n his arm,
its jaws wide open for a sampling bite. "We can't very well perch here
until they forget all about us," he pointed out. "Not without water we
can trust, and with the local wild life ready to test us for tasty
eating."

Nymani had prowled along the swampward point of their island, and now he
made his report.

"There is more high land to the east. Perhaps it will give us a bridge
across."

At that moment Dane doubted his ability to make any more leaps from
island to island. And it would seem Tau shared his discouragement.

"I don't suppose you could discourage our friends on shore there with a
few more shots?"

Asaki shook his head. "We do not have clips enough to settle a whole
herd. These might retreat from sight but they would be waiting for us in
the bush, and that would mean certain death. We shall have to take the
swamp road."

If Dane had considered their earlier march misery, this was sheer
torture. Since footing was never secure, falls were frequent, and within
a quarter-hour they were all plastered with evil-smelling slime and mud
which hardened to rock consistency when exposed to the air. Painful as
this was, it did protect a portion of their bodies from the insects with
which the swamp was well stocked.

And, in spite of their efforts to find a way out, the only possible
paths led them deeper into the center of the unexplored morass. At last
Asaki called a halt and a council to consider retreat. To locate an
island from which they could at least watch the shore appealed very
strongly indeed.

"We have to have water." Tau's voice was a harsh croak, issuing out of a
mask of green mud festooned with trailing weeds.

"This ground is rising." Asaki smacked the stock of his needler against
the surface on which he crouched. "I think perhaps there may be clean
land soon to come."

Jellico hitched his way up a sapling, now bending under his weight.
Through the vision lenses he studied the route ahead.

"You're right about that," he called to the Chief Ranger. "There's a
showing of the right sort of green to the left, about half a mile on.
And," he glanced about at the westering sun, "we have about an hour yet
of good light in which to make it. I wouldn't try such a run after
dark."

That promise of green bolstered their weary spirits for a last
exhausting effort. Once again they were faced with a series of islet
leaps, and now they carried with them brush culled from the bigger
tussocks to