ion to the Homeport
records.

A road ran straight from the top of the stair, stabbing inland without
taking any notice of the difficulties of the terrain, after the usual
arrogant manner of the alien engineers. But Sssuri did not follow it.
Instead he struck off to the left, avoiding that easy path, choosing
to cross through tangles which had once been gardens or through open
fields.

They were well out of the sight of the city before they flushed their
first hopper, a full-grown adult with oddly pale fur. Instead of
displaying the usual fearless interest in strangers, the animal took
one swift look at them and fled as if a snake-devil had snorted at its
thumping heels. And Dalgard received a sharp impression of terror, as
if the hopper saw in him some frightening menace.

"What--?" Honestly astounded, he looked to Sssuri for enlightenment.

The hoppers could be pests. They stole any small bright object which
aroused their interest. But they could also be persuaded to trade, and
they usually had no fear of either colonist or merman.

Sssuri's furred face might not convey much emotion, but by all the
signs Dalgard _could_ read he knew that the merman was as startled as
he by the strange behavior of the grass dweller.

"He is afraid of those who walk erect as we do," he made answer.

_Those who walk erect_--Dalgard was quick to interpret that.

He knew that Those Others were biped, quasi-human in form, closer in
physical appearance to the colonists than to the mermen. And since
none of Dalgard's people had penetrated this far to the north, nor had
the mermen invaded this taboo territory until Sssuri had agreed to
come, that left only the aliens. Those strange people whom the
colonists feared without knowing why they feared them, whom the mermen
hated with a hatred which had not lessened with the years of freedom.
The faint rumor carried by the migrating runners must be true, for
here was a hopper afraid of bipeds. And it must have been recently
provided with a reason for such fear, since hoppers' memories were
very short and such terror would have faded from its mind in a matter
of weeks.

Sssuri halted in a patch of grass which reached to his waist belt. "It
is best to wait until the hours of dark."

But Dalgard could not agree. "Better for you with your night sight,"
he objected, "but I do not have your eyes in my head."

Sssuri had to admit the justice of that. He could travel under the
moonless sky as su