hydroelectric
installations running the entire length of the Mississippi, where the
strength of the Father of the Waters had finally been harnessed for Man.
There were no thin lines of highways, no paint-brush strokes of smoke
against the canvas of the Gulf of Mexico to denote steamers, for atomic
power was still not available to all.

On this New Earth, Man could not yet have reached a state of complex
technology.

And as they dropped lower still, through their telescope sights, they
saw no canoes on the river or the feeder streams. They saw no huts along
the river shore, no thin streamers of wood smoke from huts hidden under
the trees along the bayous. New Earth was purple and blue, then shading
into green as they dropped lower. They sighted a deer drinking at the
edge of a pool.

But there was no trace of Man.

"If there are no scars, no defacements upon this forest primeval," Miss
Kitty said didactically, "then Man has not evolved on New Earth." Since
it was spoken in the tone of an axiom, and there was no evidence to
refute it, neither of the two men felt like arguing the matter.

* * * * *

They were low enough now that they were flying horizontally rather than
dropping vertically. They were still searching for traces of some kind
of artifacts. They were also searching, Lt. Harper advised them at last,
for a suitable place to land. They wanted a higher ground than the delta
country so they might be free of insect pests, assuming there were some
since deer could be seen throwing their heads back along their sides as
if to chase away flies. They wanted higher ground with a stream of water
going over falls to supplement their limited power in the lifeship. On
the chance there were fish, it would be nice to be handy to a lake. A
forest for game. A level ground for a permanent camp.

Since they were here, and it might be some time before they could figure
out a way to return to Old Earth, they may as well make the best of it.

They found the kind of place they wanted, a little to the west of the
Mississippi. They grounded the lifeship at the edge of a natural
clearing beside a lake where a stream of sparkling water dropped from a
rock ledge.

They settled the ship on the springy turf, then sat and looked at one
another as if they were suddenly all strangers. Wordlessly, Lt. Harper
got up and opened the door of the lifeship. He threw down the hinged
metal steps. He stood back. M