found other fruits, and Cochrane prepared the
same test for them as for the first. One of the samples turned his skin
red and angry almost immediately. He discarded it and all the fruits of
the kind from which it came.

At midday they tasted the first-gathered fruit. The flesh was red and
juicy. There was a texture it was satisfying to chew on. The taste was
indeterminate save for a very mild flavor of maple and peppermint mixed
together.

They had no symptoms of distress afterward. Other fruits were less
satisfactory. Of the samples which the skin-test said were
non-poisonous, one was acrid and astringent, and two others had no taste
except that of greenness--practically the taste of any leaf one might
chew.

"I suppose," said Cochrane wryly, as they headed back toward the
ash-clearing at nightfall, "we've got to find out if the animals can be
eaten."

Babs nodded matter-of-factly.

"Yes. Tonight I'm taking part of the watch. As you remarked this
morning, we're in this together."

He looked at her sharply, and she flushed.

"I mean it!" she said doggedly. "I'm watching part of the night!"

He was desperately tired. His muscles were not yet back to normal after
the low gravity on the moon. She'd had more rest than he. He had to let
her help. But there was embarrassment between them because it looked as
if they would have to spend the rest of their lives together, and they
had not made the decision. It had been made for them. And they had not
acknowledged it yet.

When they reached the clearing, Cochrane began to drag new logs toward
the central place where much of last night's supply of fuel remained.
Matter-of-factly, Babs began to haul stuff with him. He said vexedly:

"Quit it! I've already been realizing how little I know about the things
we're going to need to survive! Let me fool myself about masculine
strength, anyhow!"

She smiled at him, a very little. But she went obediently to the fire to
experiment with cookery of the one palatable variety of fruit from this
planet's trees. He drove himself to bring more wood than before. When he
settled down she said absorbedly:

"Try this, Jed."

Then she flushed hotly because she'd inadvertently used his familiar
name. But she extended something that was toasted and not too much
burned. He ate, with weariness sweeping over him like a wave. The cooked
fruit was almost a normal food, but it did need salt. There would be
trouble finding salt on this planet