speed. _They're worried
about her now. They must be sure I'm still alive._

White water roared above his head. He breathed a hasty gasp of air
before the next comber hit him. Their bodies were wholly submerged,
their faces shouldn't show in that haze of foam--but the jet was
soaring down and there would be machine-guns on it.

Dalgetty's belly muscles stiffened, waiting for the tracers to burn
through him.

Elena's body slipped from his grasp and went under. He hung there, not
daring to follow. A stolen glance upward--yes, the jet was out of
sight again, moving back toward the field. He dove off the ledge and
struck into the waves. The girl's head rose over them as he neared.
She twisted from him and made her own way back to the rock. But when
they were in the hollow again her teeth rattled with chill and she
pressed against him for warmth.

"Okay," he said shakily. "Okay, we're all right now. You are hereby
entitled to join our Pacific wet-erans' club."

Her laugh was small under the boom of breakers and hiss of scud.
"You're trying hard, aren't you?"

"I--_oh_, oh! Get _down_!"

Peering over the edge Dalgetty saw the men descending the path. There
were half a dozen, armed and wary. One had a WT radio unit on his
back. In the shadow of the cliff they were almost invisible as they
began prowling the beach.

"Still hunting us!" Her voice was a groan.

"You didn't expect otherwise, did you? I'm just hoping they don't come
out here. Does anybody else know of this spot?" He held his lips close
to her ear.

"No, I don't believe so," she breathed. "I was the only one who cared
to go swimming at this end of the island. But...."

Dalgetty waited, grimly. The sun was down at last, the twilight
thickening. A few stars twinkled to life in the east. The goons
finished their search and settled in a line along the beach.

"Oh-oh," muttered Dalgetty. "I get the idea. Bancroft's had the land
beaten for me so thoroughly he's sure I must be somewhere out to sea.
If I were he I'd guess I'd swum far out to be picked up by a
waterboat. So--he's guarding every possible approach against a landing
party."

"What can we do?" whispered Elena. "Even if we can swim around their
radius of sight we can't land just anywhere. Most of the island is
vertical cliff. Or can you...?"

"No," he said. "Regardless of what you may think I don't have vacuum
cups on my feet. But how far does that gun of yours carry?"

She stole a glance over