His fingers touched something. It was the girl's shoulder. She was moving feebly, half-conscious. Treading water, he seized her, slid his arm across her chest, began to tow her away from the wall. "Jump!" he called to Reiloc. "I've Tabak." "By the Radiant God!" came the Nehogan's hoarse voice; "here I come!" There was a splash, followed almost immediately by another, as the cave girl leaped also. The pair of them came up, blowing, unhurt. "Which way?" Reiloc gasped. "Follow the wall." Jupiter was trying to recall Tabak's memory patterns. "We're near the edge of the city, I think. There should be a beach just ahead." They swam on, guiding themselves by the lap of water against the base of the wall. Jupiter, with his arm across Tabak's shoulder and breast, felt the girl shudder. "Jupiter," she said weakly. "Jupiter, is that you?" "Yes. Are you all right?" "I--I think so. I can swim now." All at once, he realized that the lapping of the water had changed to a faint, shushing sound. "The beach!" he said. Reiloc grunted. Lete didn't say anything. The wild girl swam like an otter, silent and alert. Jupiter touched bottom, helped Tabak up the beach, where they all flung themselves down in the warm sand. A breeze had started up and was ripping the fog into wisps. A few stars glittered from the torn sky. The wall of the city loomed above them dark and threatening. Tabak's fingers closed convulsively over Jupiter's hand. "I'm afraid," she whispered. "It's so big and so empty out here. And there's no place where we can hide from them. They'll be after us in the morning with Nehogans and web-birds. They'll never let you go, Jupiter, never! They're afraid that you'll be able to unite the wild Kagans--" "If we can only reach the ship," he muttered, and felt around in his pack for the metal tentacle that Reiloc had hacked from the Radiant God. It was safe, thank the Lord, though it was only a fraction of the fuel he would need. The whole idol, that was what he must have. His eyes narrowed in the darkness. The cave girl said in a nervous voice, "We must reach the jungle before daybreak." He pulled himself to his feet. Lete took the lead, striking out for the invisible hills. She seemed to possess an instinct as unerring as a homing pigeon's. Every step, Jupiter realized, was taking him further and further from the source of his fuel. * * * * * During the next twelve days they dodged about the hills. Time after time they escaped discovery by the narrowest margin. Parties of Nehogans combed the jungle, while the web-birds wheeled back and forth in the sky like observation planes. Nothing but Lete's junglecraft saved them. On the thirteenth day they ran into a party of hunters from Lete's colony. The cave men were strongly thewed brutes, armed with spears and clubs, dressed in the skins of animals.