his creature, this thing of blubbery body and
long, webbed flipper-arms and legs--this brown-skinned denizen of the
Arctic underseas was, with all its fellows, related to him, a man of the
upper world.

Men they were; or, rather, blubber-men!

* * * * *

Previously he had marveled at something suggestively human-like in their
appearance; now he recognized human intelligence in his observer's
peering brown eyes and questing movements of the flipper over his head
casque and suit. Warm red blood flowed in its blubber-sheathed body; an
intelligent brain lay in the fat round head. And why not?

Whales, ages ago, were land mammals, animals that walked on the soil of
the dim, early world. They had taken to the seas in quest of food, had
stayed there and never returned; and Nature had guarded their bodies
against the cold and great depths by giving them layer upon layer of
oily blubber. The ancestors of these creatures before him might well
have lived on the soil, walked and run as he did; then, when the ice
came, taken to the sea and made a new home for themselves.

They had enticed the splendent light-fish into their caverns to give
illumination. Intelligence almost human. A brain not as highly developed
as man's, but a human brain!

Ken Torrance had been almost apathetic toward his eventual fate, but
suddenly, now, a great hope came to him--and twin with it, on its heels,
came fear. If, or since, this creature inspecting him had an
intelligent, human brain, in some way he might be able to correspond
with it. He might be able to show that his real body was inside the
sea-suit; that he had to have air; that he would die if he were kept
underwater, that he could not survive as a prisoner. These creatures
appeared to be friendly; seemed to wish him no harm. If he could show
them that he was a man of the upper world, they might let him go.

If he could do it! He had to make known to the herd leader that he
breathed air, and that he'd die if they didn't release him at once. On
that depended life and death.

Ken trembled as he cast about for some way of putting over his idea, and
then the plan came. Smiling through his face-shield at the brown eyes so
close, he drew back slowly and took out a short steel crowbar from the
belt at his waist. He bent over and made a line on the soft floor.

All eyes watched him; every creature held motionless, apparently
interested, eager to understand. Under his su