They were in the air over two hours, traveling at maximum speed, before they arrived at their destination. This turned out to be a small cabin, surrounded by the usual high wall, with a space inside the wall for a helicopter and a tank. It was a hunters' hideout entirely hidden from view by diamond-wood trees. The pilot had had to work his way through branches and then fly for a time between the trunks of the great trees before hovering in for a landing. A man was standing in the yard waiting for them when they landed.

As soon as Ed shut off the 'copter's motor, the man who was waiting for them yelled, "No arrow-birds that I can see. Tell the kid to run for it." The man had been informed about him by the helicopter's radio.

"O.K., kid, scoot!" Ed jabbed Johnny in the ribs.

Johnny scooted. The lodge door slammed behind him and he opened the inner door. The large central room was surprisingly neat. The floor was bare but polished. Some hunting trophies were on the windowless walls.

Chained on a perch in one corner of the room, a miserable little scarlet ape sat huddled up, with its chin upon its knees. When it saw Johnny it screamed and chattered. Johnny walked toward it, about to click a greeting.

"Better watch out!" A red head was thrust from the door of another room. "Ed's monkey is meaner than he is." It was Rick Saunders.

"Glad to see you safe!" The big redhaired man grinned easily, and waved.

"Hullo," Johnny said. He didn't smile. If Rick were here, it meant only one thing. These were the same men who had stolen the colony's marva claws! He all but glared at Rick Saunders standing in the inner doorway.

"You don't seem too happy about being rescued," Rick said with a laugh.

"I wasn't rescued. I...." Johnny stopped. He knew he shouldn't have said that.

Rick's eyebrows went up. "It seems I heard something about a leopard."

"Well, I guess I was rescued—sorta," Johnny admitted lamely.

"I guess you were!" Rick paused, looking at Johnny. "You sure don't sound very friendly."

"I don't like thieves and traitors," Johnny said defiantly.

"Wait a minute!" Rick began.

At that moment the four hunters entered the room, cutting off the rest of Rick's sentence. The scarred-faced leader spoke to Rick.

"You know you're not allowed in here. Get out!" His voice was low and threatening. Rick turned to go.

"Hold it," called Barney, the narrow-faced hunter. "Carry this in to the kitchen." He dropped a haunch of antelope on the floor.

His face set and calm, Rick walked slowly past Johnny and hoisted the meat to his shoulder.

"Any other orders?" he asked quietly.

"Yep!" Ed said. "Take the kid with you. Rustle him up clothes of some kind. Then you can put him to work helping you."

"Come on, Johnny." Rick put his hand on Johnny's shoulder and started for the door. Johnny followed him, shrugging off the friendly hand.

The kitchen was even neater than the main room. As soon as they entered the room, Rick tossed the haunch of antelope into the sink. He turned, faced Johnny, and grasped the boy's shoulders with his big freckled hands. He seemed angry.

"What's this thieves-and-traitors business mean?" he demanded.

"First you pretended to be on our side," Johnny answered, "and then you let the rhinosaurs get in so's those hunters could steal our marva claws."

"So that's what you think," Rick said. He regarded Johnny gravely. "Does the rest of the colony think that, too?"

Johnny nodded.

"Take a good look at me, Johnny." Rick touched a cloth tied around his middle like an apron. "I'm cook and housekeeper here, not one of the gang. I wasn't pretending anything, and I didn't let any rhinosaurs inside. I came with these outlaws because they had their tank guns leveled on me."

"But why did they do that?" Johnny demanded.

"Harkness' orders," Rick replied. "Remember his threat?"

"I sure do!" Johnny said. His eyes grew wide. "I was right," he went on. "I thought Mr. Harkness was the boss those hunters called."

"He sure is the boss," Rick said. "He's given out word he'll pay for any information about you and Baba. Any information he gets he passes on to this bunch. The gang has to work for him so he'll market their stolen claws and arrange their passage to Earth. Why he's even offering to pay double for Baba just to prevent the colony from getting him."

"Golly!" Johnny breathed. "He really must be sore at us." Johnny sat down on a kitchen stool. It was cold against his bare bottom. He looked up at Rick. "Gosh, I'm sorry, Rick. I mean about thinking you were—well you know."

"That's all right, Johnny." Rick was smiling now. "I'll admit it did look bad. Let's forget it and get you into some clothes. We have a meal to fix."

Johnny jumped up. With a friend beside him things didn't seem quite as bad. Helped by a pair of scissors, Rick soon had him into a pair of cut down trousers and a baggy shirt. As soon as the clothes were on, the two started preparing the meal.

