Star Hunter

ranch trying to control the heavy panting which supplied his laboring lungs. And he could still hear the echoes of the

m out of the loneliness of a world heretofore empty of his species. But that tall

of that man, dream and reality had crashed together, sending him into pa

ground at the point from which he had fallen and the L-B were here, just as he remembered. But not far from the small ship he had discove

was sure of that, but he wa

re-but he had to know. Rynch looked with more attention at his present surroundings. Deep mold under the trees

cringed when he disturbed vocal treetop dwellers. He was also t

tight to the tree trunk aloft. Though it was balled in upon itself he was sure the creatu

hope it had only been defending its own hiding pla

the part of the creature above. None came, and he dared to slip around the bole of the tree under which he

k were very short, or totally lacking, was pear-shaped, with the longer end to the back, and the sense organs of eyes and nose squeezed together on the lower quarter of the rounded portion, with a line of wide mouth to split the blunt round of the muzzle. Dark pits for eyes showed no pupil, iris, or cornea. The nose was a black, perfectly rounded tube jutting an inch or so beyond the

ine ran between him and the clearing of the L-B. He withdrew farther into the wood, intent upon finding a detour which would br

ched a point several miles downstream near the river. Since he had come into the open he had not sighted any o

e land immediately ahead. There stood an off-world spacer, fins down, nose skyward, and grouped not too far f

his goal, Rynch was curiously reluctant to do the sensible thing, to rise

needler by its sling. By their gestures the others were arguing with him, but he shook his head, came on, to be a shadow stalking among other shadows. One

reparations the tall man had made seemed more suited to going on patrol. The watchers! Was the other out to spy on them? That idea made sense. And in the meantime

was real, what was a dream in this crazy, mixed up mind of

over of the shadows. Then came a quiet ripple of water close to his own hi

d a clump of vegetation growing half in, half out of the stream. Only

hink clearly for a second. Then he noted that the outline of

ng about the other. The dark shadow of an arm flapped,

in strength enough to light his presence. Now he could see they drifted about the vegetation, about the log where the man sat, about rocks and reeds. Only they were thicker about the stranger as if his

head came up as he heard a very fai

Rynch watched him check the webbing, count the equipment at his belt, settle the needle

tered. He padded after the other. There was plenty of time to stop t

lie in wait there. He angled along northward, avoiding clumps of scatte

the size of a river, into which the first creek emptied. Here the other settle

athered, hung in a small luminous cloud over the rocks. But Rynch had prudently withdrawn under a bush, and

, a fog of bewilderment and disorientation. To open his eyes to

ck as he had half feared, cleanly printed on level spots of wet earth-eastward now. What was the purpose of the other

d almost seem that he had deliberately gone out of his way to leave boot prints on favorable stretches of ground. Did he guess that R

y. Rynch surveyed the nearer bank. Clumps of small trees a

d the feline was attacking an enemy, enraged to the pitch of vocal frenzy. Rynch ran a zigzag course from one clu

nd still on the gravel as the off-worlder leaned back against a rock breathing heavily. As Rynch sighted him, he stooped to reco

w 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

fway around, stretching out his arms to find a firmer grip on some rock large and heavy enough to anchor him. Afte

tting of sparks and the stranger worked frantically at the buckle of the webbing harness to loosen it and to

m the prisoner. The man eyed him steadily, and his expression did not alter eve

was rusty sounding in his

ed. "As you