l and refreshing,
though he dared not drink it until the purifier was added. Then, with
the filled canteens knotted together by their straps, he put on his
boots and climbed to the cave where Tau waited with water tablets.

Half an hour later Dane sat cross-legged by the fire, turning a spit
strung with three small birds Asaki had brought in. One foot closer to
the heat began to tingle and he eased off his boot; his cramped toes
suddenly seeming to have doubled in size. He was staring wide-eyed at
these same toes, puffed, red, and increasingly painful to the touch,
when Nymani squatted beside him, inspected his foot closely, and ordered
him to take off his other boot.

"What is it?" Dane found that shedding the other boot was a minor
torture in itself.

Nymani was cutting tiny splinters, hardly thicker than a needle, from a
stick.

"Sand worm--lays eggs in flesh. We burn them out or you have bad foot."

"Burn them out!" Dane echoed, and then swallowed as he watched Nymani
advance a splinter to the fire.

"Burn them," the Khatkan repeated firmly. "Burn tonight, hurt some
tomorrow; all well soon. No burn--very bad."

Dane ruefully prepared to pay the consequences of his first brush with
the unpleasant surprises Khatka had to offer.

IV

Dane regarded his throbbing feet morosely. Nymani's operations with
burning splinters had been hard to take, but he had endured them without
disgracing himself before the Khatkans, who appeared to regard such a
mishap as just another travel incident. Now, with Tau's salve soothing
the worst of the after affects, the Terran was given time to reflect
upon his own stupidity and the fact that he might now prove a drag on
the whole party the next morning.

"That's queer...."

Dane was startled out of the contemplation of his misery to see the
medic on his knees before their row of canteens, the vial of water
purifier held to the firelight for a closer inspection.

"What's the matter?"

"We must have hit with a pretty hard thump back there. Some of these
pills are powder! Have to guess about the portion to add." With the tip
of his knife blade Tau scraped a tiny amount of pill fragments into each
waiting canteen. "That should do it. But if the water tastes a little
bitter, don't let it bother you."

Bitter water, Dane thought, trying to flex his still swollen toes, was
going to be the least of his worries in the morning. But he determined
that his boots should go on at