They looked, but there was no corkscrew swamp path. Evidently they had fallen beyond it and were lost. "We shall just have to look for a cookie sign," Nada decided. "You look upriver and I'll look downriver. That will double our chances of finding the correct path."

"But we shouldn't separate!" Electra protested. "We might never find each other again!"

"And if only one of us emerges from the gourd, where does that leave us?" Nada inquired softly.

"But—" Electra started, flustered. Then she caught on. "You mean—?"

"I mean it is one way to resolve our dilemma, without prejudice to either of us."

"Oh, Nada, I don't like this way!" Electra cried.

"Make me this pact," Nada said firmly. "Whichever one of us finds the cookie trail will follow it straight out, so as to waste no time in rescuing Che Centaur. The one who doesn't find it can backtrack and pick up the trail later."

"But if we both make it through, then who marries Dolph?"

"The one he chooses, of course, as always."

Electra looked troubled. She evidently had a suspicion what Nada intended to do, but didn't want to accuse her of it openly. "I suppose."

"Very well, it's decided," Nada said briskly. She slithered downriver. She made it a point not to look back, so that Electra would have to do the right thing and explore upriver.

She hoped Electra would be the one to find the cookie trail. Then the girl would follow it out and proceed on their mission, alone. The trail markers would be gone, so Nada would not be able to follow her. Electra would marry Dolph, and live and be happy. Dolph would be happy too, for once he really paid attention to Electra—a thing he really had never done—he would discover that she was a far better match for him than Nada was. She was closer to his age, which counted for a lot, and seemed closer yet, which counted for more. She shared his juvenile enthusiasms. She loved to eat, and she could never refrain from laughing when someone blew on a stink horn, making a foul-smelling noise. That was something no princess could get away with, but a prince could and an ordinary girl could. Most important of all, Electra lived to please Dolph, and that was a quality any man could come to appreciate in any woman, once she got his attention. So Dolph would be happier with Electra, and everyone knew it except him. He just needed a situation where he could realize it.

The Crystal River wound its lovely way down to a strange sea. It was red, and it seemed to be groaning. Well, not exactly groaning; the sound was more like a whine.