space. At the end of a thirty-day
period, they had reached no definite position in their calculations, and
the Talsonian reported, as a medium between the two parties of
scientists, that the work of the Ortolian had not reached a level that
would make a scientific understanding possible.

As the ship needed no replenishing, they determined to finish their
present work before landing, and it was nearly forty thousand years
after their first arrival that they again landed on Earth.

It was changed now; the ice caps had retreated visibly, the Nile delta
was far longer, far more prominent, and cities showed on the Earth here
and there.

Greece, they decided would be the next stop, and to Greece they went,
landing on a mountain side. Below was a village, a small village, a
small thing of huts and hovels. But the villagers attacked, swarming up
the hillside furiously, shouting and shrieking warnings of their
terrible prowess to these men who came from the "shining house,"
ordering them to flee from them and turn over their possession to them.

"What'll we do?" asked Morey. He and Arcot had come out alone this time.

"Take one of these fellows back with us, and question him. We had best
get a more or less definite idea of what time-age we are in, hadn't we?
We don't want to overshoot by a few centuries, you know!"

The villagers were swarming up the side of the hill, armed with weapons
of bronze and wood. The bronze implements of murder were rare, and
evidently costly, for those that had them were obviously leaders, and
better dressed than the others.

"Hang it all, I have only a molecular pistol. Can't use that, it would
be a plain massacre!" exclaimed Arcot.

But suddenly several others, who had come up from one side, appeared
from behind a rock. The scientists were wearing their power suits, and
had them on at low power, leaving a weight of about fifty pounds. Morey,
with his normal weight well over two hundred, jumped far to one side of
a clumsy rush of a peasant, leaped back, and caught him from behind.
Lifting the smaller man above his head, he hurled him at two others
following. The three went down in a heap.

Most of the men were about five feet tall, and rather lightly built. The
"Greek God" had not yet materialized among them. They were probably
poorly fed, and heavily worked. Only the leaders appeared to be in good
physical condition, and the men could not develop to large stature.
Arcot and Morey were gia