was not sure they could bring down the box.
Its sudden darts and dips were too erratic. Then what? Because as long
as it bobbed there, he and the stranger were imprisoned in this
pocket of the gorge wall.

Dalgard sat down, the bundle of the stranger's belongings beside him.
Then, he carefully unfastened the scorched cloth which formed that bag
and examined its contents. There was the belt wit