Masha thought, 'Oh, no!' and she rolled her eyes. Was this fat fool reallythinking about trying to get inside through the pool? SL. 'How could the mageget out this way if the crabs would attack Bum?'

'He would throw poisoned meat to them. He could do any number of things. Whatmatters just now is that he wouldn't have bothered to bring their eggs alongfrom Sharranpip unless he had a use for them. Nor would he have planted themhere unless he needed them to guard this pool. Their flesh is poisonous to allliving things except the ghoondah fish.'

He chuckled. 'But the mage has outsmarted himself. If I hadn't noticed thebengil, I would never have considered that pool as an entrance.'

While he had been whispering, another group had emerged and run for the river.He counted them, thirty in all.

'Now is the time to go in,' he said. 'They'll all be feeding. That crab youfirst saw was their scout. It found a good place for catching fish, determinedthat there wasn't any enemy around, and returned with the good news. In someways, they're more ant than crab. Fortunately, their nests aren't as heavilypopulated as an anthole.'

He said, however, that they should wait a few minutes to make sure that all hadleft. 'By all, I mean all but a few. There are always a few who stay behind toguard the eggs.'

'Smhee, we'll drown!'

'If other people can get out through the pool, then we can get in.'

'You don't know for sure that the pool is an escape route!'

'What if the mage put the crabs there for some other reason?'

'What if? What if? I told you this would be very dangerous. But the rewards areworth the risk.'

She stiffened. That strange cry had come again. And it was definitely nearer.

'It may be hunting us,' Smhee said. 'It could have smelled the blood of theape.'