THE HOUND
The sun was a of the ground and then, in some odd manner, that same fieriness. In the of the Shann would not have that Warlock such heat. The men their early as they to the poles. But they not off the of their their skin burn. And again of wind now over the of the cut to the water.
Shann his eyes, in his push-push, to look at the which they were in proximity. For the which the river had narrowed. And the of its was of earth, save for pockets the of dust, while of all cut into the path of the water.
He had not been mistaken; they were going faster, than their with the would account for. With the of the of the stream, the was taking on a new swiftness. Shann said as much and Thorvald nodded.
"We're the of the rapids."
"Where we off and walk around," Shann wearily. The his teeth, his eyes. "Do we the river?"
"As long as we can," Thorvald somberly. "We have no way of water."
Yes, a man live on very of food, continue to his way over a if he had the they carried. But there was no going without water, and in this such an would them quickly. Always they for another from behind, a to tell them just how near the Throg party had come.
"No Throg yet," Shann observed. He had one of those black plates to come the moment the had pointed the direction for their pursuers.
"Not in a such as this." Thorvald, without his on the pole, pointed with his to the the air above the cut walls. Here the river yet into the of a canyon. They breathe better. The still but not as as a hour earlier. Though over their the sky was now a lid, out the sun, a of to the travelers.
The Survey officer from to side, the banks as if for some special mark or sign. At last he used his as a to a of ahead. Some had the river at that point, and the of was in and among the to a peninsula.
"In there——"
They the to shore, the current. The wolverines, who had been by the and the dust, themselves to the with the of a ship for rescue. Thorvald settled the map case more his arm and he took the same leap. When they were all he the out into the again, pushing the along until it was by the past the line of boulders.
"Listen!"
But Shann had already that of sound. It was steady, like some drum. Certainly it did not a Throg ship in and it came from ahead, not from their trail.
"Rapids ... the falls," Thorvald that thunder. "Now, let's see what of a road we can here."
The of boulders, with driftwood, was against the of the cut. But it up to a of the top of that gap, more than one having to its fashioning. The landing stage the river for some fifty feet. Beyond it water a wall. They would have to climb and the along the top of the embankment, maybe being well away from the of the water.
By they and from their hands, more of the liquid over their heads, the from their skins. Then they to climb the up which the had already vanished. The above them was less solid, but again the their faces, itself in their hair.
Shann paused to a of from his and chin. Then he the last pull, his against the push of the wind he met there. A hard his shoulders, nearly sending him sprawling. He had only left to that as an order to on, and he ahead until over him and the was off.
His met solid stone, and having the from his eyes, Shann he was in a pocket in the walls. Well overhead he a of natural sky through a slit, but here was a which into complete darkness.
There was no of wolverines. Thorvald moved along the pocket southward, and Shann him. Once more they a end. For the crevice, with the to the river on the right, the at its back, came to an stop in a which at Shann's when he to look down.
If some of the had a across the of Warlock, to what under the of planet-skin, the resulting might have that slash. What had such a the on which they and the much beyond, Shann not guess. But it must have been a of dimensions. There was no to the of that cut and the on the other side. The would either have to return to the river with all its of trouble to come, or some other path across that which now provided such an to the west.
"Down!" Just as Thorvald had pushed him out of the of the into the crevice, so now did that officer Shann from his feet, him to the of the from which they had emerged.
A moved across the of sky.
"Back!" Thorvald at Shann again, his as he the man into the of the crevice. And he did not pause, allow Shann to do so, when they were well again. At last they the dark in the southern which they had passed earlier. And a push from Thorvald sent his into that.
Then a than any the Survey officer had at him Shann. He was against a with to the air from his lungs, the pain so great that he his had under that thrust. Before his fire the slit, him into temporary blindness. That was the last thing he as thick closed in, him into the of unconsciousness.
It to breathe; he was slowly aware of that pain and then the that he was breathing, that he had to the pain for the of breath. His whole was into a as a weight pressed upon his legs. Then animal into his face. Shann one hand by will power, touched thick fur, the of a across his fingers.
Something close to terror him for a second or two when he that he not see! The black about him was by of red which he somehow were actually his eyes. He through that fire-pierced darkness. An animal from the of the pressed against him; he answered that movement.
"Taggi?"
The against him was almost to pin him once more to the wall, a painful on his ribs, as the to his name. That second from the other must be Togi's for attention.
But what had happened? Thorvald had him just after that had over the ledge. That shadow! Shann's as he to make of what he remember. A Throg ship! Then that which had cut after them only have resulted from one of those energy such as had out the others of his at the camp. But he was still alive—!
"Thorvald?" He called through his personal darkness. When there was no answer, Shann called again, more urgently. Then he on his hands and knees, pushing Taggi aside, his hands over rocks, flooring.
His touched what only be cloth, they met the of flesh. And he himself against the of the Survey officer, for heartbeat, for some that the other was still living.
"What——?" The one word came thickly, but Shann gave something close to a of as he the mutter. He on his heels, pressed his against his in a of will to see.
Perhaps that pressure did some of the blackout, for when he again, the complete dark and the had to gray, and he was sure he saw a of light to his left.
The Throg ship had upon them. But the not have used the full of their or neither of the Terrans would still be alive. Which meant, Shann's to make sense—sense which apprehension—the Throgs to than kill. They wanted prisoners, just as Thorvald had warned.
