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to be with his own kind again, even though one was a plump matron years older than himself, and the other a skinny teen-ager.
    Little questioning thoughts flowed swiftly between them. Slender Ripple, more impulsive than her mother, became fascinated by Swimmer’s bell, and gave a delighted laugh, which was almost like Penny’s, when it rang to her touch.
    â€œYou wouldn’t like it if you had to wear one of the dratted things,” he told Ripple aloud.
    Willow and Ripple looked at him in astonishment.
    You speak as she speaks! came the awed thought from Ripple. How did you learn?
    From being so long around humans .
    Do you think I could learn? Ripple asked.
    Why would you want to?
    So I could talk to her. We understand her, but she does not understand us. It would be so much more fun if she could .
    Penny took the two small trout from the bag, and Willow and Ripple accepted them with little sounds of pleasure that were more affected than real, as he quickly learned. They preferred wild trout to tame ones, which had no flavor. But don’t tell her , they warned. We wouldn’t think of hurting her feelings .
    Swimmer hadn’t had a real wild trout for so long that he had almost forgotten the difference. He watched them stand up and neatly clip the tails and fins before beginning to eat. But they had hardly taken the first delicate bites when Scruff, who had been resting quietly under the tree, suddenly sprang to his feet with a low growl.
    â€œSomeone’s coming!” Penny whispered. “Quick, everybody hide!”

4
    He Learns His Value
    A t the first hint of danger, even before Penny spoke, Willow and Ripple had turned and slipped quietly into the water, hardly disturbing its surface. Swimmer followed clumsily and was barely in time to glimpse them vanishing in the blackness under the great tree’s roots. Seconds later he emerged in a dim and curiously curved chamber with a thin ray of light coming from somewhere above. The beech tree was partially hollow. The hollow area seemed to extend upward to a hole high in the trunk.
    Swimmer crawled out and crouched in a dry corner opposite Willow and Ripple. In his sudden uneasiness he tried to read the thoughts of those outside, but all he learned was that Scruff had caught the scent of an approaching human, a stranger.
    Don’t be afraid , Willow offered comfortingly. It is probably only a fisherman .
    It’s not a fisherman , he told her. The person coming has something to do with me. I feel it .
    He glanced up at the hole where the light came through, and realized all at once that he ought to be able to reach it with very little trouble. The tree leaned sharply in the direction of the hole, and there were plenty of places to cling to along the way.
    It took only a few painful seconds to make the climb, and when he peered through the opening he discovered that he was not in the main part of the tree at all, but in a huge limb that curved away from it. Penny and Scruff were almost directly below.
    Suddenly Scruff took a few steps forward and growled again. Penny caught him around the neck and clung to him. “Please, Scruff!” she ordered. “You’ve got to be good.” Then to someone in the distance, “It’s all right, mister. I won’t let him hurt you.”
    â€œLordy me, I hope not,” replied the unseen one. “Tell you what. If he won’t bite me, I’ll cross my heart and solemnly promise not to bite him. Is it a deal?”
    â€œIt’s a deal,” Penny giggled.
    At the first sound of that familiar voice, Swimmer almost slipped from his perch. It just couldn’t be—but it was. He pressed his face closer to the hole and presently saw a barely recognizable Clarence come into view. The dapper city-Clarence had turned into an outdoorsman in paratrooper’s boots and khakis, with a sleeping bag over one shoulder and a knapsack over the other. The black man seemed tired, for