have been mistaken.

but, in spite of his words, his manner was more cautious as they went on and the

rest caught from it a sense of expectations. a little later it was joan who stopped them with a sudden

command: listen! but again the silence remind unbroken save by natural stirrings. what s the idea? Found inquired.
are you

Trying to make it more exciting by putting the wind up us . . .? shut up snapped dale. faintly

but quite unplaceably, the whole party distinguished a sound of crackling somewhere not far away. without a word,
dale unslung

his rifle and released the safety catch. he moved ahead, holding it ready. but whatever had a been responsible for the

sound was not in his path, nor did it betray its presence again. nevertheless. this place doesn t seem to

be quiet empty, after all, dugan said. it must have been something pretty big. as the bushes became stronger and

higher and they going more difficult, dale took the lead, and they fell without prearrangement into single file. the
ground.

changed its character, becoming softer and less desiccated .before long, dale was calling back that it was lighter
ahead, and

a few minutes later, they emerged into the open. in the astonished silence dugan said: i suppose this is a

canal, and not a sea? to both right and left the bank stretched away in an unbroken line. in front

the water reached to the horizon ruffled lightly by the breeze and sparkling in the sunlight. dale tasted the water

and spat it out again; it was brackish all the same, it s one of the canals. they re a

good many miles wide, remember, even the smallest of them. and the horizon s closer than it is at home,

the doctor put in it s almost incredible that they should have been made artificially and we don t seem

to be much closer to knowing who or what made them. the slope we ve been climbing must have been

The stuff which they look what that. dugan. Cried in certain excitement. He was pointing away to the left.

a dark object, difficult to make out at such a distance, was pushing its way through the water. a fleck

of white at the nearer end suggested a low bow wave . dale pulled out his field glasses. what is it?

found asked, striving to erect a tripod and change the lens of his camera simultaneously. coming this way? can t

see. there s not much of it above the waterline. shaped something like a whale. seems to be going due

south. here let me look. the doctor almost snatched the gasses and hurriedly refocused. but he could make out no.

more it was even impossible for him to decide whether he was looking at a living creature or a form

of vessel. he swore fluently. how about letting off a few shots to attract its attention, dugan suggested. but dale

disapproved. no, there s no telling what that might let us in for and we re a good distance from

the gloria mundi it ll be better to go a bit cautiously till we now more. found, had set up

his small camera behind an enormous lens, and was hopefully taking a series of pictures, with dale, dugan and the

doctor standing beside him, straining their eyes to catch more details. an exclamation behind them caused all four to
turn
at once. burns was facing them. his left arm was around jone s waist holding her with her back pressed

against his chest. in his right hand he held a pistol. Dale frowned and his eyes narrowed; he opened his

lips to speak, but changed his mind. the look on the engineer s face warned him to be cautious. With

an effort he cleared his frown; his voice sounded almost casual as he asked: hullo, what s the trouble burns?

at the same time he kept his eyes on the girl s face, trying to convey by his attitude that

she could behave calmly. it seemed that she understood, for he notice that she relaxed a trifle, but he had

reckoned without his companions. what the hell do you think you re doing? take your hands off her damn you

dugan shouted. he stepped forward with his fists clenched. get back, snapped the engineer. get back or i ll drill

you. there could be no doubt that he meant it. dugan hesitated and then sullenly retreated. froud yawned. what s

all this about? it seems very dramatic he remarked. burns turned his attention from dugan and glared at the journalist

and don t you be too free with your words. i owe something, don t forget. you know what

it s about, all right; you all know, damn well. do you think i didn t know what was going

on all the way here? do you think i don t know why I wasn t wanted? you ve all

had your fun, damn you, now i m going to have mine. froud assumed an expression of puzzlement. do you

mean shut up, you. but look here, burns, you are making a mistake, you now dale began in reasonable tones.

oh, i am, am i? i d be making a big one if i believe you. you! i suppose you

think i didn t see the way you changed to her after you d had her? damn you. i didn

t oh, so you didn t? and i suppose the rest of you didn t either? what do you think

i am blind? to hell with the ruddy lot of you. i saw you are sneaking off to the storeroom

different times. having her as you wanted and leaving me out as if i was not human. and thinking I

d stand for it. well, i did but i m not doing it any longer. it s my turn now.

and there s not going to be any sharing. but, man, you ve got it all wrong the doctor