Fenner looked at the animal. It was now brown, with a bluish tinge from the surface of his plastic suit. He patted its head, and the thing put out a slender tongue and licked his mask. "I can tell you what it isn't," he grinned. "It isn't very dangerous. Judging by its teeth and general appearance, I suspect it hunts amphibians in the swamp, or perhaps goes after water-creatures like an otter." "So it does live in the swamp," said Gorsline. "Yes." "Why haven't we seen it before?" "It's timid," Fenner replied. "There were always so many of us, and we made so much noise. Alone, as I was, it was less frightened of me, although I must have scared it by firing at it. I thought it was stalking me. As a matter of fact," he added, "it _was_ stalking me. But not for the purpose I imagined." "What do you mean?" Hakim said. "Why, appearances are deceiving. If a man who had never seen a dog before were to see one jump up on its master, he might think the creature was attacking the man. Putting two and two together, I was sure this animal lived among the red flowers and was stalking me for its dinner. But it was stalking me, and it rushed at me, only because it wanted to protect me." "Protect you? From what?" "Well, I was right, you see. There _is_ a beast of prey here which uses a form of mind-paralysis in order to stun its victims." He motioned over his shoulder. "Those are the real predators, those red flowers." He looked at the lovely bank of vermilion, and shuddered. "I should judge that their use of the mind-paralysis is automatic, but we are too big and too many for them to actually attack us. That is why, although poor Bodkin and the others succumbed, the flowers never tried to go for them. If you'll look over there, you'll see the remains of my Mark III net. It fell amongst them and they devoured most of it before they realized that it wasn't alive." He stood up. The beast nuzzled his calf and he stroked its neck, behind the feathery stalks. "I can't tell you how it's done," he went on, "because it only just happened to me. We'll have to study it. But apparently this creature has the ability, by means of these antennae of his, to counter, or nullify the mind-destroying waves of the flowers." "Great heavens!" Gorsline exclaimed. "Then it must have been lurking--one like it, at any rate--each time we came near the flowers." "Yes. It would have saved Bodkin," Fenner said, "but it was afraid of the rest of you. You were so many, so noisy--" "But why should it try to save us?" Hakim said. "If it is an animal, I mean." Fenner shrugged. "Why did the first dog become domesticated, and how did it happen? Perhaps," he said softly, "there were once other beings here who were its masters. One thing is clear to me: this creature is very intelligent. And like all intelligent creatures it has a profound need--" "For food, you mean? Or shelter?"