hey built this thing to win races, not lose them. Hope
they knew what they were doing." He pulled a panel lever all the way
back and the flier surged forward, pressing them back into their seats.

"Hang on," he said. "Some of these corners are going to be tight."

The ship swung into a narrow valley between two hills, bucking and
twisting as Don worked the control back and forth. As a high cliff
loomed up in front of them, he pulled the flier up, then around in a
screaming turn. A second later, they almost touched the tips of trees
as they swung around the shoulder of a steep hill. The flier dropped
abruptly, seeking the floor of a gorge, then swung violently as it
followed a swift flowing stream.

Don guided it into a side gorge, then suddenly pulled up, to jump
through a notch in the surrounding hills. For an instant, the flier
paused, hovering in the air over a deep, wide valley, then it dropped
like a stooping falcon, sweeping sideways at the end of its drop, to
come to rest under an overhanging rock formation. The pilot snapped off
switches and leaned back.

"We've got a small-sized walk ahead of us," he said, "but it's through
some pretty dense growth and we'll be invisible from the air." He
grinned.

"The way I dove into that first canyon, anyone with detectors on me
would assume I was heading for the Doer--if he knew the country fairly
well. Hope that's the way they know it--just about that well."

He climbed out of the ship, holding the door open.

"Come on, Pete," he ordered, "give me a hand and we'll shove this thing
back in the cave so it won't be too easy to spot."

Jasu Waern climbed out after his son.

"I shall help, too," he said resignedly. "Which of the clans do we
join?"

Don put a shoulder against the side of the flier. "Kor-en," he said. "I
know them pretty well. Matter of fact, the Korenthal wanted to adopt me
at one time. Dad talked him out of it."

Waern nodded. "The Kor-en are known to us," he murmured. "Possibly----"
He added his weight to the pressure on the flier's side.

They pushed the machine far back into the cavern under the rock, then
camouflaged its smooth lines with brush and rubble. Finally, they
walked over the rough ground to a nearby thicket. Don paused, looking
up. Then he pointed.

"There they are," he said, "in a search pattern. Guess they got a
detector flash on us when we jumped the ridge." He shrugged. "Well,
they've got a tough hunt now. We'll detour through