of its jerky attempts
to rise. In its struggles to be free, it might almost have led the
watcher to believe that it had intelligence of a sort. Now the mermen
were coming out of the stream, picking up rocks as they advanced. And
a hail of stones flew through the air, while others of the sea people
sprang to catch the dangling ends of the net and drag the captive to
earth.

In the end they smashed it completely, burying the remains under a
pile of rocks. Then, retrieving their net, they once more fastened Raf
into it and turned downstream, as intent as ever upon reaching the
sea. Dalgard wondered whether Those Others would ever discover what
had become of their hound. Or had it in some way communicated with its
masters, so that now they were aware that it had been destroyed. But
he was sure they had nothing more to fear, that the way to the sea was
open.

In mid-morning of the second day they came out upon shelving sand and
saw before them the waves which promised safety and escape to the
mermen. Dalgard sat down in the blue-gray sand beside Raf. The sea
people had assured him that the stranger was making a good recovery,
that within a matter of hours he could be freed from his cocoon of
healing.

Dalgard squinted at the sun sparkling on the waves. Where now? To the
north where the space ship waited? If what he read in Raf's mind was
true the other wanted to leave Astra, to voyage back to that other
world which was only a legend to Dalgard, and a black, unhappy legend
at that. If the Elders were here, had a chance to contact these men
from Terra--Dalgard's eyes narrowed, would they choose to? Another
chain of thought had been slowly developing in his mind during these
past hours when he had been so closely companioned with the stranger.
And almost he had come to a decision which would have seemed very odd
even days before.

No, there was no way of suddenly bringing the Elders here, of
transferring his burden of decision to them. Dalgard cupped his chin
in his hand and tried to imagine what it would be like to shut oneself
up in a small metal-walled spacer and set out blindly to leave one
world for another. His ancestors had done that, and they had traveled
in cold sleep, ignorant of whether they would ever reach their goal.
They had been very brave, or very desperate, men.

But--Dalgard measured sand, sun, and sky, watching the mermen sporting
in the waves--but for him Astra was enough. He wanted nothing but this