n, Beauclaire
watched breathlessly as Wyatt went through the pantomime of greeting.

None of the tall people moved, except the old man, who folded his arms
and looked openly amused. When the pantomime was done, Wyatt bowed
again. The old man broke into a broad grin, looked amiably around at
the circle of people, and then quite suddenly bowed to Wyatt. One by
one the people, grinning, bowed.

Wyatt turned and waved at the ship, and Beauclaire stood away from his
gun, smiling.

It was a very fine way to begin.

* * * * *

In the morning Wyatt went out alone, to walk in the sun among the
trees, and he found the girl he had seen from the ship. She was
sitting alone by a stream, her feet cooling and splashing in the clear
water.

Wyatt sat down beside her. She looked up, unsurprised, out of eyes
that were rich and grained like small pieces of beautiful wood. Then
she bowed, from the waist. Wyatt grinned and bowed back.

Unceremoniously he took off his boots and let his feet plunk down into
the water. It was shockingly cold, and he whistled. The girl smiled at
him. To his surprise, she began to hum softly. It was a pretty tune
that he was able to follow, and after a moment he picked up the
harmony and hummed along with her. She laughed, and he laughed with
her, feeling very young.

_Me Billy_, he thought of saying, and laughed again. He was content
just to sit without saying anything. Even her body, which was
magnificent, did not move him to anything but a quiet admiration, and
he regarded himself with wonder.

The girl picked up one of his boots and examined it critically,
clucking with interest. Her lovely eyes widened as she played with the
buckle. Wyatt showed her how the snaps worked and she was delighted
and clapped her hands.

Wyatt brought other things out of his pockets and she examined them
all, one after the other. The picture of him on his ID card was the
only one which seemed to puzzle her. She handled it and looked at it,
and then at him, and shook her head. Eventually she frowned and gave
it definitely back to him. He got the impression that she thought it
was very bad art. He chuckled.

The afternoon passed quickly, and the sun began to go down. They
hummed some more and sang songs to each other which neither understood
and both enjoyed, and it did not occur to Wyatt until much later how
little curiosity they had felt. They did not speak at all. She had no
interes