yet, he
might try to press the lizard-man into service; Jrann-Pttt felt he had
demeaned himself quite enough already.

"Have you noticed," Miss Anspacher asked, pushing the mass of damp brown
hair off her neck as she came alongside him, "how the--the smell--" _a
scientist does not mince words_--"of the swamp has grown stronger?"

Jrann-Pttt halted. He had a good idea of what the captain's reactions to
the sight of himself and Miss Anspacher arriving hand-in-hand would be.
"Yes, it is getting rather overpowering. Perhaps, for a lady of your
delicate sensibilities, it would be best to--"

"I can stand a bad smell just as well as a male--any male!"

"Perhaps even better," Jrann-Pttt said, "for I was on the verge of
turning back myself."

"Oh," she said, appeased. "Well, in that case, I'll go back with
you ... how quiet everything is!"

He had not noticed. For him, it would never be quiet because of the
stream of jangled thoughts constantly pouring into the back of his mind
from everything sentient that surrounded him.

For a moment, he wondered what it would be like to be non-telepathic
like the terrestrials, to have peace from the clamor of confused
impressions, emotions and ideas that persistently beat at his mind. But
that would be wondering how it was to be deaf to avoid discord, or blind
to shut out ugliness.

"The lull before the storm, I suppose," she said brightly. _Now is his
opportunity to kiss me--only perhaps they don't have kissing in his
society. His mouth does seem to be the wrong shape. And if I kissed him,
it might violate a taboo._

During their short absence, the citrine clouds that closed off the sky
had changed to a sinister umber. It was now almost as dusky in the
clearing as in the jungle itself, when Jrann-Pttt and Miss Anspacher
returned and joined the others.

Professor Bernardi stood looking up with sharp gray eyes at a sky he
could not see. "I hope Greenfield can finish the blasting more quickly
than he estimated," he muttered.

"Will we hear the noise way out here, Carl?" his wife worried nervously.

"Only two kilometers away? Of course we'll hear it. I do wish you
wouldn't always be asking such stupid questions."

She shivered. "Well, I hope they get it over with right away. If we just
have to sit here waiting and waiting and waiting, I'll go mad. I know I
will."

"You should try to keep your nerves in check, Louisa," Miss Anspacher
snapped. _Silly little fool._

"At least