"It was blowing up a little," Iimmi explained. "I was in the rig when suddenly something struck me from behind and I went toppling. In all the mist, they didn't see me, and the current was too strong for me, and ..." He looked around. "You've been on this beach once before, haven't you?" Geo asked. "Once," said Iimmi. "Yes, once." "Do you realize how long you've been in the water?" Geo asked. Iimmi looked up. "Over two weeks," Geo said. "Come on, see if you can walk. I've got a lot of things to explain, if I can, and we've got some hunting to do." Iimmi steadied himself once more, and together they started up the beach. "What are you looking for?" Iimmi asked. "Friends," Geo said. Two hundred feet up, the rocks and torpid vegetation came down to the water, cutting off the beach. Scrambling over boulders and through vines, they emerged on a rock embankment that dropped fifteen feet into the wide estuary of a ribbon of water that wound back into the jungle. Twenty feet further, the bank dropped to the river's surface, and they both fell flat at the edge of a wet table of rock and sucked in cool liquid, watching blue stones and the white and red pebbles shivering six feet below clear ripples. There was a sound. Both sprang back from the water, turned, and crouched on the rock. "Hey," Urson said, through leaves. "I was wondering when I'd find you." Light through branches lay on the gold coins hung against his hairy chest. "Have you seen Snake?" "I was hoping he was with you," said Geo. "Oh, Urson, this is Iimmi, the other sailor who died two weeks ago." Both Iimmi and Urson looked puzzled. "Have a drink of water," Geo said, "and I'll explain as best I can." "Don't mind if I do," said Urson. While the bear man lay down to drink, Geo began the story of Aptor and Leptar for Iimmi. When he finished, Iimmi asked, "You mean those fish things in the water carried us here? Whose side are they on?" "Apparently Argo isn't sure either," Geo said. "Perhaps they're neutral." "And the mate?" asked Iimmi. "You think he pushed me overboard after he killed Whitey?" "I thought you said he was trying to kill Snake," said Urson, who had finished drinking. "He was," explained Geo. "He wanted to get rid of all three. Probably Snake first, and then Whitey and Iimmi. He wasn't counting on our fishy friends, though. I think it was just luck that it was Whitey he got rather than Snake. If he can't read minds, which I'm pretty sure he can't, he probably overheard you assigning the bunks for us to sleep in, Urson. When he found out he had killed Whitey instead, it just urged him to get Iimmi out of the way more quickly." "I could easily have been pushed," Iimmi agreed. "But I still don't see why."