ed her intently--"did your people or the Reds ever
find any traces of the old civilization here--ruins?"

"No." She leaned forward, tracing with her own finger the same
almost-obliterated marks which had intrigued Travis. "But I think they
have looked. Before they discovered that we could be free, they sent out
parties--to hunt, they said--but afterward they always asked many
questions about the country. Only they never asked about ruins. Is that
what they wished us to find? But why? Of what value are old stones piled
on one another?"

"In themselves, little, save for the knowledge they may give us of the
people who piled them. But for what the stones might contain--much
value!"

"And how do you know what they might contain, Fox?"

"Because I have seen such treasure houses of the star men," he returned
absently. To him the marks on the ledge were a pledge of greater
discoveries to come. He must find where that carefully constructed road
ran--to what it led. "Let us see where this will take us."

But first he gave the chittering signal in four sharp bursts. And the
tawny-gray bodies came out of the tangled brush, bounding up to the
ledge. Together the coyotes faced him, their attention all for his
halting communication.

Ruins might lie ahead; he hoped that they did. But on another planet
such ruins had twice proved to be deadly traps, and only good fortune
had prevented their closing on Terran explorers. If the ape-things or
any other dangerous form of life had taken up residence before them, he
wanted good warning.

Together the coyotes turned and loped along the now level way of the
ledge, disappearing around a curve fitted to the mountain side while
Travis and Kaydessa followed.

They heard it before they saw its source--a waterfall. Probably not a
large one, but high. Rounding the curve, they came into a fine mist of
spray where sunlight made rainbows of color across a filmy veil of
water.

For a long moment they stood entranced. Kaydessa then gave a little cry,
held out her hands to the purling mist and brought them to her lips
again to suck the gathered moisture.

Water slicked the surface of the ledge, and Travis pushed her back
against the wall of the cliff. As far as he could discern, their road
continued behind the out-flung curtain of water, and footing on the wet
stone was treacherous. With their backs to the solid security of the
wall, facing outward into the solid drape of water, they edged be