e flyers patrolled.

A patch of dust, sheltered by a tooth-shaped projection of rock, gave
the Terran his first proof that Taggi and his mate had preceded him, for
printed firmly there was the familiar paw mark of a wolverine. Shann
began to hope that both animals had taken to cover in the wilderness
ahead.

He licked dry lips. Having left secretly without any emergency pack, he
had no canteen, and now Shann inventoried his scant possessions--a field
kit, heavy-duty clothing, a short hooded jacket with attached mittens,
the breast marked with the Survey insignia. His belt supported a
sheathed stunner and bush knife, and seam pockets held three credit
tokens, a twist of wire intended to reinforce the latch of the wolverine
cage, a packet of bravo tablets, two identity and work cards, and a
length of cord. No rations--save the bravos--no extra charge for his
stunner. But he did have, weighing down a loop on the jacket, a small
atomic torch.

The path he followed ended abruptly in a cliff drop, and Shann made a
face at the odor rising from below, even though that scent meant he
could climb down to the valley floor here without fearing any clak-clak
attention. Chemical fumes from a mineral spring funneled against the
wall, warding off any nesting in this section.

Shann drew up the hood of his jacket and snapped the transparent face
mask into place. He must get away--then find food, water, a hiding
place. That will to live which had made Shann Lantee fight innumerable
battles in the past was in command, bracing him with a stubborn
determination.

The fumes swirled up in a smoke haze about his waist, but he strode on,
heading for the open valley and cleaner air. That sickly lavender
vegetation bordering the spring deepened in color to the normal
purple-green, and then he was in a grove of trees, their branches
pointed skyward at sharp angles to the rust-red trunks.

A small skitterer burst from moss-spotted ground covering, giving an
alarmed squeak, skimming out of sight as suddenly as it had appeared.
Shann squeezed between two trees and then paused. The trunk of the
larger was deeply scored with scratches dripping viscid gobs of sap, a
sap which was a bright froth of scarlet. Taggi had left his mark here,
and not too long ago.

The soft carpet of moss showed no paw marks, but he thought he knew the
goal of the animals--a lake down-valley. Shann was beginning to plan
now. The Throgs had not blasted the Terran camp