Three hours later, boy and bear were trudging through the marshberry fields toward New Plymouth Rock. Johnny's bottom was still warm from his recent session with a strap. The boy was in full armor. A leather harness was strapped to the little bear's furry blue back.

The last 'copter had long since left for the rocket field and, except for guards, the settlement was nearly empty. Because of this Johnny had been forbidden to leave his house. A lone person without a gun was supposed to be just what the arrow-birds were looking for. But Johnny wasn't afraid. He had his third secret.

Johnny reached up and carefully picked one of the apple-sized marshberries for himself. It was a rich ripe yellow color.

"They are just right this year," Johnny said to Baba.

The little bear nodded gravely. Both he and Johnny had worked hard in those fields. Everyone did. Marshberries prevented a disease called colds that Johnny had never had, and were the only crop the colonists could send back to Earth. They had to be ripe for the yearly rocket or a year's work was wasted.

Johnny trudged on under the weight of his armor while Baba bounced along beside him. A mile away loomed New Plymouth Rock. The huge mesa-like rock made up one corner of the settlement's barrier against the animals. The thick concrete walls of the settlement, topped with live wires, were joined to the rock on two sides. On its summit, stood a stunted diamond-wood tree. This was Johnny's and Baba's destination.

Baba jumped high in the air, made himself into a ball and bounded on ahead.

"Hurry up!" he clicked.

"Hungry for nuts, eh?" Johnny asked.

"Crunchy ones," the little bear clicked back, turning a somersault in the air. "Come on, hurry!"

Johnny made a face at Baba. "Bear," he said, "you're certainly getting bossy lately."

Baba did another somersault, bounced, and landed on Johnny's shoulder with a thump, almost knocking the boy down. He put his nose in Johnny's ear.

"I'm a grown-up," he clicked in heavy tones. "Hear my beautiful new voice?"

Johnny hunched his shoulders hard, spilling Baba to the ground. Then he grabbed him by the harness, and stood up. While Baba squeaked piteously, Johnny swung him round and round. At the top of one of the swings he let go, tossing Baba high into the air.

"Help! Help!" clicked Baba, beating paws into the air, and screwing up his face. Just before he hit the ground he made himself into a ball. He hit with a smack and bounced higher than Johnny had thrown him. Both of them were laughing when he stopped bouncing.

"Gosh, I wish we could have done that for the Earthies!" Johnny said

The two fell silent, both thinking of the fun they were missing at the rocket field.

They were coming to the end of the marshberry fields. Before them were the great boulders surrounding New Plymouth Rock. Johnny had made the harness Baba was wearing for forays among the boulders—forbidden forays, for arrow-birds nested there. Baba, with his strong nails and bouncy body, could go straight up the face of rocks. He was small enough to ride on Johnny's shoulder, but he was powerful too. By hanging on to Baba's harness, Johnny could go straight up and over large boulders, armor and all.

"Let's go right by the nests," Baba clicked. "I want to be sure, right off."

"O. K., worry bear, you lead the way." Johnny began to chant, "Grandpapa Baba sat in a corner, 'fraid that his shadow would burn in the fire."

Baba bounced over the smaller rocks in the way. Johnny, weighed down with headglobe and armor, made his way slowly over them and between them. Baba helped Johnny over one steep place and then stayed beside him. It was hard going and Johnny's clothes were drenched with sweat under his armor before they clambered down the last boulder and on to a little flat place. They were already high above the level of the settlement. On one side they were surrounded by high red boulders. On the other side loomed the sheer cliff of New Plymouth Rock.

Far above them, from many round holes in the rock, came strange squeaking sounds. Here were the arrow-bird nests! Johnny was deathly afraid. He'd seen what an arrow-bird could do when it shot itself at a man.

"Get ready, Baba," he whispered.

"Those are just babies up there," Baba clicked. "No danger yet!"

"Let's climb up and get rid of them!" Johnny suggested. "Then there won't be any here to...."

"No!" Baba interrupted.

"But why? I'd be protected by my armor and...."

"No!" Baba clicked more firmly. There was a stern but puzzled expression on the little bear's face. "The arrow-birds are my friend-pets, I must not hurt them." He used a word in the clicking language which meant both friend and pet. It was something like the word "kikac," which he called Johnny—"friend-pet-brother."

"All right," Johnny said, "but I don't understand."

"You mustn't harm them, either," Baba said. "Remember, I brought you here. Otherwise you wouldn't know where the nests were. Even if you just tell the grownups and they kill them—well, it would be wrong. I would have—"

Baba was interrupted by a high whistling, shrieking noise, and the whir of wings. So quick you couldn't have followed his motions, Johnny squatted down, curled his feet under him, thrust his hands and forearms into special armor pockets. Six strangely shaped creatures were diving straight at him.

Arrow-birds! A dirty greenish yellow, they were long and slender, over a foot long. One could not tell where their heads left off and their necks began. They were shaped like long arrow points. Their gossamer-thin wings were a blur of motion.

