"Running around--like that!" Marc said. "I'm not running around," Julie said, inching her neckline up guiltily. "Why are you holding your hands over your eyes like that? And what are you doing with that gun?" "I can't bear to look," Marc said. "I may shoot myself." "What!" Julie said, then smiled. "Oh, it's all this bare skin that upsets you, eh?" Marc winced anew. "Doesn't it bother you?" he asked. "You'll never know how much," Julie said, "but they say it's good for the health and the morals." "Morals!" Marc said. "I'm surprised you even know the word any longer. I think I'd better leave." "Well, if I can face all this, surely you can, too," Julie said. "You still haven't explained what you're doing with that gun." The skinny nude gentleman stirred anxiously. "Are you people going to go on chatting all day?" he asked plaintively. "My leaves are beginning to wilt." "Your leaves," Julie said tartly, "are no concern of ours." "If they droop just a little bit farther they'll be everybody's concern," the man said wanly. "Yes, they certainly will," Marc shuddered. He turned in Julie's direction. "I hope your leaves are holding up all right." "I don't have any leaves," Julie said. "Why should I have? Why are you acting so strange?" Marc started forward. As he did so, he caught his toe on a projecting root and stumbled. Lurching forward, he threw out his hand blindly and inadvertently pulled the trigger of the gun. There was a deafening report and a bullet sailed into the air. Julie, clutching at Mario's arm screamed at the top of her lungs. "He's trying to kill us!" she yelled. "Run, Mario, run!" Mario hardly needed the invitation; even before it was completed, he had begun to put his feet into motion. Dragging Julie after him, he crashed into the brush, and the two of them disappeared from sight. "Julie!" Marc said brokenly. He opened his eyes and looked in the direction of their departure. He glanced back at the nudists. "I hope you're satisfied!" "We're not, mister," the skinny man wailed. "We can't hold onto these leaves forever. What will we do then?" "I wouldn't be surprised at anything," Marc said nastily, "not from a gang like you." Like a belated echo in the distance, there was the sound of a loud report from the direction in which Julie and Mario had departed. "Good Lord!" Marc said, leaping forward. "I forgot!" He started toward the bushes just in time to collide with Toffee who darted suddenly into the open. "They're after them!" Toffee cried. "They heard your shot and closed in!" There was the sound of two more shots. Marc started forward, but Toffee held him back. "Don't go out there!" she cried. "They're in a mood to shoot anything that moves!" "But if they kill Mario, Julie will swear I did it!" Marc said. "I've got to stop them!" * * * * *