es of our planet do not glitter," Jrann-Pttt replied, wishing
it would wither instantly, "but certainly you are invited. Glad to have
you."

"Oh, that's awfully decent of you," the vine said emotionally. "I shan't
forget it, I promise you."

* * * * *

They plodded onward, the vine chattering so incessantly that a faint
gurgling which accompanied them went unnoticed. The gurgling grew louder
and louder as they pushed on. Finally, "I keep hearing water," Mortland
remarked. "We must be approaching a river of some kind."

A few minutes later, bursting through a screen of underbrush, they found
themselves confronted by a river whose bubbling violet-blue waters
extended for at least four kilometers from shadowy bank to bank, with
the ridge tapering to a point almost in its exact center.

Apparently, while they had been trekking along the elevation, the
surrounding terrain, concealed from them by the dense and evil-minded
vegetation, had imperceptibly taken off, leaving the ridge to become a
peninsula that jutted out into the river. They seemed to be stranded.
All they could do was retrace their steps and, since they had no idea
how far back the split became part of the mainland again, the return
journey might last almost as long as it had taken them to get there.

"I know we're heading in the right direction," Jrann-Pttt defended
himself. "I wasn't aware of the river because we must have come by an
overland route." Although he was telling the truth, at least insofar as
he knew it himself, no one, not even Dfar-Lll, believed him.

"But let's rest a bit before we turn back," Mortland proposed, flopping
to the ground. "I'm utterly used up."

"Maybe we don't need to go back," the vine said. "Not all the way,
anyhow." Everyone stared. It waved its leaves brightly at them. "I
notice the captain thoughtfully brought along lots of rope and there
were scads of fallen logs just a bit back. Couldn't you just lash the
logs together with the rope and make a--a thing on which we could float
the rest of the way? On the water, you know."

The others continued to look at it open-mouthed.

"Just a little idea I had," it said modestly. "May not amount to much,
but then you can't tell until you've tried, can you?"

"It--he--means a raft, I think," Mrs. Bernardi said.

Jrann-Pttt probed the raft concept in her mind, for he found the
vegetable's mental processes curiously obscure. "What an excellent
id