im badly. One
grasping hand clutched at Stanton's right thigh and grabbed hard.
Stanton swung his fist down like a pendulum and knocked the arm aside.

But there was a slight limp in his movements as he back-pedaled away
from the Nipe. That full-handed pinch had hurt like the very devil!

Stanton was angry now, with the hot, controlled anger of a fighting man.
He stepped in quickly and slammed two fast hard jabs into the point of
the Nipe's snout, jarring the monster backward. And this time it was
the Nipe who scuttled back out of the way.

Stanton moved in fast to press his advantage and landed a beaut on the
Nipe's lower left eye. Then he tried a body blow. It wasn't too
successful. The alien had an endoskeleton, but he also had a tough hide
that was somewhat like thick, leathery chitin.

Stanton pulled back, getting out of the way of the Nipe's open-handed
judo cuts.

His fists were beginning to hurt, and his leg was paining him badly
where the Nipe had clamped onto it. And his ribs were throbbing where
the Nipe had landed that single blow.

And then he realized that, so far, the Nipe had only landed that one
blow!

_One punch and one pinch_, Stanton thought with a touch of awe. _The
only other damage he's inflicted has been to my knuckles!_

The Nipe charged in again, then he leaped suddenly and clawed for
Stanton's face with his first pair of hands. The second and third pairs
chopped in toward the man's body. The last pair propelled him off the
floor.

Stanton stepped back and drove in a long, hard right, hitting him just
below the jaw, where his throat would have been if he had been human.

The Nipe arced backward in a half somersault and landed flat on his
back.

Stanton backed up a little more, waiting, while the Nipe wiggled feebly
for a moment. _The Marquis of Queensberry should have lived to see
this_, he thought.

The Nipe rolled over and crouched on all eight limbs. His violet eyes
watched Stanton, but the man could read no expression on that inhuman
face.

"_You did not kill._"

For a moment, Stanton found it hard to believe that the hissing,
guttural voice had come from the crouching monster.

"_You did not even_ try _to kill._"

"I have no wish to kill you," Stanton said evenly.

"_I can see that. Do you ... Are you ..._" He stopped, as if baffled.
"_There are not the proper words. Do you follow the Customs?_"

Stanton felt a surge of triumph. This was what George Yoritomo had
gu