n't talk your language," said Alan. He realized it was a silly thing
to say. But his smile answered hers, and he went forward until he was
standing close beside her. She did not appear so tall now, for he towered
over her, the strength and bigness of his frame making hers seem all the
frailer by contrast.

He held out his hand. The girl looked at it, puzzled.

"Won't you shake hands?" he said; and then he realized that, too, was a
silly remark.

She wrinkled up her forehead in thought; then, with a sudden
comprehension, she laughed--a soft little ripple of laughter--and placed
her hand awkwardly in his.

As he released her hand she reached hers forward and brushed it lightly
against his cheek. Alan understood that was her form of greeting. Then she
spread her wings and curtsied low--making as charming a picture, he
thought, as he had ever seen in his life.

As she straightened up her eyes laughed into his, and again she spoke a
few soft words--wholly unintelligible. Then she pointed toward the sun,
which was still low over the horizon, and then to the silver object lying
back near the center of the island.

"I know," said Alan. "Mercury."

The girl repeated his last word immediately, enunciating it almost
perfectly. Then she laid her hand upon her breast, saying: "Miela."

"Alan," he answered, indicating himself.

The girl laughed delightedly, repeating the word several times. Then she
took him by the hand and made him understand that she wished to lead him
back into the island.

They started off, and then Alan noticed a curious thing. She walked as
though weighted to the ground by some invisible load. She did not raise
her feet normally, but dragged them, like a diver who walks on land in his
heavily weighted iron shoes. After a few steps she spread her wings, and,
flapping them slowly, was able to get along better, although it was
obvious that she could not lift her body off the ground to fly.

For a moment Alan was puzzled, then he understood. The force of gravity on
earth was too great for the power of her muscles, which were developed
only to meet the pull of Mercury--a very much smaller planet.

The girl was so exceedingly frail Alan judged she did not weigh, here on
earth, much over a hundred pounds. But even that he could see was too much
for her. She could not fly, and it was only by the aid of her wings that
she was able to walk with anything like his own freedom of movement.

He made her unders