'd be no question then. They'd become exceedingly
well-mannered, even neighborly, if they were sure we had it."

"But we haven't got it," said the President gloomily.

X

The two hunters trudged homeward late in the afternoon, with a
deer slung from a pole they carried on their shoulders. Their
breath hung visibly in the air as they walked along, for the frost
had come and any day now, they knew, there would be snow.

"I'm worried about Wes," said Cooper, breathing heavily. "He's
taking this too hard. We got to keep an eye on him."

"Let's take a rest," panted Hudson.

They halted and lowered the deer to the ground.

"He blames himself too much," said Cooper. He wiped his sweaty
forehead. "There isn't any need to. All of us walked into this
with our eyes wide open."

"He's kidding himself and he knows it, but it gives him something
to go on. As long as he can keep busy with all his puttering
around, he'll be all right."

"He isn't going to repair the time unit, Chuck."

"I know he isn't. And he knows it, too. He hasn't got the tools or
the materials. Back in the workshop, he might have a chance, but
here he hasn't."

"It's rough on him."

"It's rough on all of us."

"Yes, but we didn't get a brainstorm that marooned two old friends
in this tail end of nowhere. And we can't make him swallow it when
we say that it's okay, we don't mind at all."

"That's a lot to swallow, Johnny."

"What's going to happen to us, Chuck?"

"We've got ourselves a place to live and there's lots to eat. Save
our ammo for the big game--a lot of eating for each bullet--and
trap the smaller animals."

"I'm wondering what will happen when the flour and all the other
stuff is gone. We don't have too much of it because we always
figured we could bring in more."

"We'll live on meat," said Hudson. "We got bison by the million.
The plains Indians lived on them alone. And in the spring, we'll
find roots and in the summer berries. And in the fall, we'll
harvest a half-dozen kinds of nuts."

"Some day our ammo will be gone, no matter how careful we are with
it."

"Bows and arrows. Slingshots. Spears."

"There's a lot of beasts here I wouldn't want to stand up to with
nothing but a spear."

"We won't stand up to them. We'll duck when we can and run when we
can't duck. Without our guns, we're no lords of creation--not in
this place. If we're going to live, we'll have to recognize that
fact."

"And if one of us gets