ering
chuckle and then a whoop of triumph from the scout stooping to claw
one of their prey out of hiding.

It was after they had eaten that Dalgard asked another question, one
which did not seem important to Raf. "You have a close friend among
the crew of your ship?"

Raf hesitated. Now that he was obliged to consider the point, did he
have any friends--let alone a close one--among the crew of the _RS
10_? Certainly he did not claim Wonstead who had shared his
quarters--he honestly did not care if he never saw him again. The
officers, the experts such as Lablet--quickly face and character of
each swept through his mind and was as swiftly discarded. There was
Soriki--He could not claim the com-tech as any special friend, but at
least during their period together among the aliens he had come to
know him better.

Now, as if Dalgard had read his mind--and he probably had, thought
Raf with a flash of the old resentment--he had another question.

"And what was he--is he like?"

Though the pilot could see little reason for this he answered as best
he could, trying to build first a physical picture of the com-tech and
then doing a little guessing as to what lay under the other's
space-burned skin.

Dalgard lay on his back, gazing up into the blue-green sky. Yet Raf
knew that he was intent on every word. A merman padded up, settled
down cross-legged beside the scout, as if he too were enthralled by
the pilot's halting description of a man he might never see again.
Then a second of the sea people came and a third, until Raf felt that
some sort of a noiseless council was in progress. His words trailed
away, and then Dalgard offered an explanation.

"It will take us many, many days to reach the place where your ship
is. And before we are able to complete that journey your friends may
be gone. So we shall try something else--with your aid."

Raf fingered the little bundle of his possessions. Even his helmet
with its com phone was missing.

"No," again Dalgard read his mind. "Your machines are of no use to you
now. We shall try _our_ way."

"How?" Wild thoughts of a big signal fire--But how could that be
sighted across a mountain range. Of some sort of an improvised com
unit--

"I said _our_ way." There was a smile on Dalgard's face, visible to
Raf's slowly clearing vision. "We shall provide another kind of
machine, and these"--he waved at the mermen--"will give us the power,
or so we hope. Lie here," he gestured to