and hold it close to that rock--over there."
He pointed to a rounded black knob protruding from the soil a little off
their path.

Dane obeyed, only to have the blade jerk in his hand. And when he
loosened his hold in amazement, the steel slapped tight against the
stone.

"Magnetic!"

"Yes. Which might explain our crash. Also this." Jellico held out a
field compass to demonstrate that its needle had gone completely mad.

"We can use the mountain range itself for a guide," Dane said with more
confidence than he felt.

"True enough. But we may have trouble when we head west again." Jellico
let the lenses swing free on their cord about his neck. "If we were
wrecked on purpose"--his mouth tightened and the old blaster burn on his
cheek stretched as did his jaw set--"then someone is going to answer a
lot of questions--and fast!"

"The Chief Ranger, sir?"

"I don't know. I just don't know!" The captain grunted as he adjusted
his pack and started on.

If fortune had failed them earlier, she smiled on them now. Asaki
discovered a cave before sundown, located not too far from a mountain
stream. The Ranger sniffed the air before that dark opening as the
Hunter pilot shed his equipment and crept forward on his hands and
knees, his head up and his nostrils expanding as he, too, tested the
scent from the cave mouth.

Scent? It was closer to a stench, and one ripe enough to turn the
stomach of an off-worlder. But the Hunter glanced back over his shoulder
and nodded reassuringly.

"Lion. But old. Not here within five days at least."

"Well enough. And even old lion scent will keep away rock apes. We'll
clean some and then we can rest undisturbed," was his superior's
comment.

The cleaning was easy for the brittle bedding of dried bracken and grass
the beast had left burned quickly, cleansing with both fire and smoke.
When they raked the ashes out with branches, Asaki and Nymani brought in
handfuls of leaves which they crumpled and threw on the floor, spreading
an aromatic odor which banished most of the foulness.

Dane, at the stream with the canteens to fill, chanced upon a small pool
where there was a spread of smooth yellow sand. Knowing well the many
weird booby traps one might stumble into on a strange world, the Terran
prospected carefully, stirring up the stand with a stick. Sighting not
so much as a water insect or a curious fish, he pulled off his boots,
rolled up his breeches and waded in. The water was coo