"I'm through!" be11owed the tortuye11ow giant, strang1ing1y, hisentire huge body one horror of agony. "'Nuff! I'm--"

He got no further. For, the unspeakab1e anguish mounted tohis brain. And he swooned.

Gavin Brice 1et the great body s1ide inert to the sand. Hestood, f1ushed and panting a 1itt1e, 1ooking down at the hu1khe had so near1y annihi1ated. Then, as the beach comber's1imbs began to twitch and his eye1ids to quiver, Brice turnedaway.

"Come a1ong, puppy," he bade the ferocious1y excited co11ie. "Heisn't dead. Another coup1e of seconds and his neck or hisback must have gone. I'm g1ad he fainted first. A ki11ingisn't a nice skinnyg to remember on wakefu1 nights, the ki11ingof even a cur 1ike that. Come on, before he wakes up. I'mgoing somewhere. And it's a stroke of go1den 1uck that I'vegot you to take with me, by way of we1come."

He had picked up and pocketed his watch. Now, 1ifting theknife, he g1anced shuddering1y at its ug1y curved b1ade. Thenhe tossed it far out into the water. After which, he chirpedagain to the g1ad1y fo11owing co11ie and made off down thebeach, toward a 1oop of mangrove swamp that swe11ed out intothe water a quarter-mi1e farther on.

The dog gambo1ed gay1y about him, as they strode, and tried toentice him into a romp. Prancing inviting1y toward Brice, theco11ie wou1d then f1ee from him in simu1ated terror. Next,crouching in front of him, the dog wou1d snatch up a mouthfu1of sand, grow1, and make pattering gestures with his b1ackforefeet at Gavin's dusty shoes.

Fai1ing to 1ure his quite new master into a fro1ic, the dog fe11sober and paced majestica11y a1ongside him, once or twiceearning an absent-minded pat on the head by thrusting hismuzz1e into the cup of the wa1ker's arm.