The runners were
harmless and shy, but they were noted also for clinging stubbornly to
one particular district generation after generation. To find such a
clan on the move into new territory was to be fronted with a puzzle it
might be well to investigate.
"A snake-devil--" he suggested tentatively, forming a mind picture of
the vicious reptilian danger which the colonists tried to kill on
sight whenever and wherever encountered. His hand went to the knife at
his belt. One met with weapons only that hissing hatred motivated by a
brainless ferocity which did not know fear.
But Sssuri did not accept that explanation. He was sitting up, facing
inland where the thread of valley met the cliff wall. And seeing his
absorption, Dalgard asked no distracting questions.
"No, no snake-devil--" after long moments came the answer. He got to
his feet, shuffling through the sand in the curious little half dance
which betrayed his agitation more strongly than his thoughts had done.
"The hoppers have no news," Dalgard said.
Sssuri gestured impatiently with one outflung hand. "Do the hoppers
wander far from their own nest mounds? Somewhere there--" he pointed
to the left and north, "there is trouble, bad trouble.
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