"Shall we follow it."
"We may as well. There's a chance it leads to the burrow of Toomar. Burrows are pretty far apart, you know."
The path was obvious because of its freshness, but the tracks were not deep and already the shifting sands were smoothing under the caress of the night wind. In half an hour they would be gone.
All at once they vanished and the sands were smooth as a sheet.
"Here it is," said Shorty. "Their hole must be right here somewhere."
Roal prodded the sands with his foot. After a moment he struck the hard surface of a door over a burrow shaft. He scooped away a spot and pounded forcefully on the stone door.
It echoed dully like the hollowness of a tomb. But after a moment there was a slow motion and the sand slid down as the slab rose.
A withered Martian head poked cautiously above the sand as Roal and Shorty darted behind the slab. "Who comes?" the Martian whispered.
"We seek Toomar," said Roal.
"Toomar is below. What business have you with him?"