How long did the Terrans have the would come to them? There was no fit landing place for their flyer. The beetle-heads would have to set at the of the land and climb the on foot. And the Throgs were not good at that. So, the still had a measure of time.
Time to do what? The country itself them captive. That to the was one barrier. To would into the hands of the hunters. To again to the river, their gone, was than useless. There was only this pocket in which they sheltered. And once the Throgs arrived, they the Terrans out at their leisure, while by a energy beam.
"Taggi? Togi?" Shann was aware that he had not the for some time.
He was answered by a call—from the south! Had the animals a new exit? Was this more than just a niche? A of some length, or a passage into the of the peaks? With that him, Shann again over Thorvald, able now to make out the other's form. Then he the from the of his and pressed the stud.
His in answer to that light, until patterned the and on his cheeks. But he make out what them, a leading into the face, the which might the door to escape.
The Survey officer moved, himself up, his shut.
"Lantee?"
"Here. And there's a tunnel—right you. The that way...."
To his there was a thin of a on Thorvald's straight-lipped mouth. "And we'd be away visitors arrive?"
So he, too, must have his way through the of past action to the same the Throg movements.
"Can you see, Lantee?" The question was casual, but a note in it, almost a for reassurance, cut for the time through the which had them from their meeting by the ship.
"Better now. I couldn't when I came to," Shann answered quickly.
Thorvald opened his eyes, but Shann that he was as as he himself had been, He at the officer's nearer hand, it to on his own belt.
"Grab hold!" Shann was the orders now. "By the look of that opening we had try crawling. I've a on at low——"
"Good enough." The other's on the about Shann's until they tight at his back. He started on into the opening, Thorvald by that with him.
Luckily, they did not have to far, for past the entrance the fault or they were a passage high for the tall Thorvald to travel without stooping. And then only a little later he his on Shann, he now see well to manage on his own.
The on a and from there a which their eyes—a green-gold of crystals. Several on, there was another of crystals. Those might promise wealth, but neither Terran paused to them more closely or touch their surfaces. From time to time Shann whistled. And always he was answered by the wolverines, their calls from ahead. So the men to that they were not walking into a from which the Throgs them.
"Snap off your a moment!" Thorvald ordered.
Shann obeyed. The light vanished. Yet there was still light to be seen—ahead and above.
"Front door," Thorvald observed. "How do we up?"
The them that, a narrow of off when the passage they took a turn to the left and east. Afterward Shann that climb with wonder that they had actually it, though their had been slow, the from one to another to make sure of their footing.
Shann was top man when a last of him to himself out into the open, his hands raw, his and torn. He sat there, with his own weariness, to about.
Thorvald called impatiently, and Shann for the to it for the officer. Then Thorvald out; he, too, looked around in surprise.
On either side, cut high into the of the sky. But this bowl in which the men had was rich in things. Though the trees were stunted, the almost as high here as it did on the of the lowlands. Quartering the pocket valley, the wolverines, in that wild activity their in this freedom.
"Good campsite."
Thorvald his head. "We can't here."
And, to that prophesy, there from that through which they had just come, and broken, but still threatening, the of the Throgs' hound.
The Survey officer the from Shann's and to it into the of the passage. As the slowly that opening, he out his other arm, the size of the aperture.
"When that thing on a scent"—he off the beam—"the beetle-heads won't be able to it. There will be no for them to attempt to. Those their orders: kill—or capture. And I think this one on 'capture.' So they'll it to ahead of their party."
"And we move to it out?" Shann now on the other's experience.
Thorvald rose. "It would need a on full power to off a hound. No, we can't kill it. But we can make it a to our advantage." He into the valley, Shann him without in the least, but aware that Thorvald did have some plan. The officer bent, the ground, and to from under the surface one of those of which they had used for cords. He a of this into Shann's with a single order: "Twist these together and make as thick a rope as you can!"
Shann twisted, to his pleased that under pressure the a which not only his hands, but also as an for the themselves so that his was not nearly as as it had seemed. With his ax Thorvald cut two of the trees and them of branches, the into the about the entrance of the hole.
They were against time, but on Thorvald's part with efficiency. Twice more that of the from the them. As the sun, almost now, into the Thorvald set up the of his trap.
"We can't it out, any more than we can out a Throg. But a from a ought to slow it up long for this to work."
Taggi out of the grass, the with purpose. And Togi was right at his heels. Both of them into that opening, a little, the same in their as they had when hunting. Shann how that of the Throg had animals to the of the in of their marked for its masters.
"They're after it too." He told Thorvald what he had noted on the night of their sortie.
"Maybe they can keep it occupied," the other commented. "But we don't want them to actually mix with it; that might be fatal."
A out in the passage. Taggi snarled, away a steps he his own cry.
"Ready!" Thorvald jumped to the from the poles; Shann his stunner.
Togi her mate's challenge with a series of in volume. There was a tearing, from within. Then Shann at the jack-in-the-box of a head, and Thorvald the deadfall.
The thing squalled. Ropes beat, taut. The from which fruitlessly. To Shann's the Terran animals appeared to the now imprisoned—or collared—horror, without to make any close attack.
But he that too soon. Perhaps the had up the hound's reflexes, for those with a last snap, the toad-lizard mask—a which was against all nature as the Terrans it—was in the of the rope, the of the as a to the hole. Taggi had been waiting only for such a chance. He sprang, ready. And Togi in after her to the battle.
