n stone. "Ouch! Stubbed my damn toe. Nah, it's a
closed cave. He ain't in here."

"Hm? Look at this, then. Bloodstains on this rock, right? He's _been_
here, at least."

"Under water?" Rifle butts probed but could not sound the inlet.

The woman's voice. "If he is hiding down below he'll have to come up
for air."

"When? We gotta search this whole damn beach. Here, I'll just give the
water a burst."

Casimir, sharply--"Don't be a fool. You won't even know if you hit
him. Nobody can hold his breath more than three minutes."

"Yeah, that's right, Joe. How long we been in here?"

"One minute, I guess. Give him a couple more. Cripes! D'ja see how he
ran? He ain't human!"

"He's killable, though. Me, I think he's just rolling around in the
surf out there. This could be fish blood. A 'cuda chased another fish
in here and bit it."

Casimir: "Or if his body drifted in, it's safely under. Got a
cigarette?"

"Here y'are, Miss. But say, I never thought to ask. How come you come
with us?"

Casimir: "I'm as good a shot as you are, buster, and I want to be sure
this job's done right."

Pause.

Casimir: "Almost five minutes. If he can come up now he's a seal.
Especially with his body oxygen-starved after all that running."

In the slowness of Dalgetty's brain there was a chill wonder about the
woman. He had read her thought, she was FBI, but she seemed strangely
eager to hunt him down.

"Okay, le's get outta here."

Casimir: "You go on. I'll wait here just in case and come up to the
house pretty soon. I'm tired of following you around."

"Okay. Le's go, Joe."

It was another four minutes or so before the pain and tension in his
lungs became unendurable. Dalgetty knew he would be helpless as he
rose, still in his semi-hibernating state, but his body was shrieking
for air. Slowly he broke the surface.

The woman gasped. Then the automatic jumped into her hand and leveled
between his eyes. "All right, friend. Come on out." Her voice was very
low and shook a trifle but there was grimness in it.

Dalgetty climbed onto the ledge beside her and sat with his legs
dangling, hunched in the misery of returning strength. When full
wakefulness was achieved he looked at her and found she had moved to
the farther end of the cave.

"Don't try to jump," she said. Her eyes caught the vague light in a
wide glimmer, half frightened. "I don't know what to make of you."

Dalgetty drew a long breath and sat upright, bracing hi