As they worked, Johnny questioned Rick about what had happened to him. Outside of beating him up once, the hunters hadn't treated him too badly. He was being saved for Trader Harkness. They made Rick stay in the kitchen and wouldn't let him into the main room except to clean it up, and then kept a gun on him. The gang kept him from escaping by a very simple means—they locked up the rhinosaur-hide armor in a closet. Ed kept the closet keys, as well as the keys to the tank and helicopter, fastened to his wrist. Rick had been watching carefully but had not seen one chance to escape.

As Johnny served the meal to the outlaw hunters, he looked the room over carefully. When the men weren't looking, he clicked a greeting to the little scarlet ape. It immediately became quite excited. A plan for escape began to shape itself in Johnny's mind. He said nothing to Rick, however.

After the outlaws had eaten, Johnny and Rick had their meal. Rick thought it strange, but Johnny couldn't bring himself to eat any of the antelope; he remembered all too well the tiny antelope leader he had held in his hand. When they were finished and had washed the dishes, Johnny was all too glad for a blanket thrown on the kitchen floor—the same kind of bed Rick had.

Johnny tried to push away his fears for Baba, but it was a long time before he could get to sleep.

It seemed only minutes later when he was rudely awakened by a rough blow on his shoulder. Actually it was ten hours later, as he could see by the clock above the stove. Johnny reared up to see Ed standing over him, a smile on his thin lips, his pale eyes jubilant.

"Get up and get your clothes on," he ordered. "We're going places."

Johnny jumped up and reached for the baggy clothes Rick had made him.

"Come on in when you're ready and don't waste any time about it," Ed directed, and strode back into the other room. Johnny slipped on the pants and was soon stuffing in the shirt tails of the oversized shirt. Rick stood by the stove and watched, sympathy in his eyes.

"Baba," he said slowly, "arrived at the colony an hour ago. I was listening at the door when the call came from Harkness. These guys are planning—"

"Come on!" Ed stuck his head in through the door and cut Rick off. Numb with worry, Johnny followed Ed into the main room.

"Better wrap him up in something," the outlaw called Barney said, his narrow face twisted in a strange grin. "We can't let the arrow-birds get him now."

Johnny stood while they strapped man-sized armor on him and put a headglobe on his head. He followed Ed out of the door and into the helicopter. The outlaw leader seated Johnny beside him, switched on the motor, and they roared away.

"Where we going?" Johnny asked.

"You'll find out," Ed snapped. "Keep quiet till I tell you to talk!"

They flew on for almost an hour. Then Ed set the helicopter controls on automatic hover and snapped the radio telephone on. He dialed a number. Johnny saw that the number was that of Colony Headquarters.

"Hello." Ed made his voice high and nasal. "I have information concerning Johnny Watson. Let me speak to his father."

The slick-haired blond man put his hand over the telephone mouthpiece. He grabbed Johnny by the collar and stared directly into his eyes.

"Listen," he said, "when your father comes on, I want you to speak to him. Tell him you were rescued by us and we've treated you O.K. Understand?"

Johnny nodded, his mouth dry.

"I'll tell him what happened," Johnny said. He didn't understand why Ed was making such a fuss about it.

"Hello. Hello. This is Frederick Watson." Johnny was thrilled by the sound of his father's voice over the telephone.

"Hello, Mr. Watson," Ed said in the fake voice. "We've found your boy and here he is." Ed handed Johnny the telephone, his hand over the mouthpiece again. "Remember!" he said in a threatening voice.

"Hello, dad!" Johnny said into the telephone. "I'm safe all right."

"Thank God!" his father's voice replied.

"I was rescued by these men and outside of making me wash dishes and sleep on the floor, they've treated me fine. I'm—"

Ed took the telephone away from him in mid-sentence.

"But where are you, Johnny?" Johnny could still hear his father's voice.

"Right now," Ed said into the telephone, "Johnny's up in a 'copter. You needn't try to get a direction finder on us. Rescuing this boy cost us a lot and we gotta be sure you'll pay us for it."

"I offered a reward." Mr. Watson's voice was anxious.

"It ain't enough," Ed said. "We lost a tank and a 'copter getting him. He was surrounded by rhinosaurs. We have the boy. You've got a live marva. I figure it should be a trade. You bring the marva to the old tank road by the river, and we'll bring the boy. Bring one tank, driven by one man. That's all. Be there forty-eight hours from now. Do as I say and the boy will be delivered on schedule."

"Hello, hello." Frederick Watson's voice was frantic. "I don't know if the colony will—" Ed hung up and snapped off the radio.

"They will," he said.

Johnny's spirits had never been so low. Everything he touched seemed to turn to disaster. The colony was all but ruined. In trying to protect Baba he had caused the marshberries to be destroyed and had given these outlaws a chance to steal the colony's marva claws. By running away with Baba he hadn't saved the little bear at all. The outlaws, Trader Harkness' outlaws, were going to get him.

Johnny would not only lose Baba, but the colony, too, would lose its last chance for survival.