Happy was uncertain what to do or say. His impulse was to turn and go back, but he did not quite dare.
"Are you a rebel, Tough?" he burbled the first thing in his mind, for lack of something else to say.
The Tough looked at him contemptuously. Then, suddenly, the Tough's hard eyes flared with savage excitement and he moved swiftly on Happy. As he began to turn in panic, Happy saw from the corner of his eye another Tough racing around the corner of the walkway to come upon him from behind.
The Tough in front of him reached him and began pummeling him viciously with his fists, the hard fists sinking like painful hammers deep into Happy's flesh with every blow. Happy bleated in fright and distress, trying ineffectually to ward off his attacker.
Then, out of nowhere, Shadow flashed in like a lightning bolt on the other Tough as he had almost reached Happy. There was a brief, squalling tangle and the Tough pitched headlong into a plant-choked vat.
Shadow vanished and reappeared, intermittently, like a flashing light. The first Tough, seeing what had happened to his cohort, ceased pummeling Happy abruptly and took to his heels. He vanished around a corner.
The vanquished Tough climbed out of the vat, sputtering and cursing, and fled in the other direction.
"Oh, my! Oh, my!" exclaimed Happy to the now-invisible Shadow. "What wicked creatures!"
Sore and shaken, he moved on down the walkway, his search now intensified by the need for wetness to soothe his injured flesh.
He came upon a vat without vegetation and, at first joyous glance, thought it empty. Then, disappointment, a comparatively fresh body floated in it, just under the surface.