They to a spot from the of the jungle, a screen of green them and the up-slope. But the hours of left them, it was proven that Asaki had been in his of a water tree. They were now in a narrow of land the range and the swamps, and this was limited. Nymani, still shaken, was of little help, and the did not to out into land alone.
So they mouthed and not drink. Dane was to out the liquid in his canteen. Water so close to hand was a torment. And, now that they were away from the and the possibility of more finger-shaped rocks, surely the threat in that was small in to the needs of his body. Only that which was into every Free Trader a to his thirst.
Jellico the of his hand across lips. "Suppose we should lots—some of us drink, one or two not. Could we manage that way until we were over the mountains?"
"I wouldn't want to it, unless we are left with no other choice. There is no way of telling how long the works. Frankly, right now I'm not sure I a for very long under these conditions," was Tau's verdict.
If any of them slept that night, they did so only in snatches. The which had come with the previous night was back, intensified, and that lurking, them hard.
They were out of their private terrors after dawn. There were always to be in the jungle: the of birds, the crash of some tree alive by sapping. But what now was no bird call, no tree falling. A roar, the of vegetation, a menace. Asaki to northward, though there was nothing to be there the of the jungle.
"Graz! Graz on stampede!" Nymani joined his superior.
Jellico and Dane read on the captain's the of this. The off-worlder to his own men with a order. "On your feet! We may have to move on the double. Up-mountain?" he of the Chief Ranger.
The other was still listening, not only with his ears but with the whole of his body. Three of the deer-like they had for food out of the green wall, past the men as if the was invisible. And them, the now and not the hunter, came a lion, its marked black-and-white in the light of the morning. It in a and then was gone in one bound. More deer things, of other small creatures, moving too fast for clear identification, and them the of which marked the of Khatka's largest through the jungle.
They had started up-slope when Nymani out. A white bulk, hard to in that light against the of the earth, after them. Dane had a of tusks, of an open mouth, raw-red and wide to his whole head, of at an pace. Asaki a from the needler. The white and came on. They for the offered as the died, not two yards away from the Chief Ranger, its along the earth with the of its speed as it down.
"That did it!" Jellico with his as a second bull, mad, from the and at them. Behind it a third out of the brush, large for an enemy. Dane the bull, but the animal did not come to life this time. These were not hallucinations. And the of the apes, the of the native Khatkan lion, were to a on the rampage.
The second with an almost as Jellico's it head-on. Blinded, the ahead, the side. The third met a from Nymani's needler. But the Chief Ranger from his to the one where the captain had taken and him into the open.
"They must not us here!"
Jellico to that. "Come on!" he to Tau and Dane.
They along a way, trying to altitude, but a which not be easily climbed. Two more down, one wounded, one safely dead. Behind them more white came from the brush. What original had started the the not guess, but now the and anger of the animals were upon them.
And, in of their efforts, the party was being into a pocket the below, where the main of along, and a wall. Given time to the necessary and toe holds, a man might climb that wall, but they not attempt it now. The of on which they ran, stopped to fire, and then ran on again, to the southeast. And so they came to its end quickly, a in a plain of yellow-gray with of which led, like steppingstones, toward a of matted, looking plants and reeds.
"All right," Tau around, "what do we do now? Space lift? And using what for or jets?"
As if the that they now had their safely cornered, what must have been a of the their way from the and started up. Puffing, in those which had to take the weight of their barrel-shaped bodies, they their way up-grade. One might almost that they had planned this end for their drive.
"We go down!" Asaki yelled, and used his on the leader of that platoon.
"The islands," Nymani amended. "I you!" He his at Jellico and was over the of the ledge, by his hands and his weight and like a pendulum. At the up-swing of his to the right, he let go and out, landing across one of the islets. The Khatkan his way to his knees, his feet, and for the next of solid ground.
"You, Thorson!" Jellico his at Dane and the his fire ray, over the and prepared to repeat Nymani's as best he could.
He was not as successful with his swing, landing with only his across the islet, the of his being in what was only with a thin of matter. The of the was sickening, but the of being in it gave him the necessary to push forward, though what was meant to be a half-dive was more of a worm's progress. He at stems, at which cut like at his hands. But some of the material and he on a which did not give under his weight.
There was no time to linger; he had to to the next patch, to free this landing place for the men on the above. Stumbling up, Dane the with a space-trained and jumped to a Nymani had already quitted. The Khatkan was more than along toward that promise of solid ground which the of to, from to islet.
There was a crash and a behind. Dane on the third of the minute to look back. He saw the of fire on the top of the cliff, Tau on his on the of their of steppingstones, and a and in the where it had past the two above. Needler and together again, and then Jellico over the rim. Tau and Dane took off for the next islet, just making it by lucky chance.
