"But all this thud-and-blunder business," I protested, turning to Skagarach. "You're dealing with the highest product of man. And you figure to take it over by a series of ambushes, wild attacks in the night, and in general the heavy hand of the apeman. It's straight out of a nut hatch."
Then Bill Cuff hit me. I saw the swing coming, and the trunklike arm sweeping round and up with a fist like a boulder on the end of it, and I started to duck, and then the mountain collapsed on my skull and the blue lights went out, wham!
CHAPTER VI
I came gradually out of a scarlet fog into a jet-black well. My head, which was aching abominably, was pillowed on something soft and warm and slightly moving. I heard mutters of guttural voices, the slap of waves on metal. I licked my dry lips and tasted salt. Blood? No, ocean salt. We were at sea. I was a little chilly. I shivered, tried to see something, and made out the dim figure of a person above me. The sky was moonless and inky. I was lying with my head in this person's lap. I breathed deep and said quietly, "Nessa?"
"Yes, Ray."
I didn't have words. I reached up and touched her face with my fingers, and she bent and we kissed. "You okay?" I said then.
"I'm okay," said Nessa. That was all. For now, that was enough.
"Anybody near us?" I looked up at her tense face.
"I am," said Skagarach. He moved into my vision, and I sat up, head pounding, and stared at him until I could make out his foxy features. "I'm sorry," he said under his breath. "Cuff is on the primitive side. So are we all ... but there ought to be limits. There was no sense in hitting you."