Johnny braced himself so that if they hit him he would not be knocked over. In a fraction of a second they dived within fifty feet of him.

"Go away friend-pets," Baba clicked, as loudly and as fast as he could. "Go away! Bother us not!" He repeated his cry in a kind of chant, so rapidly it was almost a trill.

The shrieking whistle changed to a low hum. The arrow-birds pulled out of their dive. They floated in mid-air, their wings awhir. One had almost reached Johnny and was hovering in the air only a couple of yards away. It bent its neck out of arrow position and looked straight at him. Its little purple eyes glittered against the yellow green skin of its head.

Then, like a flash, they were gone.

"Whew!" Johnny breathed. He took his hands out of his armor and stood up. He turned around just in time to see the flight of arrow-birds crawl into the holes in the rocks that were their nests. This was Johnny's third secret.

The arrow-birds obeyed Baba!

Right after Baba's voice had changed and his jewel claws had come in, the two had made this astonishing discovery. They had stumbled upon this nesting place, and the arrow-birds, frightened for their nests, had slashed down at Johnny for the first time in his life. But Baba had cried out desperately in his new deep clicks for them to go away—and they had. It was like magic.

Staring up at the sheer cliff, Johnny was excited, but afraid. Such a climb was too dangerous to do just for the fun of it, but Johnny thought he might have a way of saving Baba. Even when they were much younger the little bear had been willing to leave Johnny in order to climb for diamond-wood nuts fresh from the tree. It was the ideal place for Baba to hide. If Johnny could climb up with him they would be able to visit often-and Baba was so fond of fresh nuts he might be willing to use it for a hideout.

Johnny hadn't told Baba about his plan. If they could make it to the top he would tell the bear then.

The high shrieking whistle began again.

Johnny suddenly had an idea.

"Friend-pets, friend-pets, bother me not. Bother me not," Johnny clicked quickly, shaping deep clicks just like Baba's in the back of his throat.

As the birds half-pulled out of their dive, the little bear started to speak.

"No, let me keep trying," Johnny clicked. "Friend-pets, friend-pets, bother me not."

At this, the birds hovered about him making squeaking noises, their heads still in striking position.

"They're puzzled," Baba clicked. "They sense something's wrong. They expect to be shot at by people. I'll tell them to go and it will be all right. In a second they could kill you."

"I've still got my armor," said Johnny. "Maybe if I tell them to come here they'll trust me." Johnny spoke the last in English and the words sent the birds fluttering farther away. They seemed to be on the point of making another dive.

Johnny was pale under his headglobe, but clicked, "Friend-pets, come to your friend."

The flying lizards slowly quieted, squeaking among themselves. Their wings humming, they hovered closer and closer. There were five of them. Finally their heads snapped out of arrow position. One of them hovered in very close.

"Come to me, friend-pet," Johnny clicked to it, and held out his hand.

The creature, watching him carefully with its little purple eyes, floated even nearer, its wings humming. Very gingerly it came to a perch on his hand. Its claws were cold and it smelled faintly of meat fruit.

Johnny breathed deep. He was the only human being who had ever made friends with an arrow-bird.

Slowly, while the other birds hovered in the air about him, Johnny drew in his hand and stroked the bird on its folded wings. It shivered under his touch. But, as he did it no harm, the other birds came closer and lit on his arms and his shoulders. One peered into his face. Another poked the air slits of Johnny's headglobe with its sharp bill.

"Baba! Baba!" Johnny cried out. "Do you see this? Do you think I could sneak one home with us?"

"Your people would kill him, Johnny," Baba clicked. "Go away, friend-pet," he clicked to the arrow-bird.

The bird looked at Johnny.

"Go, friend-pets," Johnny clicked regretfully to the five birds about him. With a flash of wings they were gone.

"Gosh," said Johnny. "Gosh!" He unzipped and wriggled out of his armor. "Baba, I don't have to wear armor ever any more. Do you understand? I can just walk around like you do!" The words fairly bubbled out of him. Baba was quiet for a moment, frowning.

"Johnny," he clicked, "I've done something wrong. Something very bad. I'm not sure why, but I just know it's wrong. Those are my friend-pets, not yours. If you use the word 'friend-pet' to them, that means you can never hurt them. You must always help them. But they will always try to kill your mother and father. It is all mixed up."

"Gee, Baba," Johnny was frowning now, too. "C'mon, let's try the climb and forget it." From one of the armor straps he unhooked a flashlight he always brought along for exploring caves. He fastened it to his belt.

A few moments later the two friends were looking up at the bare rock face that extended three hundred feet straight up.

"Golly, Baba, do you really think you can take us up there?" Johnny asked.

"If you can hold on, I can take you," Baba said from Johnny's shoulder.

"Start up!" Johnny yelled. Baba leaped up onto the wall of rock, his claws cutting into it. Johnny grasped the harness and hooked his toes into a crack in the stone.