here. He dropped the line of thought.

This was not taking care of the situation.

He put his full attention on the man before him, driving a demand with
full power of cap amplifier.

* * * * *

"Why are all your people idling away their time? Where are your herdsmen
and guards?"

The headman's face tensed with effort. He waved a hand southward and
made meaningless noises. Faintly, the thought came through to Barra.

"In south forest, with herd. Not idle, is rest day. Few work."

Barra looked angrily at the man. Did this fool actually think he could
evade and lie his way out of the trouble his obvious failure to
supervise had brought? He jabbed a thumb northward.

"What about that herd drifting toward the north river?" The two green
communicator crystals gleamed with cold fire.

The headman looked confused. "Not north," came the blurred thought. "No
herd north. All south forest, near swamp. One-hand boys watch. Some
guard. Is rest day."

Unbelievingly Barra stared at the pseudoman. He was actually persisting
in his effort to lie away his failure. Or was he attempting some sort
of defiance? Had his father and brother tolerated such things as this,
or was this something new, stemming from the man's age? Or, perhaps, he
was trying the temper of the Master Protector, to see how far he could
go in encroaching on authority.

He would deal with this--and now!

Abruptly, he turned away, to direct his attention to the central
surrogate. It was equipped with a projector crystal.

The air in the clearing glowed and a scene formed in the open space.
Unmistakably, it was the northern part of Kira Barra. The lake was
shown, and sufficient landmarks to make the location obvious, even to a
pseudoman. Carefully, Barra prevented any trace of the blank, swirling
null from intruding on the scene. Perhaps the subhuman creature before
him knew something of its properties, but there was no point in making
these things too obvious.

He focused the scene on the stream and brought the approaching herd into
the picture, then he flashed in his own face, watching. And he brought
the view down closely enough to indicate that no human creature was near
the herd. Finally, he turned his attention to the headman again.

"There was the herd. Where were your people?"

The old man shook his head incredulously, then turned toward one of the
few men who still remained in the clearing.

He made a series of n