The of the he took in a rush, trying not to think of anything but the of landing on some spot of ground. His last of all was too short, so that he in a particularly evil-smelling where yellow his and he the of the stuff. A branch across his and he it. With Nymani's on the other end, Dane free and sat, white-faced and shivering, on a of brush, while the Khatkan his attention to the safety of Tau, the next arrival.
More fortunate, or more than Dane, the the from the last without mishap. But he was as he the other spaceman. Together they the progress of their captain.
Safe on the second from the shore, Jellico halted, around and used the Nymani had left with him. A and the Asaki on the down. The Chief Ranger to the right and a second out and over, to join its in the below. As Jellico again, the Khatkan his and over to the islet.
One more was but it about, its on those that followed, thus the path clear for its enemies. Jellico was making the journey, sure-footedly, with the Chief Ranger only one behind. Tau sighed.
"Someday maybe this will be just another tall and we'll all be when we it," he observed. "That is if we to tell it. So now which way do we go? If I had my choice it would be up!"
When Dane himself to his and their small refuge, he was to agree to that. For the space, packed with and vegetable until one deep, was a triangle with a narrow point east into the swamp.
"They don't give up easily, do they?" Jellico looked to the and the cliff. Though the still the against its fellows, there were others from the on the level, and to the earth, up with their tusks, and otherwise anyone who would try to return to the they patrolled.
"They will not," Asaki answered bleakly. "Arouse a and it will you for days; kill any of the and you have little of them on foot."
It would now that the was a to pursuit. The two that had in the in a note. They had to and of their on the near them, calling entreatingly. Asaki took with the and put one animal after another out of its misery. But the of those those on to a higher of rage.
"No going back," he said. "At least not for days."
Tau a black, four-winged which had settled on his arm, its wide open for a bite. "We can't very well here until they all about us," he pointed out. "Not without water we can trust, and with the local wild life to test us for eating."
Nymani had along the point of their island, and now he his report.
"There is more high land to the east. Perhaps it will give us a across."
At that moment Dane his ability to make any more from to island. And it would Tau his discouragement.
"I don't you our friends on there with a more shots?"
Asaki his head. "We do not have to settle a whole herd. These might from but they would be waiting for us in the bush, and that would death. We shall have to take the road."
If Dane had their misery, this was torture. Since was secure, were frequent, and a quarter-hour they were all with evil-smelling and which to when to the air. Painful as this was, it did protect a of their from the with which the was well stocked.
And, in of their to a way out, the only possible paths them into the center of the morass. At last Asaki called a and a to retreat. To an from which they at least watch the very indeed.
"We have to have water." Tau's voice was a croak, out of a of green with weeds.
"This ground is rising." Asaki the stock of his against the surface on which he crouched. "I think there may be clean land soon to come."
Jellico his way up a sapling, now under his weight. Through the he the ahead.
"You're right about that," he called to the Chief Ranger. "There's a of the right of green to the left, about a mile on. And," he about at the sun, "we have about an hour yet of good light in which to make it. I wouldn't try such a after dark."
That promise of green their for a last effort. Once again they were with a series of leaps, and now they with them from the to in times of need.
When Dane up the last pull, staggered, and to his again, he he was done. He did not move at an from Nymani, a moment later by Asaki. It was not until the over him, a open in his hand, that Dane a little.
"Drink!" the Khatkan urged. "We have a water tree. This is fresh."
The liquid might have been fresh, but it also had a taste, which Dane did not note until he had a swallow. At that moment he was past about anything but the that he did have a of in hand.
Here the stunted, of the had away to the more normal of the jungle-clad lowlands. Had they come clear across the swamp, Dane dully, or was this only a large in the of the boglands?
He again and to to where his lay. It was some time he was in much the that he drink when he wished. Then he Jellico to his feet, his eastward. Tau, too, sat up as if by the Queen's buzzer.
The Khatkans were gone, to the water tree. But all three of the that sound, a off which was a as well. Jellico looked to Tau.
"Drums?"
"Could be." The the cap on his canteen. "I'd say we have company—only I'd like to know what kind!"
They might have been about the drums, but none of them have been about the which came out of to slice through a tree as a knife might wet clay. Blaster—and a particular type of blaster!
"Patrol issue!" Tau flat, himself against the earth as if he he into it.
Jellico toward the in answer to a low call from Asaki, and the others a worm's progress in his wake. Under they the Chief Ranger his needler.
"Poacher here," he bleakly. "And they know about us."
"A perfect end to a day," Tau dispassionately. "We might have something of this was waiting." He to away some of the his chin. "But do use drums?"
The Chief Ranger scowled. "That is what Nymani has gone to out."
