of snarling,
spitting hate ended in mid-cry as Rynch crawled to the river bank.

The man from the spacer camp had been the focus of a three-prong
attack from a female and her cubs. Three red bodies were flat and
still on the gravel as the off-worlder leaned back against a rock
breathing heavily. As Rynch sighted him, he stooped to recover the
needler he had dropped, lurched away from the rock towards the water,
and so blundered straight into another Jumalan trap.

His unsteady foot advancing for another step came down on a slippery
surface, and he fell forward as his legs were engulfed in the trap
burrow of a strong-jaws. With a startled cry the man dropped the
needler again, clawed at the ground about him. Already he was buried
to his knees, then his mid-thighs, in the artificial quicksand. But he
had not lost his head and was jerking from side to side in an effort
to pull free.

Rynch got to his feet, walked with slow deliberation down to the
river's brink. The trapped prisoner had shied halfway around,
stretching out his arms to find a firmer grip on some rock large and
heavy enough to anchor him. After his first startled cry he had made
no sound, but now, as he sighted Rynch, his eyes widened and his lips
parted.

The box on his chest caught on a stone he had dragged to him in a
desperate try for support. There was a spitting of sparks and the
stranger worked frantically at the buckle of the webbing harness to
loosen it and toss the whole thing from him. The box struck one of the
dead water-cats, flashed as fur and flesh were singed.

Rynch watched dispassionately before he caught the needler, jerking it
away from the prisoner. The man eyed him steadily, and his expression
did not alter even when Rynch swung the off-world weapon to center its
sights on the late owner.

"Suppose," Rynch's voice was rusty sounding in his own ears, "we talk
now."

The man nodded. "As you wish, Brodie."

6

"Brodie?" Rynch squatted on his heels.

Those gray eyes, so light in the other's deeply tanned face, narrowed
the smallest fraction, Rynch noted with an inner surge of triumph.

"Were you looking for me?" he added.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"We found an L-B--we wondered if there were survivors."

Slowly Rynch shook his head. "No--you knew I was here. Because you
brought me!" He fashioned his suspicions into one quick thrust.

This time there was not the slightest hint of self-betrayal from the
other.

"You see