Storm Over Warlock

three days since Thorvald had marooned him. And he was no nearer the shore now than he had been on that first morning! He sat where he was by the boulder, aware that he shou

gs, Shann's stomach knotted i

ward islands. And the younger Terran's faint hope that the officer would return had died.

brush and small trees, trying to put together some kind of a raft. But he had not been able to discover here any of those vines necessary for binding, and his best efforts had all come to grief

in the rain tank had sunk to only an inch or so of muddy scum. Last night he had dug in the heart of the interior valley where the rankness o

e water they needed. But lacking net, line, or hooks, how did one fish? Yesterday, using his stunner, he had br

for at times they dug energetically in the gravel. Togi was busied in this way no

marked that he believed she was in quest of some worthwhile game and he moved across to insp

rging. The brown patch was larger, disclosing itself as a hump doming up from the gravel. The Terran did not need to run his hands over that rough sur

d. In fact, a witness could guess that the shell was sinking at a pace only a fraction slower than the burrowers were using to free it. Intrigued by that

s amazement, his tool was caught and held, nearly jerked from his hands. To his retaliating tug the obstruction below-ground gave way, and the Te

h a shell still inhabited by the Warlockian to whom it was a natural covering, and that that inhabitant would fight to continue owners

gging frantically to get at this new prey. And he knew that if he pulled them aw

to the top of that dome, sweeping paws downward to clear its surface, while Togi prowled around its circumference,

ght protect. It was smaller, perhaps two thirds the size of the one which Thorvald had fashioned into a seagoing craft. But it c

hen they assaulted the shell with a testing paw. Claws raked and did not leave any marks but shallow scratc

rk, with a few more feet separating that from the point where lazy waves now washed the finer sand. Shann watched the slow inward slip of those wa

ight be only too familiar with salt water. But it had placed its burrow, or hiding place, above the reach of the waves and so might be disconcerted by the sudden appe

p the half-prisoner occupied and prevent its escape. Shann put another piece of his raft to work as a shovel, throwing

water into the pit rapidly once he knocked away the last barrier again

snarling. Shann lashed his knife fast to a stout length of sapling, so equipping himself with a spear. He stood with it ready in his hand, not know

ed in a forward-and-upward dash. But the water worked to frustrate that charge. For one of the pit walls crumbled, ove

s away from his leg as he pushed down on the haft with all his strength. That attack along with the initial upset of balance did the job. The shell flopp

n, for good measure, in the middle, hoping in one of those three general blasts to contact the thing's central nervous system. He was not to know which of those shots did the trick, but the frantic wiggling of

and then leaped to tear at the under body. Unlike the outer shell, this portion of the creature had no

ed to have that shell, his one chance of escape from the Island. The wolverines feasted on the greenish-white flesh, but he could not br

y had not been able to consume at their first eating. Meanwhile, the leather-headed birds had grown bold enough to snatch u

his hands and arms with sand until his skin was tender. He was still exultant at his luck. The drift would supply him with materials for an outrigger. One more day's work-or maybe two-and he could leave. He wrung out his blouse

. He roused in the morning with an odd feeling of guilt. The water hole he had scooped in the valley yielded him some swallows tasting of earth, but he had almost

he night. Small things scuttled away from it into hiding, and several birds arose-scavengers had been busy lighteni

cleansing, Shann went back to prospect the pile of raft material, choosing pieces which could serve for an outrigger frame. He was handicapped as he had been all along by the absence of the vines one could use for lashin

a section of flesh. But apparently that feat was beyond even his notable teeth, and at length he left it lying there in

job requiring a great deal of patience, since the tissue tore if pulled away too fast. But with care he acquired a few thongs perhaps a foot long. Using two of these,

have been firmly glued to the other. Shann shuffled his feet in a little dance of triumph as he went on to the lagoon to inspect th

ulsion, building something for an alien purpose he could not understand. And he worked as hopelessly as a beaten slave, knowing that what he made was t

had come there. His body was bathed in sweat, as it had been during

e to completion the night before, was dismantled-smashed. All those strips of hide he

surface. He ran his hands anxiously over the curve to make sure. Then, very slowly, he came back to the mess of broken wood and snipped hide. And he was sure, only too sure, of one thi

aroon him here? For the first time, Shann guessed a new, if wild, explanation for the officer's desertion. Dreams-and the disk which had worked so strangely on Tho

ft behind if the other had been moved away to protect some secret? Was it that Shann himself was wanted here, wanted so much that when he at last found a mean

ious they had made him do this. But they had underrated him by letting him learn, almost contemptuously,

cy to any spy. A spy, that was it! Someone or something must have him under observation, or his activities of the day before would not have been so summarily countered. A

ion that his purpose would not be plain to the enemy he suspected. The wolverines could help. Shann arose, allowed his shou

le growing saplings to take the place of those he had destroyed under orders. But he kept a car

re of a narrow tongue thrust out into the lagoon, much of it choked with sizable boulders. On earlier visits there Taggi and Togi had poked int

but he did not fight for freedom as he would have upon scenting Throg. Not that the Terr

wo rocks which met overhead in a crude semblance of an arch. There was a stick of drift protruding from that hollow affording Shann a legitimate exc

hadow, if it ever did. Shann reached for the wood, at the same time drawing his finger across the fla

not too long before. But in his mind Shann was convinced that he had found the spy's entrance. Could he turn it

. He already had decided upon the bait-his own work. And if his plans went throug

trips he had considered second-best before, smoothing, cutting. Only the trap occ

the other into his hands. First, the enemy was entirely confident of success in this venture. No being who was able to contro

ulation of a captive. The Terran was certain that his opponent would be on

eve so. However, he had to wait until the dark to set up his own answe