lf from the status of Throg prisoner, and he would do it gladly if
there was no hope of escape. Had there been only one charge left in that
blaster? Shann could make half a dozen guesses as to why the other had
made no move, but that shot had come from behind him, and he dared not
turn his head or otherwise make an effort to see what the other might be
doing.

Was it only his imagination, or had that stench grown stronger during
the last few seconds? Could the Throg be creeping up on him? Shann
strained his ears, trying to catch some sound he could interpret. The
few clak-claks that had survived the blast about the ship were shrieking
overhead, and Shann made one attempt at counterattack.

He whistled the wolverines' call. The pair had not been too willing to
follow him down into this valley, and they had avoided the crater at a
very wide circle. But if they would obey him now, he just might have a
chance.

There! That _had_ been a sound, and the smell _was_ stronger. The Throg
must be coming to him. Again Shann whistled, holding in his mind his
hatred for the beetle-head, the need for finishing off that alien. If
the animals could pick either thoughts or emotions out of their human
companion, this was the time for him to get those unspoken half-orders
across.

Shann slammed his hand hard against the ground, sent his body rolling,
his stunner up and ready.

And now he could see that grotesque thing, swaying weakly back and forth
on its thin legs, yet holding a blaster, bringing that weapon up to
center it on him. The Throg was hunched over and perhaps to Taggi
presented the outline of some four-footed creature to be hunted. For the
wolverine male sprang for the horn-shelled shoulders.

Under that impact that Throg sagged forward. But Taggi, outraged at the
nature of creature he had attacked, squalled and retreated. Shann had
had his precious seconds of distraction. He fired, the core of the stun
beam striking full into the flat dish of the alien's "face."

That bolt, which would have shocked a mammal into insensibility, only
slowed the Throg. Shann rolled again, gaining a temporary cover behind
the wrecked ship. He squirmed under metal hot enough to scorch his
jacket and saw the reflection of a second blaster shot which had been
fired seconds late.

Now the Throg had him tied down. But to get at the Terran the alien
would have to show himself, and Shann had one chance in fifty, which was
better than that of th