main awake, trying to keep alert for
trouble both from within and from without. When he became too sleepy
he paced around the camp until the cold drove him back to the shelter
of the still-warm boiler. Above him the stars wheeled slowly and when
a prominent one reached the zenith he estimated it was midnight, or a
bit after. He shook Mikah awake.

"You're on now. Keep your eyes and ears open for anything stirring and
don't forget a careful watch there," he jerked his thumb at Snarbi's
silent form. "Wake me up at once if there's anything suspicious."

* * * * *

Sleep dropped like a heavy curtain and Jason barely stirred until the
first light of dawn touched the sky. Only the brighter stars were
visible on the eastern horizon and he could see a ground fog rising
from the grass around them. Near him were the huddled forms of the two
sleepers and the farthest one shifted in his sleep and he realized it
was Mikah.

Sleep fell away instantly and he bounded out of his skin covers and
grabbed the other man by the shoulders. "What are you doing asleep?"
he raged. "You were supposed to be on guard."

Mikah opened his eyes and blinked. "I was on guard, but towards
morning Snarbi awoke and offered to take his turn. I could not refuse
him...."

"You couldn't WHAT? After what I said--"

"That was why. I could not judge an innocent man guilty and be a party
to your unfair action. Therefore, I left him on guard."

"You did, did you?" Jason grated with rage and pulled an unfelt
handful of hair from his newgrown beard. "Then where is he? Do you see
anyone on guard?"

Mikah looked in a careful circle and saw only the two of them and the
wakening Ijale. "He seems to have gone. He has proven his
untrustworthiness and in the future we will not allow him to stand
guard."

Jason raged, drew his foot back for a kick in the local reflex then
realized he had no time for such indulgences and dived for the
steamobile. The firelighter worked at the first shot, for a rare
change, and he lit the boiler. It roared merrily but when he tapped
the indicator he saw the fuel was almost gone. There would be enough
left in the last jug to take them to safety before whatever trouble
Snarbi was planning arrived. But the jug was gone.

"That tears it," Jason said resignedly after a hectic search of the
_caroj_ and the surrounding plain. The water-of-power had vanished
with Snarbi who, afraid as he was of the steam e