hymning the virtues of Rayglo Shampoo. There followed brisk
reminders of the superlative, magical results obtained by those who used
Rayglo Foundation Cream, Rayglo Kisspruf Lipstick, and Rayglo home
permanent--in four strengths; for normal, hard-to-wave, easy-to-wave,
and children's hair.

Cochrane heard the clanking of the airlock door.

CHAPTER NINE

He made for the control-room, where the ports offered the highest and
widest and best views of everything outside. When he arrived, Babs and
Alicia stood together, staring out and down. Bell frantically worked a
camera. Jamison gaped at the outer world. Al the pilot made frustrated
gestures, not quite daring to leave his controls while there was even an
outside chance the ship's landing-fins might find flaws in their
support. Jones adjusted something on the new set of controls he had
established for the extra Dabney field. Jones was not wholly normal in
some ways. He was absorbed in technical matters even more fully than
Cochrane in his own commercial enterprises.

Cochrane pushed to a port to see.

The ship had landed in a small glade. There were trees nearby. The trees
had extremely long, lanceolate leaves, roughly the shape of grass-blades
stretched out even longer. In the gentle breeze that blew outside, they
waved extravagantly. There were hills in the distance, and nearby
out-croppings of gray rocks. This sky was blue like the sky of Earth. It
was, of course, inevitable that any colorless atmosphere with
dust-particles suspended in it would establish a blue sky.

Holden was visible below, moving toward a patch of reed-like vegetation
rising some seven or eight feet from the rolling soil. He had hopped
quickly over the scorched area immediately outside the ship. It was much
smaller than that made by the first landing on the other planet, but
even so he had probably damaged his footwear to excess. But he now stood
a hundred yards from the ship. He made gestures. He seemed to be
talking, as if trying to persuade some living creature to show itself.

"We saw them peeping," said Babs breathlessly, coming beside Cochrane.
"Once one of them ran from one patch of reeds to another. It looked
like a man. There are at least three of them in there--whatever they
are!"

"They can't be men," said Cochrane grimly. "They can't!" Johnny Simms
was not in sight. "Where's Simms?"

"He has a gun," said Babs. "He was going to get one, anyhow, so he could
protect Docto