well, Tom," he said. "You've been driving yourself too
hard."

I looked away quickly. I had to tell him, but anything terrifying could
demoralize Harry and make him throw his arm before his face in blind
panic. But I couldn't keep it locked up inside me an instant longer.

"Sit down, Harry," I whispered. "I want to talk to you. No sense in
waking the others."

"Oh," he said.

He squatted beside me on the sand, his eyes searching my face. "What is
it, Tom?"

"I heard a scream," I said. "It was pretty awful. Somebody has been
hurt--bad. It woke me up, and that takes some doing."

Harry nodded. "You sleep like a log," he said.

"I just lay still and listened," I said, "with my eyes wide open.
Something moved out from the well--a two-legged something. It didn't
make a sound. It was big, Harry, and it seemed to melt into the shadows.
I don't know what kept me from leaping up and going after it. It had
something to do with the way I felt. All frozen up inside."

Harry appeared to understand. He nodded, his eyes darting toward the
well. "How long ago was that?"

"Ten--fifteen minutes."

"You just waited for me to wake up?"

"That's right," I said. "There was something about the scream that made
me want to put off finding out. Two's company--and when you're alone
with something like that it's best to talk it over before you act."

I could see that Harry was pleased. Unnerved too, and horribly shaken.
But he was pleased that I had turned to him as a friend I could trust.
When you can't depend on life for anything else it's good to know you
have a friend.

I brushed sand from my trousers and got up. "Come on," I said. "We'll
take a look."

It was an ordeal for him. His face twitched and his eyes wavered. He
knew I hadn't lied about the scream. If a single scream could unnerve me
that much it had to be bad.

We walked to the well in complete silence. There were shadows
everywhere, chill and forbidding. Almost like people they seemed,
whispering together, huddling close in ominous gossipy silence, aware of
what we would find.

It was a sixty-foot walk from the fire to the well. A walk in the sun--a
walk in the bright hot sun of Mars, with utter horror perhaps at the end
of it.

The horror was there. Harry made a little choking noise deep in his
throat, and my heart started pounding like a bass drum.

II

The man on the sand had no top to his head. His skull had been crushed
and flattened so hideously t