," Allenby said dryly, "the fact that I'm
chief of our party. Well, let's try again."

He started over on the orbits. He didn't seem to be getting anyplace, so
the rest of us watched the Martians instead. A last handful was
straggling across the wide street.

"Curious," said Gonzales. "Note what happens when they reach the center
of the street."

Each Martian, upon reaching the center of the street, glanced at his
feet--just for a moment--without even breaking stride. And then came on.

"What can they be looking at?" Gonzales wondered.

"The chief did it too," Burton mused. "Remember when he first came
toward us?"

We all stared intently at the middle of the street. We saw absolutely
nothing but sand.

The Martians milled around us and watched Allenby and his orbits. A
Martian child appeared from between two buildings across the street. On
six-inch legs, it started across, got halfway, glanced downward--and
came on.

"I don't get it," Burton said. "What in hell are they _looking_ at?"

The child reached the crowd and squeaked a thin, high note.

A number of things happened at once.

* * * * *

Several members of the group around us glanced down, and along the edge
of the crowd nearest the center of the street there was a mild stir as
individuals drifted off to either side. Quite casually--nothing at all
urgent about it. They just moved concertedly to get farther away from
the center of the street, not taking their interested gaze off us for
one second in the process.

Even the chief glanced up from Allenby's concentric circles at the
child's squeak. And Randolph, who had been fidgeting uncomfortably and
paying very little attention to our conversation, decided that he must
answer Nature's call. He moved off into the dunes surrounding the
village. Or rather, he started to move.

The moment he set off across the wide street, the little Martian chief
was in front of him, brown eyes wide, hands out before him as if to
thrust Randolph back.

Again six safeties clicked. The Martians didn't even blink at the sudden
appearance of our guns. Probably the only weapon they recognized was a
club, or maybe a rock.

"What can the matter be?" Randolph said.

He took another step forward. The chief squeaked and stood his ground.
Randolph had to stop or bump into him. Randolph stopped.

The chief squeaked, looking right into the bore of Randolph's gun.

"Hold still," Allenby told Ra