r," resumed Jarvis, "about a hundred of the little grey-green
biopods had fastened onto the thing and were growing and branching.
Leroy found a stick and knocked 'em off, and each branch broke away and
became a biopod crawling around with the others. So he poked around at
the creature, while I looked away from it; even dead, that rope-armed
devil gave me the creeps. And then came the surprise; the thing was part
plant!"

"_C'est vrai!_" confirmed the biologist. "It's true!"

"It was a big cousin of the biopods," continued Jarvis. "Leroy was quite
excited; he figures that all Martian life is of that sort--neither plant
nor animal. Life here never differentiated, he says; everything has both
natures in it, even the barrel-creatures--even Tweel! I think he's
right, especially when I recall how Tweel rested, sticking his beak in
the ground and staying that way all night. I never saw him eat or drink,
either; perhaps his beak was more in the nature of a root, and he got
his nourishment that way."

"Sounds nutty to me," observed Harrison.

"Well," continued Jarvis, "we broke up a few of the other growths and
they acted the same way--the pieces crawled around, only much slower
than the biopods, and then stuck themselves in the ground. Then Leroy
had to catch a sample of the walking grass, and we were ready to leave
when a parade of the barrel-creatures rushed by with their push-carts.
They hadn't forgotten me, either; they all drummed out, 'We are
v-r-r-iends--ouch!' just as they had before. Leroy wanted to shoot one
and cut it up, but I remembered the battle Tweel and I had had with
them, and vetoed the idea. But he did hit on a possible explanation as
to what they did with all the rubbish they gathered."

"Made mud-pies, I guess," grunted the captain.

"More or less," agreed Jarvis. "They use it for food, Leroy thinks. If
they're part vegetable, you see, that's what they'd want--soil with
organic remains in it to make it fertile. That's why they ground up sand
and biopods and other growths all together. See?"

"Dimly," countered Harrison. "How about the suicides?"

"Leroy had a hunch there, too. The suicides jump into the grinder when
the mixture has too much sand and gravel; they throw themselves in to
adjust the proportions."

"Rats!" said Harrison disgustedly. "Why couldn't they bring in some
extra branches from outside?"

"Because suicide is easier. You've got to remember that these creatures
can't be judged