"But all this thud-and-blunder business," I protested, turning to Skagarach. "You're dealing with the highest product of man. And you figure to take it over by a series of ambushes, wild attacks in the night, and in general the heavy hand of the apeman. It's straight out of a nut hatch." Then Bill Cuff hit me. I saw the swing coming, and the trunklike arm sweeping round and up with a fist like a boulder on the end of it, and I started to duck, and then the mountain collapsed on my skull and the blue lights went out, _wham_! CHAPTER VI I came gradually out of a scarlet fog into a jet-black well. My head, which was aching abominably, was pillowed on something soft and warm and slightly moving. I heard mutters of guttural voices, the slap of waves on metal. I licked my dry lips and tasted salt. Blood? No, ocean salt. We were at sea. I was a little chilly. I shivered, tried to see something, and made out the dim figure of a person above me. The sky was moonless and inky. I was lying with my head in this person's lap. I breathed deep and said quietly, "Nessa?" "Yes, Ray." I didn't have words. I reached up and touched her face with my fingers, and she bent and we kissed. "You okay?" I said then. "I'm okay," said Nessa. That was all. For now, that was enough. "Anybody near us?" I looked up at her tense face. "I am," said Skagarach. He moved into my vision, and I sat up, head pounding, and stared at him until I could make out his foxy features. "I'm sorry," he said under his breath. "Cuff is on the primitive side. So are we all ... but there ought to be limits. There was no sense in hitting you." "I don't get it," I said. "Why is that big murder-machine the first leader, and not you, Skagarach?" "Ah," he said. "Ah, yes. Some of us wonder about that too." For all his obvious intelligence, he was a sucker for a one-two compliment to the jaw. "That was an awful belt he gave me," I said. Something had just occurred to me. "It kind of addled my brains. Lord, I'd like to hit him back for that!" "Ray?" said Nessa uncertainly. She knew me for a strictly non-aggressive joe since I'd quit football. "I feel--I feel furious," I said, and I hissed it low and aimed it at Skagarach. "I never had so much yearning to pulverize someone." Skagarach leaned over and peered into my eyes. "Don't sit on it," he said. "Let it fume, let it rage. It may well be the primal anger. Let it have its way. Only--I don't suggest you hit Cuff." "Not with my fists, anyway," I agreed. "Maybe with a gun butt." "Let the rage bubble," he said, laughing almost without sound. "You'll do, Ray Rollins; I believe you'll do." He sat down, staring ahead.