However, the Salariki were highly delighted. And several abandoned their
posts to help the boys drag the monster ashore where it was pinned down
to the beach by stakes driven through the edges of the net.
But the hunting party was given little time to gloat over this stroke of
fortune. The gorp killed by Groft and the one stunned by Dane were only
the van of an army and within moments the hunters on the reef were
confronted by trouble armed with slashing claws and diabolic fighting
ability.
The battle was anything but one-sided. Dane whirled, as the air was rent
by a shriek of agony, just in time to see one of the Salariki, already
torn by the claws of a gorp, being drawn under the water. It was too late
to save the hunter, though Dane, balanced on the very edge of the reef,
aimed a beam into the bloody waves. If the gorp was affected by this
attack he could not tell, for both attacker and victim could no longer be
seen.
But Ali had better luck in rescuing the Salarik who shared his particular
section of reef, and the native, gashed and spurting blood from a wound
in his thigh, was hauled to safety.
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