"It is so," Sssuri replied to his thought. "_They_ have come once more to give the flaming death--" Dalgard, startled, looked up that slope which must lead to the island top above the waves. "Long dead?" he asked tentatively, already guessing what the other's answer would be. "The pickers move fast," Sssuri indicated the sand dwellers. "Perhaps yesterday, perhaps the day before--but no longer than that." "And _they_ are up there now?" "Who can tell? However, _they_ do not know the sea, nor the islands--" It was plain that the merman intended to climb to investigate what might be happening above. Dalgard had no choice but to follow. And it was true that the merpeople had no peers or equals when it came to finding their ways about the sea and the coasts. He was confident that Sssuri could get to the island top and discover just what he wished to learn without a single sentry above, if they had stationed sentries, being the wiser. Whether he himself could operate as efficiently was another matter. In the end they half climbed, half swam upward, detouring swiftly once to avoid the darting attack of a rock hornet, harmless as soon as they moved out of the reach of its questing stinger, for it was anchored for its short life to the rough hollow in which it had been hatched. Dalgard's head broke water as he rolled through the surf onto a scrap of beach in the lee of a row of tooth-pointed outcrops. It was late evening by the light, and he clawed the mask off his face to draw thankful lungfuls of the good outer air. Sssuri, his fur sleeked tight to his body, waded ashore, shook himself free of excess water, and turned immediately to study the wall of the cliff which guarded the interior of the island. This was one of a chain of such isles, Dalgard noted, now that he had had time to look about him. And with their many-creviced walls they were just the type of habitations which appealed most strongly to the merpeople. Here could be found the dry inner caves with underwater entrances, which they favored for their group homes. And in the sea were kelp beds for harvesting. The cliffs did not present too much of a climbing problem. Dalgard divested himself of the diving equipment, tucking it into a hollow which he walled up with stones that he thought the waves would not scour out in a hurry. He might need it again. Then, hitching his belt tighter, pressing what water he could out of his clothing, and settling his bow and quiver to the best advantage at his back, he crossed to where Sssuri was already marking claw holds. "We may be seen--" Dalgard craned his neck, trying to make out details of what might be waiting above. The merman shook his head with a quick jerk of negation. "_They_ are gone. Behind them remains only death--much death--" And the bleakness of his thoughts reached the scout.