p. "We're within
two miles of the clearing, sir," he told Dodeth.

"All right," Dodeth said morosely. "We'll go the rest of the way on
foot. I don't want to startle them at this stage of the game, so keep
it quiet and stay hidden. Tell the patrol robots to spread out, and
tell them I want all the movie shots we can get. I want all the
Keepers to see these things in action. Got that? Then let's get
moving."

They crept forward through the forest, Dodeth and Ardan taking the
right, while Wygor and his own robot, Arsam, stayed a few yards away
to the left. They were all expert woodsmen--Dodeth and Wygor by
training and experience, and the robots by indoctrination.

Even so, Dodeth never felt completely comfortable above ground, with
nothing over his head but the clouded sky.

The team had purposely chosen to approach from a small rise, where
they could look down on the clearing without being seen. And when they
reached the incline that led up to the ridge, one of the armed patrol
robots who had been in the lead took a look over the ridge and then
scuttled back to Dodeth. "They're there, sir."

"What are they doing?" Dodeth asked, scarcely daring to believe.

"Feeding, I believe, sir. They aren't cutting down any trees now;
they're just sitting on one of the logs, feeding themselves with their
handling limbs."

"How many are there?"

"Twenty, sir."

"I'll take a look." He scrambled up the ridge and peeked over.

And there they were, less than a quarter of a mile away.

Dazedly, Dodeth took a pair of field glasses from Ardan and focused
them on the group.

Oh, they were real, all right. No doubt of that. None whatever.
Mechanically, he counted them. Twenty. Most of them were feeding, but
four of them seemed to be standing a little apart from the others,
watching the forest, acting as lookouts.

_Typical herd action_, Dodeth thought.

He wished Yerdeth were here; he'd show that fool what good his
ten-to-the-billionth odds were.

And yet, in another way, Dodeth had the feeling that his parabrother
was right. How could the life of the World have suddenly evolved such
creatures? For they looked even more impossible when seen in the
flesh.

* * * * *

Their locomotive limbs ended in lumpy protuberances that showed no
sign of toes, and they were covered all over with a dull gray hide,
except for the hands at the ends of their handling limbs and the necks
and the faces of their