les. It was going to rush for him now with
those clawed forepaws out to rip.

To wait was to court disaster. Vye shouted, his battle cry piercing
the silence of the lake and wood. He sprang, aiming the spear point at
the beast's protuberant belly, and then swerved to the side as the
knife bit home, raking his weapon to open a gaping wound.

The spear was jerked from Vye's hold as both those taloned paws closed
on it. Then the creature pulled it free, snapped the haft in two. Vye
fired a short blast from the ray tube before it could turn on him, saw
fur-fuzz afire, as he ran for the tree.

Beneath its branches he looked back. The beast was pawing at the
burning fur on its head, and he had perhaps a second or two. He jumped
and his fingers caught on the low hanging branch, then he made a
superhuman effort, was up out of the path of the thing which rushed
blindly for the tree, shrieking in frenzied complaint.

The huge body crashed against the trunk with force which nearly shook
Vye from his hold. As the giant forepaws belabored the wood, strove to
lift the body from the ground, Vye worked his way out on another
branch. In the end it was the shaking of that limb under him which
aided his swing to the next tree. And from there he traveled
recklessly, intent only on getting out of the woods as fast as he
could.

By the noise the beast was still assaulting the tree, and Vye marveled
at its vitality, for the belly wound would long ago have killed any
creature he knew. Whether it could trace his flight aloft, or whether
its howls would bring more of its kind, he could not guess, but every
second he could gain was all important now.

At the gap over the trail he hesitated. That path ran in the direction
of the open, and to go on foot meant the possibility of greater speed.
Vye slipped from the bough, hit the ground, and ran. His ragged
lungsful of air came in great gasps and he doubted if he could take
the exertion of more tree travel now. He raced down the path.

Those mewling cries were louder, he was sure of it. Now he heard the
thump of the beast's blundering pursuit behind him. But its bulk and
hurts slowed it. In the open he could find cover behind a rock, use
the ray again.

The trees began to thin. Vye summoned power for a last burst of speed,
came out of the shadow of the wood as might a dart expelled from a
needler. Before him, up slope, was the closed door of the valley. And
moving in from the left was anoth